GERE, WILLIS, POITIER CHASE EACH OTHER AROUND THE WORLD
The Jackal A Film Review By Michael Redman Copyright 1997 By Michael Redman
*** (out of ****)
When the Soviet Union imploded, the western countries lost their shadow. With the United States friendly with the Russians, we no longer had an entity to blame for the world's problems. This showed up in Hollywood films as the communist government was no longer the easy bad guy.
It's time to rejoice because we've found our new villain. Now it's no longer the Russian government who sends killers out into foreign lands, it's the Russian _Mafia_. A perfect solution, it combines the dread of organized crime and the still-present uneasiness with the former Eastern Block countries. Best of all, the villains are still foreigners: fear of the other always plays best.
So it is a crime lord in Moscow that sends legendary hitman the Jackal (Bruce Willis) to assassinate a highly placed US government figure in retaliation for the death of his brother during a nightclub raid. The FBI is at a loss as to how to protect the target from someone they're not sure even exists.
Coming to their rescue is former IRA operative Declan Mulqueen (Richard Gere) who is temporarily released from prison to assist FBI agent Carter Preston (Sidney Poitier) and Russian Major Valentina Koslova (Diane Venora). Mulqueen's ex-girlfriend Basque terrorist Isabella (Mathilda May) is the only person who has seen the elusive Jackal. (Presumably there is an exclusive international terrorist club somewhere where the three met.)
The film follows two parallel tracks as the Jackal prepares for his $70 million hit and Mulqueen attempts to locate him while Preston makes sure that the Irishman doesn't slip away. Crossing numerous borders and donning various disguises for both himself and his mini-van, the killer is always one step ahead of his pursuers.
Being very loosely based on the same book the 1973 thriller "The Day Of The Jackal", comparison between the two films is inevitable. There is no doubt that the original is the better movie, playing the story for suspense rather than the current action/adventure. As a mystery, "The Jackal" has enough holes in it to ruin the tale, but if you can accept it for what it is, there's entertainment to be had.
Holes? Let's see…A pivotal clue for Mulqueen is so obscure that he must possess psychic powers to pick it up. For a 20-year veteran that can command the big bucks, the Jackal is an incredibly poor shot. The final scene between Gere and Willis occurs in a location that should be mobbed with police, but it's just the two of them. Willis' disguises usually look like Bruce Willis and are just as interesting as Val Kilmer's in "The Saint". (And lest you misunderstand, that's not a compliment.)
But the three stars are fun to watch. It's good to see Gere in something other than a business suit. Willis has a mixed history in picking projects, but his characters are always watchable. Poitier is by far the superior actor, but has limited screen time.
The problems in logic are flaws, but don't ruin the experience. Occasionally there are movies that transcend their blemishes. This is one of them.
[The appeared in the 11/20/97 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana]
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