8 Days — October 05, 2017

8 DAYS | 41

BY DOUGLAS TSENG

The Karate Kid

Jackie Chan focuses

more on the act part

of action.

Taken

A Special Forces

operative never forgets

his training — even if

he’s retired.

x

Patriot Games

Irish terrorists!

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The Foreigner (NC16)

Starring Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan | Directed by Martin

Campbell

Let’s be clear: Jackie Chan can do drama (see

The Karate Kid and Shinjuku Incident) — he just

needs the right material to fall on his lap. Here,

the martial arts icon is all serious and moody as

Quan, an immigrant whose daughter is killed in a

London bombing committed by Irish radicals, while

Pierce Brosnan (a long way from James Bond) is

the duplicitous Irish Deputy Minister with ties to

the terrorists. When Quan gets stonewalled by the

authorities, he resorts to guerilla warfare — taught

to him by the Americans during the Vietnam War

— to flush out the culprits. JC still does action,

but the kind that’s more gritty than clownish.

Throughout the movie, he’s subdued, dazed, and

doesn’t say much. He doesn’t need to: all the rage

and heartbreak is on his face.

We analyse the DNA make-up of

Jackie Chan’s revenge thriller.

MOVIE MATH:

THE FOREIGNER

All The President’s Men (1976)
The Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman-starring
thriller is still the gold standard by which all stories
about investigative journalism are measured.

J. Edgar (2011)

Clint Eastwood’s J Edgar Hoover biopic is

interesting until Leonardo DiCaprio (as the FBI

boss) shows up as a poorly made-up old man.

The Weather Underground (2002)

Oscar-nominated docu about the 1970s radical

group The Weathermen that led an armed struggle

against the US government.

Nixon (1995)

Anthony Hopkins gives an unimpeachable

performance as the 37th US President who thinks

he’s unimpeachable in Oliver Stone’s epic biopic.