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The Jackal Details

1997 Certificate 18
  • 60
  • from 6873 members

The Jackal is filmmaking by numbers: take two huge stars, Richard Gere and Bruce Willis, and pit them opposite each other in a plot that's already been audience tested. That director Michael Caton Jones' film is based not on Frederick Forsyth's novel but on the script for the 1973 original starring James Fox is the first clue .. Read more

Starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Sidney Poitier, Diane Venora
Director Michael Caton-Jones
Genres Action/Adventure, Gay/Lesbian, Thriller

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The Jackal cover art

The Jackal

The Jackal is filmmaking by numbers: take two huge stars, Richard Gere and Bruce Willis, and pit them opposite each other in a plot that's already been audience tested. That director Michael Caton Jones' film is based not on Frederick Forsyth's novel but on the script for the 1973 original starring James Fox is the first clue that something here is amiss. Fred Zinneman's The Day of the Jackal was a genuinely taut and claustrophobic thriller; the remake is like a Rocky & Bullwinkle take on international terrorism disguised as an action movie. Dashing IRA terrorist, Declan Mulqueen (Richard Gere), is sprung from jail to help the FBI Deputy Director Carton Preston (Sidney Poitier) track down The Jackal, an amoral international terrorist who is a master of disguise. The FBI believes he is about to assassinate a US political bigwig and is engaged in a race against time to discover exactly who the target is and where they will be felled. Throughout the film Gere sports an Irish accent as ill-fitting and phoney as the bushy lip-wig that Willis adopts at one point as a disguise. The usually warm-hearted Willis plays the steel-jawed terrorist with a cool reserve, but he doesn't have much character development to work with (apart from a misguided attempt to introduce a gay subtext). At over two hours of running time with plenty of exposition and precious few action sequences, this film is a test of will for the audience as well as the protagonists.

On the DVD: The DVD includes a lengthy "making of" featurette, several deleted scenes and an alternate ending with some small dialogue changes. There is also an exceedingly dry director's commentary by Michael Caton Jones which muses on such mind-numbingly dull details as the colour of the subway platform in the film's climactic sequence. The film is presented in a clear print in 2.35:1 anamorphic format with 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. --Chris Campion

Starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Sidney Poitier, Diane Venora
Director Michael Caton-Jones
Studio UNIVERSAL PICTURES UK
Run time DVD: 1 hr 59 mins
Blu-ray: 2 hrs 4 mins
Certificate Certificate 18
Genres Action/Adventure, Gay/Lesbian, Thriller
Language DVD: English
Blu-ray: English
Dubbed Italian, Spanish
Released Production year: 1997

To Rent:
DVD: 21 Jul 2003
Blu-ray: Unavailable for rental
Blu-ray: 25 Oct 2010

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    • The Jackal - Blu-ray

    • The Jackal - Blu-ray
      An update of THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, this spy thriller offers a seasoned FBI man (Sidney Poitier), a rigid Russian agent (Diane Venora), and a black-sheep IRA terrorist (Richard Gere) teaming up to stop a nasty and extremely well-paid assassin (Bruce Willis) from offing a U.S. official....
    • The Jackal

    • The Jackal
      The Jackal is filmmaking by numbers: take two huge stars, Richard Gere and Bruce Willis, and pit them opposite each other in a plot that's already been audience tested. That director Michael Caton Jones' film is based not on Frederick Forsyth's novel but on the script for the 1973 original ...

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