The 90s are like no other decade when it comes to Man Movies. High octane special effects, superstar actors, and plots that tote the border between thin and completely absurd are seemingly everywhere, and the 1997 film “The Jackal” fits all of of the aforementioned stereotypes – and does so in a near perfect way.
“The Jackal” has all the right ingredients of a truly thrilling and super fun Man Movie; cool actors, violent deaths, and a great though completely implausible concept, and one we’ve seen before with movies like “The Rock” (itself a 90s throwback) in which a dangerous criminal is let out of prison to help stop and even more dangerous criminal.
The movie opens with loud guitar rifts blasting over a hodgepodge of chaotic scenes of violence, mayhem, and pictures of Joseph Stalin. In true 90s style, there’s really no reason at all for the menacing imagery other than to showcase Russian mobster Terek (David Hayman) who is sadly only in one scene in the entire movie but thoroughly memorable as a sinister character and a great villain. “I loved this man like a brother. So I took no joy in that.” Terek says after brutally murdering one of his own men with an ax to the skull.
The plot of the movie is hatched out in the cold and shadowy underbelly of Moscow as Terek declares a personal war on the FBI after a botched sting leaves his younger brother dead. To make a retaliatory statement, Terek hires an ambiguous and phantom like assassin known only as the Jackal, and pays him 70 million to make a public and brutal assassination.
Bruce Willis is generally on the right side of the law with iconic characters in films like “Die Hard“, though transitions effortlessly to the role of the Jackal, a man described as ice cold, with no cause or feelings at all. One of the best aspects of the movie depict the Jackal making his way from Europe to Canada and into the United States with a host of disguises and identities, smuggling a military style weapon across the border piece by piece. Willis is perfect in playing a variety of characters as the Jackal dons wigs, fat suits, and accents along the way, with his true cold heart seeping through at various turns.
The Jackal is opposed by Declan Mulqueen (Richard Gere) an IRA operative who is freed from his confines in federal prison to assist in the mission. Richard Gere seems an odd choice at first as the smooth talking Irishman, looking more like Calvin Klein model than an inmate as he is seen shadow boxing in his cell and sporting his trademark perfectly cropped silver hair. But as the movie progresses, Gere lives up to the part of Declan, the sole key to stopping the assassination. “He’s spent 20 years in a trade that doesn’t forgive error.” Declan advises on the Jackal. “And he’s prevailed.”
Leading Declan and the FBI is veteran Deputy Director Carter Preston, played by the always stoic Sidney Poiter. Poiter comes across as the perfect and loyal servant to the US government. When a fellow Russian agent advises they will interrogate a captured henchman of Terek with the utmost efficiency, Carter Preston bites his lip and replies “I don’t think I want to know what that means.”
While the top three are perfectly cast in their roles, the movie adds great secondary characters in the form of J.K. Simmons as FBI agent Timothy Witherspoon, chastised by Preston as a “by the books asshole,” Diane Venora as Russian secret agent Valentina Koslova (who advises a flirtatious Declan that her first name is Major), and Jack Black perfectly portraying a small time lowlife named Ian Lamont.
Other 90s era themes are fluent throughout. When the story starts getting dull, senseless action scenes are added and though its only a 2:05 run time, trimming these out would make the story much more taut. A backstory between the Jackal and Declan comes across as a touch too convenient and the movie adds a useless encounter at the end.
It is great to watch a movie in the years before cell phones and heightened border security. One great transaction occurs as the Jackal is buying his illicit weapon online and conversing with an unknown seller via a robotic and creepy computer voice. Ah, to be in 1997 again.
“The Jackal” is all that its supposed to be; a fun and exciting movie with thrilling characters and action throughout. Its a perfect way to kick off Man Movie May and the summer movie season.
by – Matt Christopher
