The Jackal

Globetrotting pursuit of a master-of-disguise assassin

RELEASED IN 1997 and directed by Michael Caton-Jones, "The Jackal is an international crime thriller about a joint FBI/MVD mission (led by Sidney Poitier and Diane Venora) that enlists the aid of an imprisoned IRA combatant (Richard Gere) to stop a brutal master-of-disguise assassin known as The Jackal (Bruce Willis) from completing a big hit in Washington DC. This was a loose remake of the film The Day of the Jackal (1973), which was based on the 1971 novel by Frederick Forsyth.

The first act is too convoluted for my tastes as the story globetrots from Moscow to Helsinki to Canada to the USA. But the movie finds its footing and settles into an entertaining political action flick ...

This is one I've seen several times over the years and while certainly not great and it is funny hearing Richard Gere with an Irish accent and the numerous hair changes with Bruce Willis, I still find it watchable and somewhat entertaining.

That said, how the Jackal was written was a problem because while for most of the movie he's a cold-blooded and calculating character, his actions of going after Isabella was strange to do in the midst of planning an assassination versus going for revenge (which itself didn't make sense) after he completed his mission and got paid, and that's not to mention giving away his true target with a line about Declan unable to protect his women, though even then not sure how Declan came to that (albeit correc...

The Jackal is the kind of Thriller that does everything by the book. Most of the movie is comprised out of well-known and established tropes, it's got a packed cast and decent action scenes. It may not reinvent the wheel or keep you on your toes, but it does offer some solid 90's entertainment for about two hours.