The Jackal
The Jackal (1997)
"This is a manhunt, not your cause. Don't make it personal."
So, the story for The Jackal was based on the screenplay from another movie, 1973's Day of the Jackal. I've not seen that earlier film, but from what I've read, the two stories share little in common apart from their antagonist, the eponymous Jackal. This film centers around a chase to capture or kill the Jackal before assassinating his target, FBI Director Donald Brown (John Cunningham). The Jackal is almost set up like two films shot simultaneously. We follow both the Jackal, as he plans and implements his mission and Agent Preston and company, as they follow several steps behind him.
Michael Caton-Jones is the director of this film, and he does a good job. He keeps the story moving at a good pace, and there's not a lot of downtime. Caton-Jones keeps things moving smoothly by keeping the exposition to a minimum. When it is required, it's generally divulged through the depiction of official briefings, which doesn't take the audience out of the film too much. Caton-Jones also keeps the Jackal side of the story fairly light in dialogue, leaving his intentions ambiguous. It's then left to the heroes to try and interpret the clues they find and figure out what the assassin is up to. This, of course, leads to the third act in which both stories collide. I think this works for the most part. As I've mentioned numerous times in many of my reviews, I hate it when filmmakers spell out everything happening on screen, so a setup like this is nice to see. So, overall, I like the story for The Jackal; it was nicely paced and entertaining. The acting, on the other hand...
Acting/Characters:
The acting in this film is definitely a mixed bag, well, at least as far as its stars go. I'm going to start out on a positive note by talking about the great Sidney Poitier. I haven't seen very many of Poitier's films, with the only other one being In the Heat of the Night, but from what I've seen of him, his reputation as one of the best actors in his generation is well-deserved. He gives this movie a certain air of dignity that I don't see from many other actors. Poitier plays Preston as a stern authoritarian but, at the same time, almost like a kindly grandfather. It's a fantastic performance.
Now for the bad. Whoever thought it was a good idea to cast Richard Gere as an Irishman should be shot. Now, I generally don't find Gere to be a bad actor; in fact, he's usually pretty good, but he was terribly miscast in this film. Usually, I'm pretty forgiving of shakey accents in movies. Mimicking a different accent is very difficult to do accurately, so normally I don't make a big deal out of it. However, in The Jackal, Gere's attempt at an Irish accent is laughable. He actually reminded me more of the Lucky Charms leprechaun than he did of an actual Irish person. Whenever he opened his mouth, it took me right out of the movie because I started craving horseshoe-shaped marshmallows.
If Poitier was good and Gere was bad in this movie, then Bruce Willis ends up somewhere in the middle. Willis has never been accused of having great range as an actor and tends to settle into the smarmy hero trope nicely. However, in The Jackal, he takes, what was at the time, a pretty big risk by playing the villain. He plays the Jackal as laconic and detached, which at first glance could appear as though he's mailing it in a bit. But I think I saw what he was trying to do, and it works. If he had stuck to his traditional smart-alec portrayal, or even worse, decided to go megalomaniacal, it would have turned the Jackal into a caricature of a Bond villain rather than a formidable and terrifying adversary.
However, the rest of the cast ranges from solid to spectacular, highlighted by Diane Venora's fierce Major Koslova and J.K. Simmons' by-the-book FBI Agent Witherspoon. We're also treated to one of Jack Black's early film roles, and I can say, as someone who is not a fan of Black's, it was fun to watch his character get annihilated by a heavy machinegun.
Visual/Special Effects:
The visual effects in this film are primarily of a pyrotechnic nature, as is the case for most in the spy-thriller genre. The VFX are done capably, but there's nothing that stands out all that much from a visual standpoint. There isn't much to say about the film's backdrop either, as it stays in pretty much mundane locations and, unlike most other films in the genre, avoids exotic locations. One thing I did appreciate regarding the visual effects was the make-up. Part of the Jackal's character is that he uses various disguises and identities to move around incognito. Instead of designing elaborate disguises for Willis, the make-up department chose to go subtle, tweaking a hairline here, a fake goatee there. It worked really well to highlight that this guy's profession requires a good amount of anonymity.
Score/Soundtrack:
Carter Burwell composed the music for the movie, and it's alright. The score is actually fairly effective and stays in the background, which I think works for this type of film. However, it's also supplemented by several electronic/dance tracks, which serve to highlight the movie's European underpinnings, and it does a good job. However, as I am not a fan of this type of music, I found it grated on my nerves a bit, so I can't give the music a full pass.
Action:
The Jackal is not a film with a ton of action in it. Of course, there is some, including the opening encounter with Terek's brother and brief shootout at a regatta. However, most of the action is devoted to the third act when both storylines collide. The rest of the film serves to set up that final act, and I have to say that I enjoyed the setup more than the payoff. Caton-Jones really did a decent job with the buildup and suspense, but I think the action in the film's climax falls a bit flat.
Final Verdict:
I like this film. Perhaps not as much as I did in my youth, and it certainly doesn't top my list of favorite spy-thrillers. Still, it's a fun little diversion and fans of the spy genre should definitely have a look.
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