The Jackal
a review
By Jeremiah Rickert
I had not seen the film this was based on, I am sure this was a plus. I have never been a fan of Richard Gere, so I have to admit I was a bit negative going into to this film. The plot concerns an attempted assassaination, contracted by a Russian mafioso, in retaliation for the death of his brother, who was killed in a joint FBI/MVD (the post Soviet version of the KGB) raid on a nightclub as part of an investigation. The head MVD agent, Col. Valentina Koslova (Diane Venora), and the head FBI agent on the scene Carter Preson (Sidney Poitier) are immediately targets for the mafia, however, instead they decide to get their revenge on the Americans in a more spectacular way. They send in the Jackal (Bruce Willis) to convey their message of revenge in a brutal and public manner for the incredible sum of $70 million in cash. The premise is a bit hokey for three reasons. 1. The FBI does not function outside the United States, the CIA maybe. 2. $70 million in C-A-S-H? That would be a LOT of money, even with $100 bills, and incredibly difficult (doesn't matter who you are) to raise anywhere without attracting a lot of attention, especially in Russia. 3. I seems to me that the mafia would be more able to reach people within Russia than in the U.S. Why not take care of the people who did the raid? That said, I did enjoy the film. No one knows what the Jackal looks like, but they do know that he exists. The KGB apparently used him for jobs, but all those who have seen him are dead, or impossible to find, except for one, a woman who knows his face named Isabella. (Mathilda May). In order to find her, however, they need her former boyfriend Declan Mulqueen (Richard Gere) a former Irish Republican Army assassain who is incarcerated in the United States. (how convenient). He agrees to help them find Isabella in return for his freedom, which is never really given, but he seems to have personal reasons to go after the Jackal as well, so he decides to help them, revealing that he has seen the man as well. Lucky for the good guys, Declan is an expert on the Jackal's techniques, and the race is on to find out who his target is, and how he's going to carry out the hit, before he has a chance to do it. The plot keeps one guessing, which is rare these days in a lot of films. Unfortunately, the Jackal seems to be predictable enough that Mulqueen can follow his trail easily. It seemed like tracking him didn't take as much effort as it could have, there seems to be no doubt that they will catch up with the Jackal, and since the movie is only about 2hrs long, you know you won't have to wait that long. The direction by Stephen Hopkins (Blown Away, Ghost and the Darkness, Predator 2) is adequate, but rarely top notch. The performances, however, are all very good. Willis seems subdued throughout the film, but really, a killer who has "been in the business for 20 years" is not going to have a really distinctive personality. Poitier is at his intense best, as is Mathilda May as the former criminal Isabella, who is trying to escape her checkered past, happy to be in a stable family situation, but a bit unhappy in a might-as-well-settle-before-I'm-dead way. Diane Verora, as the scarred former KGB agent has the strongest performance. She seems to have a cold detachment from her humanity, brought on by the combonation of her job and her disfigured face. However, Mulqueen seems to breach that a bit, and Venora manages to make the character change in a very very subtle manner. She has never thought about a relationship she says because men are not attaracted to her scar, but Mulqueen seems to connect with her, and it's very very faintly acknolwedged by her, that is what makes her stand out. There was no overt attraction between the two which could cheapen it, and I found it very entertaining and well-written. It was a part of the flim that really avoided cliches. The pacing of the film was pretty good also. Instead of long drawn out scenes, punctuated by a flurry of action, like recent films The Peacemaker and to an extent, Starship Troopers, the film is paced rather evenly, chugging along at a pleasant gait that doesn't leave you gasping for air, or snoring in your seat. There was a lot of technological jargon and hardware that got a bit old, but at the same time, used the internet in a way that seemd more real than most films that utilize the information superhighway. (The Net, and Hackers). The finale of the movie was also refreshing because again, it lacked those things which have become cliche in recent years in action films: The crescendo of music which peaks then pauses for a bit, enough for the hero to recite a one-liner, (Hasta La Vista Baby! Time's Up! Bad Dog! Assimilate This! to name a few recent examples) and then proceed to kill the bad guy in an overblown way. (lowering him into molten metal, placing the bomb in his pants, shooting him with a cannon, and blowing up the piece of hardware he's attached to, respectively with the cliches above). I was very pleased that the Jackal did not sink to that level.
(Below is a minor spoiler, so don't read on if you haven't seen the film, my rating by the way, is the film was worth $2.50 of the $3.50 I paid for it)
In the end of the film, I would have to say there is no president in the history of this country that would not have pardoned Mulqueen, or shortened his sentence, or something like that. I mean really! Talk about making up for your past wrongs! Maybe they were trying to avoid the cliche again, but they went to far on that one.
Once again, of the $3.50 I paid for the flim, it was worth $2.50
(c) 1997 Jeremiah Rickert --
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