Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1997
The Jackal (1997 film)
Buy The Jackal (1997 film) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'The Jackal' is a 1997 American action thriller film directed by Michael Caton-Jones, and starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere and Sidney Poitier in his final film role. The film involves the hunt for a paid assassin. It is a loose remake of the 1973 film 'The Day of the Jackal', which starred Edward Fox and was based on the 1971 novel of the same name by Frederick Forsyth. Although the film earned mostly negative reviews from critics, it was a commercial success and grossed $159.3 million worldwide against a $60 million budget.
Plot
A joint operation between the FBI and the MVD in Moscow leads to the killing of the younger brother of the Azerbaijani mafia leader Terek Murad. In retaliation, Murad hires an international hitman, operating under the codename "the Jackal", to assassinate an unidentified prominent American for $70 million. Two weeks later, the MVD capture and interrogate one of Murad's henchmen, Viktor Politovsky in Porvoo, Finland, and discover the assassination plot. The interrogation, coupled with recovered documents, leads the FBI and MVD to suspect that FBI Director Donald Brown is the intended target.
Using a series of disguises and stolen IDs, the Jackal prepares for the assassination attempt. FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston and Russian Police Major Valentina Koslova turn to imprisoned IRA sniper Declan Mulqueen for help. They believe that his former lover, a former ETA militant and fugitive named Isabella Zancona, can identify the Jackal. Mulqueen reveals that he knows the Jackal and agrees to help in exchange for his release as well as U.S. citizenship and safe haven for Zancona. Mulqueen and Zancona want revenge on the Jackal after he wounded her in Libya and caused her to miscarry their unborn child. Zancona, now married, provides information to help identify the Jackal, including that he is a United States Army Special Forces veteran with combat experience from his stationing in El Salvador. Zancona discreetly slips Mulqueen a key to a drop box containing a clean passport and $10,000 cash to return to Ireland. However, Mulqueen has given Preston his word that he will not run.
Meanwhile, when the Jackal arrives in Montreal to collect a large caliber weapon, a contact notifies him that hijackers are pursuing it. The Jackal kills one hijacker and evades the others. He then hires a small-time hood/gunsmith, Ian Lamont, to build a control mount for the weapon. The Jackal demands that all design specs be turned over to him, and he also demands Lamont's complete confidentiality. When Lamont tries extorting more money from the Jackal, the Jackal test-fires the weapon, killing him in the process. The FBI discovers Lamont's remains and evidence that the Jackal intends to utilize a long-range machine gun for the assassination. He then sails across the Great Lakes to Chicago, where he escapes the FBI and nearly kills Mulqueen. The latte deduces that there is a mole tipping off the Jackal. They discover that the director of the Russian Embassy in Washington DC gave the Jackal a direct access code to FBI records, allowing him to kill Koslova and Agents Witherspoon and McMurphy. Before dying, Koslova - passing on a taunt from the Jackal - tells Mulqueen that '[Declan] cannot protect his woman'.
As the Jackal drives to Washington DC, Mulqueen deduces from the Jackal's mocking statement that his target is actually the First Lady of the United States, who is scheduled to give a public speech. The Jackal, masquerading as a gay man, dates Douglas, a man he encountered earlier in a bar; unbeknownst to Douglas, he uses Douglas's garage to store his machine gun away. When a news report exposes the Jackal's identity, he kills Douglas. On the date of the First Lady's speech, the weapon is hidden in a small SUV parked near the speaker podium. The Jackal plans to shoot the First Lady via remote control. However, before the Jackal can act, Mulqueen uses a sniper rifle to destroy the weapon's scope. The Jackal then blindly opens fire, and Preston takes a bullet that is fired at the First Lady. Following a chase through the Washington Metro tunnels, Zancona shoots the Jackal, seriously wounding him; however, the Jackal's gun wildly discharges a shot, and Mulqueen is hit. While Zancona consoles Mulqueen, the Jackal, who was merely wounded, pulls another backup gun. Seeing this, Mulqueen grabs Zancona's pistol and shoots the Jackal several times, finally killing him.
A few days later, Preston and Mulqueen witness the Jackal's burial in an unmarked grave. Preston reveals that he is returning to Russia to pursue Murad. He says that Mulqueen's request to be released was denied, but that he will likely be moved to a minimum security prison. Preston's heroics in saving the First Lady have enhanced his clout within the FBI. He turns his back on Mulqueen, allowing him to go free.
Cast
Production
The film began in production development from August 19 to November 30, 1996. It was filmed in international locations such as Porvoo, Finland, including its special effects. The film began production titled 'The Day of the Jackal', but the author of the original novel Frederick Forsyth and the director and producer of the original film Fred Zinnemann and John Woolf opposed the production. They eventually filed an injunction to prevent Universal Pictures from using the name of the original novel and film, and it would be marketed as being "inspired by" rather than directly based on Forsyth's novel. Edward Fox also refused to make a cameo appearance in the film for similar reasons.
Chuck Pfarrer had written the first script to fulfill contractual obligations to the studio, then Kevin Jarre did a rewrite to Pfarrer's script, contributing the backstory and character of the Richard Gere character.
An early test-screened version of the film had an innocent man shot by Willis' character hiding out in a gay bar. The audience loudly cheered the killing, which came to the attention of GLAAD. Chaz Bono (the groups entertainment media director) spoke with 'Jackal' producer Sean Daniel, who arranged to have the scene re-edited. Bruce Willis successfully fought to keep a same-sex kiss in the film.
Reception
Critical response
'The Jackal' received a 25% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "'The Jackal' is a relatively simple chase thriller incapable of adding thrills or excitement as the plot chugs along." Metacritic gave the film a score of 36 out of 100 based on 20 reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.Roger Ebert of the 'Chicago Sun-Times' called it a "glum, curiously flat thriller"; he also included the film in his "Worst of 1997", comparing it to the 1973 film and calling it a "retread", "cruder", and "dumbed down".
Ruthe Stein of the 'San Francisco Chronicle' called it "more preposterous than thrilling"; and Russell Smith of the 'Austin Chronicle' called it "1997's most tedious movie".
At the 1997 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, Richard Gere received a nomination for Worst Fake Accent, but he lost to Jon Voight for 'Anaconda' and 'Most Wanted'.
Box office
'The Jackal' was released on November 14, 1997, with an opening weekend totaling $15,164,595. It went on to gross $159,330,280 worldwide, against a $60 million budget.Music
The original score for 'The Jackal' was composed by Carter Burwell. It was never officially released on CD, although Burwell uploaded select cues from the film to his website. The project was not a happy experience for Burwell; he disliked the script, and disapproved of producer Danny Saber's remix of his score.
Home media
'The Jackal' was released on VHS (includes the Behind the Scenes footage), LaserDisc & DVD (Collector's Edition) on April 28, 1998 A DTS DVD was also released on April 13, 1999. It was also released on Blu-ray on April 27, 2010 with Combo Disc (including the DVD and Digital Copy on June 28, 2011) and re-released on October 10, 2017. A Double-Feature with the film and 'Mercury Rising' were released with Multi-Format on Blu-ray on March 22, 2011.
See also
* 'The Assignment' (1997 film)
References
Buy The Jackal (1997 film) now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1997