Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Hired by a powerful member of the Russian mafia to avenge an FBI sting that left his brother dead, a psychopathic hitman known only as The Jackal proves an elusive target for the people charged with the task of bringing him down: a deputy FBI director, a Russian MVK Major, and a jailed IRA terrorist who can recognize him.
The Jackal is a competent but unremarkable thriller that fails to live up to its premise or the classic Day of the Jackal it loosely remakes. The plot is formulaic and full of contrivances, with a predictable cat-and-mouse structure that never generates real tension. Bruce Willis is serviceable as the cold hitman but the role is underwritten, while Richard Gere's IRA accent work is notoriously shaky; Sidney Poitier anchors things professionally. Cinematography is workmanlike studio action fare — nothing distinctive. The film offers little novelty, being a glossy Hollywood remake that strips the original of its suspense and replaces it with action set pieces. The ending is fairly anticlimactic and tidy, resolving too neatly without the dread the setup promised.