'The Jackal' entertaining, but not original

By Charlie Smith
Toto

: I guess Bruce got tired of being the good guy in the Die Hard movies. Well...at least The Jackal (Universal) keeps him from singing.

Maybe I'm getting jaded. Maybe I expect too much. Maybe it's not possible to create a reasonably original action-adventure or political thriller movie. Maybe all of those stories have already been told. I hope not. I really don't think so. Bruce Willis was the star of the film that gave new life to the genre (the previously mentioned Die Hard). But maybe that was the last one.

Granted, the movie did have it's moments. And it wasn't dull. It just never did anything new, anything unexpected, either.

The plot was pretty standard Hollywood fare. A Russian mafia boss hires the mysterious assassin, the Jackal (Bruce Willis), to kill the Director of the FBI. The FBI doesn't know who the assassin is, so they have to get help from former IRA hitman Declan Mulqueen (Richard Gere). Mulqueen has a reason to hate the Jackal, so it's personal. Insert character A into movie B. You get the picture.

Well, what they lack in plot, they more than make up for in blood. I can understand that he's supposed to be a cold-blooded killer, best in the business, etc.; but this doesn't mean that I really want to see body parts flying around. This doesn't advance the plot.

It's supposed to be cool seeing Bruce Willis in so many different disguises. Surfer dude Bruce Willis. Overweight, Canadian, working class Bruce Willis. Navy SEAL Bruce Willis. Businessman Bruce Willis. Except, of course, that they all look exactly like Bruce Willis — kinda like Val Kilmer in the Saint. So, this guy evaded the notice of every law enforcement and intelligence agency in the world? Right.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the quality of acting. This is probably the best part of the film. The roles don't really ask very much of any of the actors, but they do what they can with the material they're given.

For Bruce Willis this character is a stretch. Instead of the wise-cracking, action-adventure Bruce, we get the ice for blood, action-adventure Bruce. It's different at least.

Richard Gere is actually pretty good. I'm not an expert on Irish accents, but the one he affects sounds pretty decent to me. Apart from the accent, his characterization is generally among the best in the film. I can't believe I just said that. It's true though, which probably tell you more about the movie than anything else.

Sidney Poitier was dissapointing as Deputy Director of the FBI Carter Preston. He wasn't bad by any means. He's been nominated for several Academy Awards, and won Best Actor for Lilies of the Field. I just tend to expect much more from him than he gave to this role.

The true stand-out in The Jackal was Diane Venora (Major Valentina Koslova). She's previously won a New York Film Critics Award as well as a Golden Globe nomination, for her part in Clint Eastwood's Bird. I can only hope that she gets the opportunity to star in a film in the near future.

Decent acting, weak plot, good (though at times excessive) special effects, The Jackal is a reasonable diversion.

I still think it could have been so much more.

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