"Willis is as weak as dishwater and just about as tasty."
If you're planning on seeing The Jackal make sure you don't miss the opening credits because these are most certainly the only bit of the film worth watching.Willis plays a ruthless assassin code-named The Jackal who is hired for a top secret mission by international cutthroats (with no apparent motive other than thuggery) to make a bloody and public statement (about nothing really in particular). This weighty mission is to be carried out by assassinating someone important (?) in the U.S government.
The FBI catch on to this brilliant plan but apparently aware of their own incompetence, they decide to hire an IRA assassin to trace The Jackal's movements and stop him in his tracks.
If you think this is all a little vague you are right. The hazy plot and non-existent character development can probably be summed up in this dreadful quote which had the audience in stitches:
" I wonder if we'll ever really know who he (The Jackal) was." " He was evil - that's all we need to know."
And that is about all the explanations you will get.
A thriller without any suspense just doesn't work. The film's pace is nail-gnawingly tedious and the countless scenes of unexplained US/KGB meetings add nothing to the story except to pat it out to a feature length balls-up of dull cliches.
Willis is as weak as dishwater and just about as tasty, sporting a cringing array of fake toupees and crooked moustaches in order to allude the not too bright FBI agents.Depending on your priorities it may be worth paying money to see Richard Gere in a tight black T-shirt, but other than that, this film really doesn't have much to offer. ---Melissa Bolliger
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