The Foreigner (2003)

Director:

Michael Oblowitz

Writer:

Darren O. Campbell (writer)

Release Date:

20 June 2003 (South Korea)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

If they think they can stop him, they're dead wrong.

Plot:

This story is about a freelance agent (Seagal) who is the courier of a package from France to Germany. He soon finds that many people want to get their hands on it.

Plot Keywords:

Courier | First Of Series | Chase | Title Spoken By Character

Cast

Steven Seagal	...	Jonathan Cold
Max Ryan	...	Dunoir
Harry Van Gorkum	...	Jerome Van Aken
Jeffrey Pierce	...	Sean Cold
Anna-Louise Plowman	...	Meredith Van Aken
Sherman Augustus	...	Mr. Mimms
Gary Raymond	...	Jared Olyphant
Philip Dunbar	...	Alexander Marquee
Izabela Okrasa	...	Clarissa Van Aken
Grzegorz Kowalczyk	...	Rolls Royce Driver
Dianna Camacho	...	Hotel Clerk Imke
Deobia Oparei	...	The Stranger
Grzegorz Emanuel	...	Jonathan Look Alike
Przemyslaw Saleta	...	Security Guard
Jan Jurewicz	...	Man with Porsche

Also Known As:

Cudzoziemiec (Poland)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

Argentina:96 min

Country:

USA | Poland

Language:

English | Danish | German | Polish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Sweden:15 | Netherlands:16 | Finland:K-15 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Germany:18 (JK/SPIO) | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Franchise Pictures

Trivia:

The plane crash pictured in the newspaper that Cold was reading occurred in San Jose, Costa Rica on 16 January 2000. It killed five people.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the scene where the characters exit the burning farmhouse, Steven Segal's stand-in is clearly visible.

Quotes:

Dunoir: Now, no more bedtime stories. Where's the package?
Jonathon Cold: [sarcastically] What package?
Dunoir: [fires a warning shot near Cold's foot and chuckles] You're running out of hiding places my friend. Do you believe I found this barn through premonition? Do what you can to eliminate the innocent from this equation.
Jonathon Cold: Well, then it looks like you've been had, Dunoir. Because Meredith may have sent you to kill me, but she's already got the package, and I thought you were a lot smarter than that.
Dunoir: No, no, no, no, no. You're much smarter than that. I know you like I know myself.
Jonathon Cold: Well I'll tell you what then, why don't you go ahead and kill me? Start your own little easter egg hunt.
[nods down to Mimms' watch which is beeping]
Jonathon Cold: That sets off a homing device. Folks'll come and find you in a couple of meters.
Dunoir: That's, who'll know where to find you?
Jonathon Cold: Foreign ops.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References First Blood (1982)

Chronicles the sad decline of a once-great action movie star

Steven Seagal has starred in some great action flicks down the years – but unfortunately this ain't one of ‘em. As other hacks have pointed out on this page, the plot is messy and incoherent and it's difficult most of the time to even work out who are supposed to be the `good guys' and who are supposed to be the `bad guys'. It borrows a major plot element from the movie `Ronin' from a few years back, namely a mysterious package that various mysterious factions are desperate to get their hands on and will walk over corpses in order to do so, and like that movie this one also has a European setting. The plot of `Ronin' was also a bit convoluted and confusing and required the viewer to pay close attention to what was going on. But the `The Foreigner' is far worse. It tries too hard to be intriguing and mysterious and in the process ends up as a complete mess. And then we come to Mr. Seagal himself. Okay, he's the on dark side of 50 now, but that in itself isn't necessarily a barrier to being able to carry off a tough-guy action role. For example, Clint Eastwood was older than Seagal is now when he starred as the hard-as-nails Marine gunnery sergeant in `Heartbreak Ridge' in the mid-1980s, but he carried off that role superbly and convincingly because he was lean, mean and obviously very fit. Seagal on the other hand has quite clearly gone to seed, allowing himself to balloon (as others have also pointed out here) to almost Brando-esque proportions and quite frankly looked laughable here. And then there's that annoying, headache-inducing `fast-motion, slow-motion' camerawork that unfortunately seems to be all the rage with movie-makers right now. Hopefully it's a trend will soon die out (that movie `The Matrix' has got a lot to answer for). In a nutshell – sub-standard and very typical `straight-to-video' fare and really only recommended for die-hard Seagal enthusiasts. 3 out of 10 (and I'm being generous).