It’s no secret that the market became flooded with replicas of Liam Neeson‘s Taken in the 2010s. The trend lasted years, and is still alive, if you were to consider Nobody and Nobody 2, starring Bob Odenkirk. But at its peak, the Taken wave saw not only several more action movies headlined by Neeson, but a couple of replacements directed by the same man, Martin Campbell. Best known for the franchise-starters GoldenEye, The Mask of Zorro, and Casino Royale, Campbell directed the 2010 Mel Gibson vehicle Edge of Darkness, which tanked at the box office. He followed it up with the ill-fated Green Lantern movie, which emerged as a critical and commercial failure as well. But it wasn’t until 2017 that he tasted success again with The Foreigner, headlined by Jackie Chan.
The movie followed a vengeful middle-aged man on a quest to uncover the identities of the bombers responsible for his daughter’s death. He discovers that the bombing was carried out by members of an IRA splinter group. Incidentally, Neeson himself starred in a movie where he takes on IRA bombers, the more recent In the Land of Saints and Sinners. The Foreigner did significantly better than that movie at the box office, grossing nearly $150 million worldwide against a reported budget of $35 million. It also earned mostly positive reviews, and is now sitting at a 66% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “The Foreigner adheres strictly to action thriller formula, but benefits from committed — and out-of-character performances from its talented veteran stars.” Chan received praise for his grounded performance; the movie was released seven years after he impressed critics with a similarly toned-down turn in The Karate Kid remake.
Jackie Chan Is Eying a Return to His Biggest Hollywood Franchise
He was joined in the cast by Pierce Brosnan, who, of course, had worked with Campbell on his first James Bond movie, GoldenEye. Brosnan recently chewed the scenery as a bad guy in the hit Paramount+ series MobLand, which has emerged as a fixture on the streaming charts in the last year. Chan, on the other hand, is circling a return to the Rush Hour franchise, which made him a star in Hollywood over two decades ago. Last year, he reprised his role as Mr. Han in Karate Kid: Legends, which made over $115 million at the box office.
You have until February 1 to watch The Foreigner on Netflix. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
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October 13, 2017
- Writers
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David Marconi
