This is a loosely based remake of the 1973 film, "The Day of the Jackal" (directed by Academy Award winning director Fred Zinnemann). In that film, relatively unknown actors filled a story in which an assassin is after French President Charles de Gaulle. This version is helmed by Michael Caton-Jones ("Rob Roy" "Doc Hollywood"), who went after some big stars for his remake, and the casting is superb. That word nearly sums up the movie experience as a whole, for despite some logic problems and errors, this comes off as a smart, political thriller that's designed as much for a thinking person's pleasure, as that of an action and suspense fan.
In yet another case of a big star sharpening his teeth in the role of the villain, Bruce Willis ("Die Hard" "Pulp Fiction") perfectly plays the cold, calculating assassin. Donning enough realistic disguises for several movies, Willis sheds his normal wise-guy attitude in favor of a low-keyed performance, and the results are favorable. Talented actress Diane Venora is quite good in her role as the battle-tested Russian officer, and she brings a certain humanity to the film that is noticed more as we warm up to her character. It's also quite enjoyable to see the great Sidney Poitier back on the big screen. While his role is pretty much standard fare -- a typical determined F.B.I. official -- Poitier brings some class to that role and is quite believable.
The same can be said for Richard Gere's performance. This actor often does better in roles where he's not the knight in shining armor, but instead has a few nicks and dents in his shield. Here he plays a villain himself, but one that is slowly allowed to transform into the movie's hero. What gives his character depth is that he's not the perfect hero -- he has a shadowy past -- and that makes him that much more interesting.
Gere has always been much better at playing such characters (much like he was in the non-hero role in "Internal Affairs") and this role gives him the opportunity to really get into his performance. What was most surprising about this was Gere's Irish accent. While it sounded relatively good, it took me a long time to accept it since -- well, since Richard Gere always sounds like Richard Gere. For the believability to finally sink in is a testament to Gere's performance and the ability of the film to sweep us away into its story.
Caton-Jones, working from screenwriter Chuck Pfarrer's script, applies a nice overall touch to the film, knowing just when to let loose with the action or tie up what initially appeared to be seemingly loose ends into a continually tightening knot. The story's pacing is good and it picks up in direct relation to the "good guys" closing in on the assassin. We've always enjoyed -- and certainly appreciated -- films that are good enough to draw you into the story and make you forget about everything else.
This is one of those films -- at least until the end draws near where some bad visual shooting effects and logical plot problems jar us from that ride. A horrendously done matte shot (where they superimpose actors in a studio onto a scene shot elsewhere) involving Gere on a rooftop is the most glaring. While such shots used to be done -- and accepted -- all of the time, nowadays, they look incredibly fake and this is a perfect example of how not to do it. For not only does it look bad, but it also distracts the audience and yanks us out of the story.
Then there are the logic problems. In a shootout between The Jackal and Koslova, he fails to hit her -- from a rather close range -- which seems surprising since he's a professional assassin and we expect more proficiency from him. There's also the question of how the Jackal removes his large caliber gun from a yacht after Koslova and Declan chase him from it. Wouldn't the police have searched it? And it's doubtful he could have moved it from the yacht to his van in the allotted time period, especially without anyone seeing him do so at a crowded marina festival.
The ending also has problems where Declan -- not dressed in any outfit the Secret Service would recognize -- is on a rooftop holding a sniper rifle very close to important government officials, and nothing happens to him. In addition, a long standoff scene in a subway station has the standard good guy, bad guy showdown, but no police ever arrive. Nor do any passengers or subway cars for that matter, and a hostage, once let go, "runs" away very slowly -- an act that elicited a great amount of verbal disbelief from our audience.
Of course these are somewhat minor points, and many of them can be -- and are -- overlooked in the "heat" of the scene. They certainly work dramatically, yet they give the film a bit of a sloppy feel. That's too bad for they're problems that could easily have been fixed and they bring down the overall quality of the film from a terrific rating to somewhere in the quite good range. Still, for the most part, "The Jackal" is quite a fun thrill ride, and the performances are its highlights. If you like intelligent action thrillers, you probably won't go wrong with this feature. We give it an 8 out of 10.
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