Word: jackals
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Having experienced The Jackal (working title: Aging Hunks Shoot It Out), I wish to publicly retract that statement. Director Michael Caton-Jones, of Rob Roy fame (or ignominy, depending on how you see it), has created for us a confused jumble of bad accents, loud music, stale techno-babble and Richard Gere. The studio swears it's a remake of the 1973 thriller Day Of The Jackal, but this Jackal resembles neither its predecessor nor the Frederick Forsythe novel on which it was based, except that it contains an international terrorist known only as "The Jackal...
...plot" is as follows: a Russian crime lord wants to assassinate an American dignitary in revenge for an FBI hit on his brother. He enlists the help of The Jackal (Bruce Willis), the world's greatest assassin. The FBI gets wind of this and seeks the assistance of Declan Mulqueen (Richard Gere), former IRA terrorist and winner of this year's Most Ridiculous Character Name Award. Mulqueen and friends spend the movie trying to track the wily Jackal, who eludes them time and time again. Finally, a climactic scene occurs. In the interim, there is plenty of gore to tide...
...best viewing experience of The Jackal, use the following 10 tips...
...Suspension of Disbelief, Part One: Bruce Willis. The supposedly infallible Jackal is one sloppy assassin, especially when it comes to weaponry. His choice of a crude and bulky gatling gun undercuts reports of his slick methods. His use of a crude and bulky New York accent undercuts reports of his cosmopolitan savoir faire. On top of all that, he leaves the blueprints for his secret weapon lying around where the FBI can find them. So what sets this clumsy Jackal apart from other supercriminals? Well, he can (drumroll, please) change his haircolor! But so what? So can Dennis Rodman...
...Suspension of Disbelief, Part Two: Richard Gere. Like many recent films (Blown Away, The Devil's Own), The Jackal has a special place in its heart for IRA terrorists. Such comprehensive forgiveness normally isn't extended to others who live on the moral margins, such as Islamic terrorists or Louise Woodward; but it allows Gere's Mulqueen, a convicted killer, to roam around unmanacled and largely unsupervised. The script strains to pardon Mulqueen's crimes by contrasting his noble, ideological struggle with the Jackal's vicious, gun-for-hire mentality, but both characters are so poorly developed that...