I saw this back in the day. Unrecognisable from THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, of course, and not a patch on it, but serviceable enough for a late 1990s suspense/action/thriller. You can tell Willis is really enjoying something other than his jaded action star role and the Jack Black scene is worth the price of admission alone.
The Jackal
1997
Action / Adventure / Crime / Drama / Thriller
Plot summary
In Moscow, the FBI and their Russian counterpart, the MVD, are working on a joint mission to apprehend Russian mobster Ghazzi Murad specifically for the murder of Mayor Nikolai Semankho. During the arrest, they are forced to kill Ghazzi. Ghazzi's brother, Terek Murad, also a mobster, begins his own form of deadly retribution against the MVD for Ghazzi's death. But the FBI and MVD also get wind that Terek has hired an assassin by the code name Jackal to carry out a hit on a high profile but unknown American target for the Americans sticking their nose in Russian affairs. Intelligence points to that target being Donald Brown, the Director of the FBI. The Jackal is known only by name and reputation but no one in authority knows who he is, what he looks like or if he even really exists. They learn of only one person alive who they know has had ties to the Jackal: former Basque separatist Isabella Zanconia, whose whereabouts are unknown. As such, the FBI and MVD decide to turn to the one person they know who has had ties to Isabella: Declan Mulqueen, who is currently in an American prison serving twenty-five years for his deadly IRA activities. To their surprise, Declan purports to have met the Jackal. Although they are unable to meet all his demands including not being able to guarantee his release and return back to Ireland after all is said and done, Declan agrees to help them on the promise that they will do their best to meet that request. What happens is largely a function of Declan's relationship with his two handlers, the MVD's Major Valentina Koslova and FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston, the latter in particular who does not fully trust Declan. It is also affected by the nature of the history between Declan, Isabella and the Jackal. Through it all, Declan may, if given the opportunity, do what Carter believes he will do, which is run without keeping to his side of the bargain.
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Poor remake, okay as a stand alone
Way too slow but I like the cold Bruce Willis villain
FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston (Sidney Poitier) is working with Major Valentina Koslova of the Russian MVD to take on the Russian mob. In a raid, they kill the brother of mob boss Terek Murad (David Hayman). He hires the Jackal (Bruce Willis) to assassinate a target in revenge for $70 Million. The joint task force is desperate to identify the mysterious Jackal. Basque separatist Isabella Zanconia (Mathilda May) may have seen the Jackal and they use former IRA shooter Declan Mulqueen (Richard Gere) to help track her down. When they tell him the target is FBI Director Donald Brown, he tells them that he actually met the Jackal.
Everything about this movie screams 70s. The pacing is slow like a 70s movie. There are unnecessary side trips. It's a terrorist plot ripped out of a 70s novel. The premise itself is ridiculous. For that amount of money, the Russian mob could hire dozens of killers. Like almost everything in this movie, it feels a little old and outdated. Director Michael Caton-Jones tries his best but this just doesn't have a chance. It's interesting to see Bruce Willis play the calculating assassin but there isn't much else that interest me in this movie.
Uh, can't they just cast REAL Irish people?! Still, Jack Black's presence saved it.
"The Day of the Jackal" was quite interesting, but the remake is basically another movie in which they release a criminal from jail so that he can catch the new bad guy. And I don't know why they couldn't just cast a real Irish person in Richard Gere's role. Granted, Richard Gere's a good actor (and as far as I've heard, a good guy),but he's not exactly one for accents. I would expect to see Bruce Willis in this kind of movie, but Sidney Poitier? That said, the movie's not a total waste. Jack Black plays the guy who "helps" Bruce Willis with the weapon. In those few minutes, he puts on a performance almost as crazy as his most famous ones. If nothing else, that would be the reason to see "The Jackal".