History Film / TheForeigner2017

* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: The movie is fairly faithful to the novel overall, but despite its grim tone it considerably lightens the [[DownerEnding book's ending]]. [[spoiler: Namely, in the novel, Quan's character dies before he gets his revenge and the terrorists actually succeed in bringing down the passenger jet, which motivates the government to assassinate various IRA figures including Hennessy and Sean.]]

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: The rogue IRA and Maggie who caught a stray-bullet, tortured by the police and then executed as a loose end. Considering that she's the one responsible for bombing civilians which sets the plot in motion.]]
** McGrath also counts. Hardly anyone felt bad when he was double kneecapped, pistol whipped and [[spoiler: eventually shot in the head by Hennessy.]]

** When he infiltrates Hennessy's house Henessey finds his dog on the floor and accuses Quan of killing him. Quan says he's only "sleeping" (drugged or knocked unconscious) and sure enough the dog is up and fine in the next scene. [[spoiler: In the novel the movie was based on, [[SparedByTheAdaptation he did kill the dog.]]]]

** [[spoiler: Hennessy's mistress Maggie turns out to be one of the bombers, planted to discredit him. She also seduces a reporter in order to plant the final bomb in his laptop.]]
** [[spoiler: Hennessy's own wife Mary is this to Sean, seducing and tricking him into revealing Hennessy's plans to root out the rogue IRA cell so she can tip them off.]]
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: [[spoiler: The police use this to extract the bomb's location from Maggie.]]
** Also [[spoiler: Hennessy's rather brutal interrogation of McGrath to get the names and locations of the bombers.]]

* KillerCop: The police have no more respect for the rules than Quan does. [[spoiler: When they capture the last surviving terrorist, they torture her to find out where the bomb went, then execute her on the spot.]]

* MundaneSolution: Hennessy tries many methods to neutralize Quan, finally bringing in his nephew Sean to try and defeat him. In case Sean fails in his effort, Hennessy gives Sean some backup orders: [[spoiler: just give Quan the information he's been asking for in the hopes it will make him go away. It works]].

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler: When the police begin to interrogate Maggie, she is absolutely defiant in giving them any information, going so far as to state that there's only "9 minutes left" (before the bomb went off). Cue the interrogator walking in with a car battery and a pair of clamps, which then cuts directly to a scene of him calling his superiors about the location of the bomb. Considering that the police were able to organize a search and isolate the bomb, the interrogator must have been able to extract the information ''within 5-6 minutes.'']]

** Quan's actions had one actual direct effect. [[spoiler: By worrying Hennessy into putting surveillance on his own wife, Hennessy ends up discovering her affair with Sean. Without this information, it's probable that Hennessy would have assumed that Sean himself leaked the plan to the bombers instead of putting together that Mary was responsible for doing so. This isn't something that Quan intended to do, and in fact he never finds out about it.]]

* PostCoitalCollapse: We hear a [[TheGruntingOrgasm a grunt]] as a man collapses into bed, sweaty and panting quickly followed by his lover Maggie. While he goes to the bathroom to clean up, she [[spoiler: quickly searches his room, revealing she is actually [[HoneyTrap a terrorist that seduced him]] for being a journalist that had info she needed to further a bombing plot.]]

* WouldNotHitAGirl: [[spoiler:Quan]] spares [[spoiler: Maggie]] in the final showdown. Though given that she was hit by a stray bullet earlier, it's possible he thought she was dead.

* BittersweetEnding: Quan is able to avenge his daughter by taking out the Authentic IRA cell, and the police are able to stop the bomb plot. A remorseful Hennessy is forced by Quan to publicly reveal his association with the Authentic IRA, effectively killing his political career. But Quan's daughter is still dead, and his role in the events has attracted the attention of Scotland Yard who place him under surveillance. The film ends with Quan returning to his restaurant and reuniting with Lam.

* BittersweetEnding: Quan is able to avenge his daughter by taking out the Authentic IRA cell and the police are able to stop the bomb plot. A remorseful Hennessy is forced by Quan to publicly reveal his association with the Authentic IRA, effectively killing his political career. But Quan's daughter is still dead, and his role in the events has attracted the attention of Scotland Yard who place him under surveillance. The film ends with Quan returning to his restaurant and reuniting with Lam.

* AdaptationalNationality: In the novel, the titular "China Man", Nguyen Ngoc Minh, is actually Vietnamese who gets mistaken for Chinese and has served with the Viet Cong before defecting to the US side. In the movie, Jackie's character, Ngoc Minh Quan, is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_N%C3%B9ng Chinese Nùng]] [[https://www.specialforces78.com/the-chinese-nungs/ who served with the US Special Forces during the Vietnam War.]]

* AdaptationalNationality: In the novel, the titular "China Man", Nguyen Ngoc Minh, is actually Vietnamese who gets mistaken for Chinese and has served with the Viet Cong before defecting to the US side. In the movie, Jackie's character, Ngoc Minh Quan, is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoa_people Chinese Nuang]] who served with the US Special Forces during the Vietnam War.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The film, based on a novel written in 1992 but is set in the late 2010's, treat the IRA as a credible threat akin to the days of UsefulNotes/TheTroubles. In realty Sinn Fein has abandoned its armed struggle since 1998 and entered politics, and most of the fringe IRA groups today never engaged in the large scale bombings as depicted by the film. For that reason several reviewers did not find the IRA to be credible villains.

* AdultFear:
** Imagine you're driving your daughter to the mall, only for it to blow up just as she goes inside. You find her body and she's not breathing. It's no wonder Quan falls apart completely. Liam even mentions he's sympathetic, mentioning he has a daughter and understands Quan's pain.
** Quan's backstory: he and his family were refugees. Pirates kidnapped his preteen daughters and murdered them. Then his wife died having Fan, his last daughter. After Fan dies, Quan snaps because she was his only family.
** Liam has this reaction when he realizes Quan has followed him and will blow up bombs in the vicinity of his wife. He insists that Mary go to London and hide with their daughter, so that they won't get caught in the crossfire.

* ShooTheDog: Liam tells [[spoiler:Sean]] to go back to New York, no hard feelings, and stay there as Liam handles the fallout. Given the way he's handling the pistol, [[spoiler:Sean]] is getting off easy for [[spoiler:sleeping with Mary]].
* SpeedSex: Maggie mocks her journalist lover for being a "three seconds wonder".

* OffscreenMomentofAwesome: [[spoiler: When the police begin to interrogate Maggie, she is absolutely defiant in giving them any information, going so far as to state that there's only "9 minutes left" (before the bomb went off). Cue the interrogator walking in with a car battery and a pair of clamps, which then cuts directly to a scene of him calling his superiors about the location of the bomb. Considering that the police were able to organize a search and isolate the bomb, the interrogator must have been able to extract the information ''within 5-6 minutes.'']]

* PostCoitalCollapse: We hear a [[TheGruntingOrgasm a grunt]] as a man collapses into bed, sweaty and panting quickly followed by his lover Maggie. While he goes to the bathroom to clean up, she [[spoiler:quickly searches his room, revealing she is actually [[HoneyTrap a terrorist that seduced him]] for being a journalist that had info she needed to further a bombing plot.]]

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: While there is not quite a full-blown war, the film unflinchingly portrays morality ranging from grey to black on all three sides: TheProtagonist, and the two sides he is caught in the middle of. The trope example comes in when government forces torture a terrorist off-screen, and then--after getting the information they need--summarily execute that terrorist ''on'' screen.

* RealityEnsues:
** In the beginning, Quan comes every day to the station to beg for information about the people who killed his daughter. The cop is sympathetic but tells him there's no point, he can't be bribed for information, and it's a waste of resources that could be spent finding the crooks. Quan will get updates with the rest of London.
** Quan starts a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, which Liam keeps quiet ([[StupidEvil for reasons]]). While the Irish people are never notified, [[spoiler:the British cops put out a warrant for his arrest, though Bromley later drops the charges]].

* NotSoDifferent:
** Both Quan and Hennessy have much in common. Both were fighters in a past war that resulted in the deaths of many of their loved ones, resulting in them doing whatever they can to keep their remaining family safe. Liam says as much when trying to talk him down.
** Though Quan argues against Hennessy's comparison, he does feel a similar connection to Sean when they fight. Sean gives him one of the hardest matches in the film [[spoiler:and the names of the bombers]], and after that he and Quan have a calm chat. Quan subtly notes the similarities between them, Sean was a soldier in Iraq serving with the British whilst he himself was Irish, much like how Quan was Vietnamese serving the Americans.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: Per his Facebook, Jackie Chan wore makeup and had his hair frosted to look older and more weathered.

** Imagine you're driving your daughter to the mall, only for it to blow up just as she goes inside. You find her body and she's not breathing. It's no wonder Quan falls apart completely. Liam even mentions he's sympathetic, mentioning he has a daughter.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:While Hennessy was the one who ordered the bombings, he is still disgusted that his men ignored his orders not to get civilians killed]].

* KarmicDeath: The IRA cell has been killing civilians relying on the security of malls or buses. [[spoiler:They get killed when a supposed repairman opens fire in the safety of their apartment, and painfully at that]]. Special points to [[spoiler:Maggie]] who is barely alive, then [[spoiler:tortured by the special ops team until she gives up information and unceremoniously executed]].

* LawfulStupid: Why Quan eventually takes the law into his hands; the local cop is sympathetic but tells him coming every day, begging for answers, is wasting their

* MundaneSolution: Hennessy tries many methods to neutralize Quan, finally bringing in his nephew Sean to try and defeat him. In case Sean fails in his effort, Hennessy gives Sean some backup orders: [[spoiler: just give Quan the information he's been asking for in the hopes it will make him go away.]]
* NervesOfSteel: The British PM learns [[spoiler:she was a target for a terrorist plot and nearly died on a plane]]. Her response is to calmly call Liam and [[spoiler:coerce him to work for London exclusively]].

* RealityEnsues: Quan starts a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, which Liam keeps quiet ([[StupidEvil for reasons]]). While the Irish people are never notified, [[spoiler:the British cops put out a warrant for his arrest, though Bromley later drops the charges]].

** Both Quan and Hennessy have much in common. Both were fighters in a past war that resulted in the deaths of many of their loved ones, resulting in them doing whatever they can to keep their remaining family safe.

* PetTheDog: When Quan infiltrates Hennessy's farm the first time he assaults and knocks out 2 guards. He makes a point to check their pulses afterwards, and when he leaves them tied up he keeps them out of range of the bomb he sets.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Bromley is sympathetic to Quan's situation, and [[spoiler:when he discovers that Quan is the one responsible for killing most of the IRA terrorists, he decides not to arrest him.]]