History YMMV / TheForeigner2017

* CompleteMonster: [[TheManBehindTheMan Hugh McGrath]] is the one responsible for [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles the IRA's brutal bombing campaign of London]]. [[WesternTerrorists A bloodthirsty IRA terrorist]] with [[AxCrazy a reputation for brutality]] even among his organization, [=McGrath=] grew enraged at [[WellIntentionedExtremist Liam Hennessy]] brokering peace with the British government. After Hennessy decides to run a fake bombing campaign with dud bomb in order to gain pardons for IRA members, [=McGrath=] hijacks the plan and arms the bombs with his own Semtex. Personally directing the bombers and encouraging them to massacre as many civilian targets as possible, [=McGrath=] has the rogue cell bomb a shop and a packed bus, killing dozens, including women and children. Directing the cell to take down the British Prime Minister onboard her own plane, [=McGrath=] planned on framing Hennessy to ensure his full cooperation.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Hennessy. [[spoiler: He did arrange for the attacks, but strictly ordered no civilians be hurt and throughout the film is desperately trying to bring the terrorists to justice. That plus being betrayed and manipulated by his old friend, his lover, his nephew and his wife while Quan mercilessly attacks him for information he legitimately doesn’t have. Quan forcing him to expose his connection with one of the bombers online (who Hennessy, again, did not know was part of the scheme), destroying what is left of his shattered career and life, feels harsh.]]
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Quan. His quick resort to violence towards Hennessy comes across rather unjustified and inhumane considering he had no solid proof Hennessy knew who did it. [[spoiler: Even when it turns out Hennessy did plan the bombings, he had no intention for civilians to be harmed and really didn’t know the names and spends the movie trying to clean up the mess, which Quan’s aggression is actually impeding. In fact, he nearly caused the death of more people in the end when he attacks the terrorists’ safehouse and nearly kills them all because without at least one of them alive, the special forces wouldn’t have been able to determine where the next bombing was taking place. In the end, his actions do nothing to help bring the terrorists to justice and everything might have been solved faster and with considerable less bloodshed if he had just stayed out of it. Him getting away in the end with multiple crimes and murders actually leaves a sour taste in your mouth.]]

* EightDeadlyWords: A common criticism of the film is that the cast of characters are simply too morally bankrupt to get behind. Hennessy is a {{Jerkass}} who cheats on his wife and [[spoiler: set up the bombings]], the IRA cell [[WouldHurtAChild kill innocent civilians]], and the British Police themselves are more than willing to [[PoliceBrutality torture and kill]] in order to stop further bombings. Quan is the only remotely sympathetic character, but given how destructive his actions can be and how dreary and [[PinballProtagonist pointless]] his [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge path of revenge]] becomes, it can be hard to muster any investment in his story.

* EightDeadlyWords: A common criticism of the film is that the cast of characters are simply too morally bankrupt to get behind. Hennessy is a {{Jerkass}} who cheats on his wife and [[spoiler: set up the bombings]], the IRA cell [[WouldHurtAChild kill innocent civilians]], and the British Police themselves are more than willing to [[PoliceBrutality torture and kill]] in order to stop further bombings. Quan is the only remotely sympathetic character, but given how dreary and [[PinballProtagonist pointless]] his [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge path of revenge]] becomes, it can be hard to muster any investment in his story.

** Ngoc Minh Quan is a widower whose beloved daughter Fan is killed in a [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles terrorist bombing]]. Centering in on Irish Deputy First Minister Liam Hennessy for his old IRA connections, Quan pressures him to give up any names he knows by ramping up threats, even bombing Hennessy's office. Later outmaneuvering and disabling Hennessy's crack security team, Quan uncovers a bomber plot and uses a ruse to gain entry to the terrorists' hideaway before eliminating almost all of them himself, ending it by forcing Hennessy to expose his connections to one of the bombers to the world.
** Liam Hennessy himself is a former IRA terrorist who abandoned terrorism for politics. Planning bombings without human casualties to force the British government to accede to release IRA prisoners. When his own wife and allies betray him, Hennessy takes matters into his own hands. Furious at the deaths of innocents, Hennessy tortures his old army friend [=McGrath=] for information, exposing his wife for her affair with his nephew and proceeds to play the British against the terrorists to foil the bombing and achieve his ends before having his wife executed by Sean to secure the end of the plot.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: A common criticism of the film is that the cast of characters are simply too morally bankrupt to get behind. Hennessy is a {{Jerkass}} who cheats on his wife and [[spoiler: set up the bombings]], the IRA cell [[WouldHurtAChild kill innocent civilians]], and the British Police themselves are more than willing to [[PoliceBrutality torture and kill]] in order to stop further bombings. Quan is the only remotely sympathetic character, but given how dreary and [[PinballProtagonist pointless]] his [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge path of revenge]] becomes, it can be hard to muster any investment in his story.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Quan. Quan’s quick resort to violence towards Hennessy comes across rather unjustified and inhumane considering he had no solid proof Hennessy knew who did it. [[spoiler: Even when it turns out Hennessy did plan the bombings, he had no intention for civilians to be harmed and really didn’t know the names and spends the movie trying to clean up the mess, which Quan’s aggression is actually impeding. In fact, he nearly caused the death of more people in the end when he attacks the terrorists’ safehouse and nearly kills them all because without at least one of them alive, the special forces wouldn’t have been able to determine where the next bombing was taking place. In the end, his actions do nothing to help bring the terrorists to justice and everything might have been solved faster and with considerable less bloodshed if he had just stayed out of it. Him getting away in the end with multiple crimes and murders actually leaves a sour taste in your mouth.]]

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: A common criticism of the film is that the cast of characters are simply too morally bankrupt to get behind. Hennessy is a {{Jerkass}} who [[YourCheatingHeart cheats on his wife]] and [[spoiler: set up the bombings]], the IRA cell [[WouldHurtAChild kill innocent civilians]], and the British Police themselves are more than willing to [[PoliceBrutality torture and kill]] in order to stop further bombings. Quan is the only remotely sympathetic character, but given how dreary and [[PinballProtagonist pointless]] his [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge path of revenge]] becomes, it can be hard to muster any investment in his story.

* ValuesDissonance: There's no way the novel's original title ''The Chinaman'' could be used in 2017, though it's still said plenty in the film.

* TaintedByThePreview: Inverted. The film's promotional campaign in many countries often focused solely in the fights, the shootouts and the premise of Creator/JackieChan going for the "lone wolf seeking revenge" plot, which had the consequence of making it look like a DarkerAndEdgier action film in the vein of ''Franchise/JohnWick''. Naturally, many people were disappointed when they actually watched it and discovered it was actually a slow-paced, realistic thriller about political affairs.

* TaintedByThePreview: Inverted. The film's promotional campaign in many countries often focused solely in the fights, the shootouts and the premise of Creator/JackieChan going for the "lone wolf seeking revenge" plot, which had the consequence of making it look like a DarkerAndEdgier action film in the vein of ''Film/JohnWick''. Naturally, many people were disappointed when they actually watched it and discovered it was actually a slow-paced, realistic thriller about political affairs.

** [[spoiler: This, in a sense, leads to Hennessy being ReformedButRejected in the eyes of many]].

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Quan. Quan’s quick resort to violence towards Hennessy comes across rather unjustified and inhumane considering he had no solid proof Hennessy knew who did it. [[spoiler: Even when it turns out Hennessy did plan the bombings, he had no intention for civilians to be harmed and really didn’t know the names and spends the movie trying to clean up the mess, which Quan’s aggression is actually impeding. In fact he nearly causes the death of more people in the end when he attacks the terrorists’ safehouse and nearly kills them all because without at least one of them alive the special forces wouldn’t have been able to determine where the next bombing was taking place. In the end, his actions do nothing to help bring the terrorists to justice and everything might have been solved faster and with considerable less bloodshed if he had just stayed out of it. Him getting away in the end with multiple crimes and murders feels actually leaves a sour taste in your mouth.]]

* MoralEventHorizon: The bombers may have crossed it with the first bomb wherein Quan's daughter is killed or possibly the second which occurs after they've been established and helps to reinforce that they're bad people. The fact that the camera goes out of its way to follow a random innocent family as they board the bus to be killed by the second bomb is the movie underscoring it.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Hennessy. [[spoiler: He did arrange for the attacks but strictly ordered no civilians go be hurt and throughout the film desperately trying to bring the terrorists to justice. That plus being betrayed and manipulated by his old friend, his lover, his nephew and his wife while Quan mercilessly attacks him for information he legitimately doesn’t have. Quan forcing him to expose his connection with one of the bombers online (who Hennessy, again, did not know was part of the scheme) destroying what is left of his shattered career and life feels harsh.]]
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Quan. Quan’s quick resort to violence towards Hennessy comes across rather unjustified and inhumane considering he had no solid proof Hennessy knew who did it [[spoiler: even when it turns out Hennessy did plan the bombings he had no intention for civilians to be harmed and really didn’t know the names and spends the movie trying to clean up the mess, which Quan’s agression is actually impeding. In fact he nearly causes the death of more people in the end when he attacks the terrorists’ safehouse and nearly kills them all because without at least one of them alive the special forces wouldn’t have been able to determine where the next bombing was taking place. In the end, his actions do nothing to help bring the terrorists to justice and everything might have been solved faster and with considerable less bloodshed if he had just stayed out of it. Him getting away in the end with multiple crimes and murders feels actually leaves a sour taste in your mouth.]]

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Hennessy. [[spoiler: Did arrange for the attacks but strictly ordered no civilians go be hurt and throughout the film desperately trying to bring the terrorists to justice. That plus being betrayed and manipulated by his old friend, his lover, his nephew and his wife while Quan mercilessly attacks him for information he legitimately doesn’t have.]]
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Quan’s quick resort to violence towards Hennessy comes across rather unjustified and inhumane considering he had no solid proof Hennessy knew who did it [[spoiler: even when it turns out Hennessy did plan the bombings he had no intention for civilians to be harmed and really didn’t know the names and spends the movie trying to clean up the mess, which Quan’s agression is actually impeding.]]

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Hennessy [[spoiler: did arrange for the attacks but strictly ordered no civilians go be hurt and throughout the film desperately trying to bring the terrorists to justice. That plus being betrayed and manipulated by his old friend, his lover, his nephew, and his wife while Quan mercilessly attacks him for information he legitimately doesn’t have.]]

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Quan’s violence towards Hennessy comes across rather unjustified and inhumane considering he had no solid proof Hennessy knew who did it [[spoiler: even when it turns out Hennessy did plan the bombings he had no intention for civilians to be harmed and really didn’t know the names and spends the movie trying to clean up the mess, which Quan’s agression is actually impeding.]]

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Quan’s violence towards Hennessy comes across rather unjustified and inhumane considering he had no solid proof Hennessy knew who did it [[spoilder: even when it turns out Hennessy did plan the bombings he had no intention for civilians to be harmed and really didn’t know the names and spends the movie trying to clean up the mess, which Quan’s agression is actually impeding.]]

* HeReallyCanAct: Creator/JackieChan has already proven his dramatic chops in the past, but many have good things to say about his acrobatic martial arts skills being PlayedForDrama instead of the usual slapstick.

* MoralEventHorizon: The bombers may have crossed it with the first bomb wherein Quan's daughter is killed or possibly the second which occurs after they've been established and helps to reinforce that they're bad people. The fact that the camera goes out of its way to follow a random innocent family as they board the bus to be killed by the second bomb shows that they are very bad people.

* RefugeeFromTime: In the original novel, the equivalent character to Quan's daughter Fan was a twentysomething student in the early 1990s when the novel was set (which made sense, as she was a small child when the family escaped Vietnam following the end of the war there). The film adaptation moved the main action of the novel forward 20 or 25 years to be set in roughly 2017, but kept Fan's backstory the same - yet she's still a twentysomething student in the film, rather than being in her mid-forties as one might expect.

* HeReallyCanAct: Creator/JackieChan has already proven his dramatic chops in the past, but many have good things to say about his acrobatic martial arts skills being PlayedForDrama instead of the usual slapstick.