The Jackal (1997)
A movie review by Michael J. Legeros
Copyright 1997 by Michael J. Legeros
(Universal)
Directed by Michael Caton-Jones
Written by Chuck Pfarrer based on the motion picture screenplay
THE DAY OF THE JACKAL by Kenneth Ross
Cast Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Sydney Poitier, Diane
Venora, Mathilda May, Tess Harper
MPAA Rating "R" (for strong violence and language)
Running Time 122 minutes
Reviewed at Mission Valley Cinemas, Raleigh, NC 11NOV97
==
THE JACKAL is a high-tech, low-believability thriller, starring Bruce Willis as the title character, an expert assassin and master of many disguises, who's contracted by a Russian mob boss for a hit on the head of the F.B.I. One of the few who can actually identify the Big J. is a former I.R.A. operative (Richard Gere), imprisoned in the U.S. and ready to cut a deal if it means a chance to get out and about and maybe escape, or see his old girlfriend (Steven Tyler lookalike Mathilda May), or, hell, just be awarded a transfer to a minimum-security prison. So, the guy with the good looks and giggle-inducing accent is paired with a pair of agents, one from Washington (Sidney Poiter) and the other from Moscow (Diane Venora). And a-travellin' they go, trotting the continent for clues, while their target gets ever-closer to his quarry.
As a loose and largely unremarkable remake of THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, the film has a few things going for it. Let's see... several of the action sequences are legitimate pulse-pounders, even if they rarely serve the story well. The scenery and spacious sets are also quite eye-catching. (However dumb the story becomes, you *do* feel like you're going places: Moscow, Helsinki, London, Montreal, and, in one head-scratching shot of Willis aboard an Outer Banks ferry, a trip from Chicago to the suburbs of D.C. by way of Morehead City!) And then there's Bruce, the coolest cat on the block and the only guy in the movie who has a pair. (Gere looks good and that's about it. Poitier brings grace, but not enough weight. Only Ms. Venora displays the requisite intensity required of their roles.)
On the suck side, the finale runs long, the plot has too many holes, and the tone, at times, skirts dangerously close to camp. (The high low point? I gotta go with Bad Death Scene #1. You may need to leave the theater for that one.) And, let's see, some of the effects are weak, such as a blue-screen bit set in a subway tunnel. (But doesn't Gere grimace convincingly?) Oh, and, Heaven help us, there's even a stranger-in-the-house sequence-- the same scene I swear saw in SWITCH- BACK, KISS THE GIRLS, and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER. Sigh. Well, at least Willis' disguises are fun. His portly Canuck is a sight, eh?, but be back from the bathroom before Bruce hits a gay bar as a frisky swinger. Even if it (and its follow-up scene) fails to amuse, at least you'll know what they're talking about, when the inevitable outrage erupts. Directed by Michael Caton-Jones (ROB ROY).
Grade: B-
-- Mike Legeros - Movie Hell http://www.nonvirtual.com/hell
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews