The Jackal (film)
From AwardAnnals
| Film: | The Jackal |
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| Director: | Michael Caton-Jones |
| Genres: | |
| Distributor: | Universal Studios |
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Reviews
Amazon.com
The best way to enjoy this 1997 thriller is to forget the much better film that inspired it (1973’s The Day of the Jackal) and get whatever kicks you can from this heavy-metal remake. It’s not bad as hokey thrillers go, but all of the original film’s suspenseful finesse has been traded in (not traded up) for bigger, bolder action and nonsensical plotting. It’s as if Hollywood had forgotten to create excitement without resorting to overblown action and heavy hardware, but there’s ample compensation in the casting of Bruce Willis and Richard Gere. Willis is the elusive assassin known only as the Jackal, whose latest target (he uses a cannon-sized gun that’s anything but inconspicuous) may be the first lady of the United States. Gere plays a former IRA terrorist who is recruited by the deputy head of the FBI (Sidney Poitier) to trace the Jackal’s maneuvers, and Diane Venora offers some gutsy support as a Russian-born agent who assists Gere on his mission. The movie has fun turning Willis into a master of disguise, and Gere adds much-needed gravity to counter the plot’s escalating absurdity, but this is the kind of film that falls apart if you think about it too much. Still, that doesn’t stop the Collector’s Edition DVD from offering an impressive array of bonus features, including a director’s commentary, a “making of The Jackal” documentary, deleted scenes, an alternative ending, cast interviews, and more. —Jeff Shannon
Related works
The Jackal: Music from and Inspired By
The Richard Gere/Bruce Willis bomb was destined for a quick exit from the big screen, which is too bad since this is an exemplary sampler of up-to-the-minute electronica. Norman Cook (ex-Housemartins/Beats International) reemerges here as Fatboy Slim, neatly sampling The Who’s “I Can’t Explain” for lead track “Going Out of My Head.” And tracks by Prodigy, Bush, Moby, Lunatic Calm, and Black Grape’s pro-pot anthem “Get Higher” (which craftily subverts a comment by Ronald Reagan) keep the pace jumping. —Jeff Bateman
The Jackal. A tall, blond Englishman with opaque, gray eyes. A killer at the top of his profession. A man unknown to any secret service in the world. An assassin with a contract to kill the world’s most heavily guarded man.
One man with a rifle who can change the course of history. One man whose mission is so secretive not even his employers know his name. And as the minutes count down to the final act of execution, it seems that there is no power on earth that can stop the Jackal.
