My ears perked up when I heard some morning radio hosts mention Jackie Chan on my commute last August. Forbes had just released its annual list of the world’s highest-paid actors and the hosts were shocked to learn that Jackie came in at Number 5. “What was the last movie he made? The Karate Kid?” They went on to deride the list, as morning DJs do. It’s exactly this sort of global naiveté and cultural self-centeredness that will cause America to lose the top spot as the world’s leader. Okay, that’s a bit heavy-handed for an intro to a Jackie Chan film review, but consider this – The Foreigner is not your typical Jackie Chan film, at least not the sort that Americans have come to expect from the highest-paid martial actor on the planet. This is a serious action film. No pratfalls. No goofy jokes. No crazy acrobatic stunts for laughs. Just hard-hitting ultravi. It’s rated R for violence, language and some sexual material. Will Americans be able to accept Jackie in an adult action thriller?

Jackie Chan has had lead roles in fifteen feature films since The Karate Kid. Three of those already came out this year and two were even major Hollywood releases distributed in the United States. But they weren’t quite the sort of Kung Fu comedy that the American public has pigeon-holed Jackie into. When it comes to minority actors in Hollywood, stereotypes are hard to break. It’s been thirty-seven years since Jackie first appeared on American movie screens outside of Chinatown. Directed by Robert Clouse, who also directed Enter the Dragon (1973), Jackie’s first Hollywood effort, The Big Brawl, was considered a flop in the wake of Bruce Lee. Thirty-seven years and America still doesn’t really know Jackie.

For the most part, Hollywood has delegated Jackie to YA fare. Lately, he’s been doing a lot of voice work for children’s movies, coming in the wake of his role as Monkey in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. Last year, he also provided the voice for another monkey, the Monkey King himself, for the English-dubbed U.S. release of Monkey King: Hero Is Back. This year, he was the voice of Mr. Feng in The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature and Master Wu in Ninjago, deftly stealing the show with his Cantonese accent. Meanwhile in China, he’s also got a new cartoon TV series, All New Jackie Chan Adventures. However, he may not provide his own voice, just like he didn’t for his American cartoon TV series Jackie Chan Adventures (2000–2005). Beyond children’s fare, Jackie also narrated the BBC nature documentary Earth: One Amazing Day for Chinese audiences. Americans used to mock Chinese accents, but Jackie has parlayed it into some surprising niche roles.

Many critics have already distinguished The Foreigner as Jackie’s first dramatic actioner, but in truth, Jackie has done several serious roles before. The most recent was Police Story: Lockdown (2013) where Jackie played an old cop trying to resolve father/daughter issues while they are both trapped in the middle of a hostage situation. In The Foreigner, Jackie is also dealing with father/daughter issues, although of a different sort (maybe Jackie is acting out some of his own personal issues with his real-life daughter Etta Ng). Jackie plays Quan Ngoc Minh, an old retired Special Forces soldier, on the road of vengeance when his daughter, Fan (Katie Leung from the Harry Potter films), is killed by a terrorist bombing (not a spoiler – you see it in the trailer). Jackie plays his age, still spry at 64, but he’s got more mileage than any other actor in the business and he exaggerates his oldness specifically for this role. His face is lined and scarred and his gait is stiff and limping.

The Foreigner feels like a classic action thriller with some timely twists. First, of course, is Jackie in the lead. Beyond being serious drama, it’s not a typical Jackie buddy film. Many of his other popular Hollywood films, like his powerhouse U.S. franchises Rush Hour (1998, 2001, 2007) and Shanghai Noon/Knights (2000, 2003), his Disney effort Around the World in 80 Days (2004) and even Forbidden Kingdom (2008), have relied heavily on that comedic chemistry of the old bromance formula. His other Hollywood films usually had a female foil, like The Tuxedo (2002) or The Medallion (2003), although he never got to kiss the girl. In fact, he only got to kiss one girl in any Hollywood film – that was The Spy Next Door (2010). There’s no kissing for Jackie in The Foreigner either. He’s all alone, walking that road of vengeance, in the cold wet forests of Northern Ireland.

Another twist is the terrorists are not burnoose-wearing middle easterners. They are all white. Set in the United Kingdom, the terrorists in The Foreigner are a rogue IRA cell. There’s only a passing nod to ISIS and Al-Qaeda. For millennials who might not remember, the IRA was known for terrorist bombs long before those other terrorist groups, so much so we even named a drink after it (Guinness + Bailey’s + Jameson = Irish Car Bomb). With Brexit looming, The Foreigner may be spot on to recall Ireland’s rebellious nature.

Pierce Brosnan is spot on too in his portrayal of the complex politician, Liam Hennessy, the target of Jackie’s wrath. Hennessy is loosely based on Gerry Adams, the real-life Irish Republic politician, an important figure in the Northern Ireland peace process who has family ties to the IRA. While clearly a fictitious portrayal, Brosnan captures Adams grey-bearded look with Hennessy, along with a similar character background. Hennessy is not a cut-and-dried two-dimensional villain. It’s a layered performance by Brosnan, one of his best dramatic performances in years. Portraying Hennessy’s wife Mary is Orla Brady from Into the Badlands. Like her character Lydia, she’s playing another wife of a powerful nefarious leader, who turns out to be quite powerful in her own right. I got to speak to Orla last year when I visited the set of Into the Badlands in Ireland. “I did this Jackie Chan film during the year,” said Brady. “I did this film called The Foreigner, but I didn't get to work with Jackie, which I was really sad about. I only had one scene with him and it involved us being so far apart that we only ended up meeting and chatting rather than doing. But it's a lovely film.”

When Brady calls The Foreigner lovely, that’s her manner of speaking in her lovely Irish lilt (she’s a Dublin native). The Foreigner is brutal and gritty, a punch in the gut for anyone looking for a light Jackie Chan comedy. Terrorism is merciless. The bomb victims are shown in unflinching sanguineous carnage. The bombings have a savage realism, so much so that when the filmmakers staged an explosion on Lambeth Bridge, Londoners feared it was a genuine terrorist attack despite earlier public notification. This was no CGI effect so the explosive impact is felt, like it should be.

The action is solid. It’s not the sort of acrobatic Kung Fu that Jackie has built his reputation upon, but given the plot, that would have been inappropriate. Fights are choreographed with a hard-hitting plausible realism. And yet, during the screener I went to, the audience was laughing during the fight scenes. I’d attribute part of this to that American expectation for Jackie to be funny, but more so, it was that purgative delight when a bad guy gets his unsparing comeuppance. When we go to the movies, we enjoy seeing villainy punished because that doesn’t always happen in real life. There’s a delicious pleasure in watching this old guy beat the crap out of a gang of thugs. And ultimately, we go to see a Jackie Chan film to see Jackie kick ass. In The Foreigner, Jackie delivers that bad-assery with ruthless abandon, just like anyone might to avenge their daughter’s death.

Jackie has long desired to be perceived as a versatile actor. He gets to show his acting chops in The Foreigner with gut-wrenching empathy as he mourns his daughter’s death. While he’ll never shake his martial roots, nor should he, The Foreigner is a step in the right direction for America to see that he’s much more than just that funny Kung Fu comedian. He’s an Oscar-worthy performer who has put more on the line more than any actor in the business, just for our entertainment. And for that, we are grateful for Jackie’s ongoing sacrifices and everything he’s done to get where he is today.