''The Foreigner'' is a 2003 American action thriller film starring

Steven Seagal Steven Frederic Seagal (; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, screenwriter and martial artist. A 7th-dan black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instructor in Japan and eventually ended up running his father-in-l ...

. The film was shot entirely in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, and was the first of a long string of

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

films released starring Seagal from 2003 to 2009. The film recouped its budget from the US home video market alone.

Plot

Jonathan "Jon" Cold (

) is a former "foreigner", or deep cover operative who now works as a freelance agent who is frequently commissioned to deliver high-risk packages. As Jon prepares for his father's funeral, Alexander Marquet (Philip Dunbar) asks him to take on an assignment. Jon is keen to leave the business, but he reluctantly accepts the job. His task is to take a mysterious package from France to a wealthy man in Germany. But Jon will soon find that there are a lot of people who are determined to prevent him from doing so. Jon is accompanied by Dunoir (

Max Ryan Max Ryan (born 2 January 1967 in the North of England) is a British actor and former motocross racer. After a near-death experience in motocross he eventually turned to acting. After some lesser supporting roles in famous British soap operas and a ...

) to a farmhouse to pick up the package, and they are attacked by assassins. Jon fights them off and decides to continue with the assignment. Leaving Dunoir behind in France, Jon heads for his father Jackson's memorial service in Warsaw, Poland, and Jon meets up with his brother Sean (

Jeffrey Pierce Jeffrey Pierce (born Jeffrey Douglas Plitt; December 13, 1971) is an American actor, voice actor, director, producer, and novelist. He is best known for providing the voice and motion capture for Tommy in the video game series ''The Last of Us' ...

) before continuing on to Germany. The package turns out to contain a black box flight recorder from an aircraft that had been suspiciously downed, and the recipient – sinister industrialist Jerome Van Aken (Harry Van Gorkum) – has a vested interest in it. Once he arrives in Germany, Jon discovers that he is being pursued by various agents and assassins, while Van Aken's wife Meredith ( Anna-Louise Plowman) and

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

spook Jared Olyphant (

Gary Raymond Gary Barrymore Raymond (born 20 April 1935) is an English film, television and theatre actor. Biography Gary Raymond was born in Brixton, London, to theatrical parents, both of whom were variety artistes. The youngest of three brothers, Gary a ...

) also seem to want to get hold of the package.

Cast

Production

Kate Fischer Tziporah Atarah Malkah (born Katherine Helen Fischer; 30 November 1973) is an Australian former model and actress. Early life and career Kate Fischer was born on 30 November 1973 in Adelaide, South Australia, the daughter of future Australian ...

has a small role.

Sequel

A sequel to ''The Foreigner'', titled '' Black Dawn'', was released in 2005. Seagal's character John Cold is the only character who returns from the original.

Reception

''The Foreigner'' was released

straight to video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

without receiving a theatrical release. It was critically panned for its nonsensical plot, poor acting, Seagal's lack of martial arts and the low-quality filmmaking. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

it has an approval rating of 0% based on reviews from 5 critics.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Foreigner, The 2003 direct-to-video films 2003 action thriller films 2003 films American action thriller films Films set in France Films shot in Poland Films set in Warsaw Films set in Germany Franchise Pictures films Films produced by Elie Samaha Films directed by Michael Oblowitz 2000s English-language films 2000s American films