By Kyle Shea
“The Foreigner”
Jackie Chan is one of the greatest martial arts masters in the world. He has been starring in movies since the 1960s and is well known for his physical comedy and for doing his own stunts. Some of his movies include the “Rush Hour” movies, “Shanghai Noon,” “Shanghai Knights” and “The Forbidden Kingdom.” One of his most recent movies is “The Foreigner.” Based on the book, The Chinaman, by Stephen Leather, Jackie Chan plays an older man named Quan who loses his daughter when she is killed in a terrorist bombing. Filled with anger and wanting revenge, he spends the rest of the movie hunting down the people responsible for his daughter’s death. In order to accomplish this, he pursues and pressures a Northern Ireland politician named Liam, played by Pierce Brosnan, believing he knows the location of the terrorists.
In one scene in the movie, Jackie Chan’s character smuggles a gun into an apartment using a tool bag. The gun is an ArmaLite AR-180 without the buttstock and has an improvised suppressor at the end of the barrel. The ArmaLite AR-180 is the semi-automatic version of the AR-18, a rifle designed by Arthur Miller—the same man who helped design the AR-15 with Eugene Stoner, who later designed the Stoner 63. The ArmaLite AR-180 shoots 5.56x45mm NATO from a number of different capacity magazines at a rate of 750 rounds per minute. The AR-180 in the movie was made by the Sterling Armaments Company in the UK. There was also a special prop gun made for the movie. The rifle was not a big hit in the market, but it was influential in the creation of other rifles, including the Japanese Howa Type 89.
Another gun used in the movie is the SIG SG 552 Commando. It is used by Liam’s nephew Sean, played by Rory Fleck-Byrne. He uses it on a hunt for Quan in the woods near where his uncle is hiding. The SG 552 Commando was produced in Switzerland by SIG Combibloc Group. It is one of many variants of the SIG SG 550. It has a shorter barrel than the other variants, and it shoots 5.56x45mm NATO from a number of different magazines at a rate of 700 rounds per minute. The gun is used by a number of different countries, including the UK, Finland, Malaysia, Italy and the country that produces it, Switzerland.
Other firearms used in the movie include the Beretta 92FS, Glock 17 and Heckler & Koch USP used by the terrorists in a gun fight with Quan. British authorities carry HK G36C rifles during a raid against the terrorists, while snipers use Lewis Machine & Tool’s L129A1 rifles to cover them. In one scene in the film, security officers at an airport are seen carrying HK MP5A4 submachine guns while looking for a bomb. A Makarov PM, an M3 Grease Gun and an HK USP Compact also make an appearance in the movie.
Both Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan do an excellent job with their performances, especially when they are in the same room together. The rest of the cast does a good job with their roles as well, including Rory Fleck Byrne and Charlie Murphy. The movie did well at the box office but had mixed reviews from critics. It is still a very well done movie and is certainly worth a watch. Whether you buy it or rent it, please enjoy the film, as well as any movie starring Jackie Chan.
| This article first appeared in Small Arms Review V23N2 (February 2019) |
