Director Michael Caton-Jones has souped up the taut 1973 political thriller
The Day of the Jackal '90s-style. There's a laptop-powered bazooka, huge
explosions, gore galore, and a bad guy with a gift for one-liners. And the
price tag for assassinating an international big wig today? It's zoomed from a
measly half a mil to a Swiss-bank-account-busting $70 million.
Adopting the sobriquet of the wily assassin-for-hire, Bruce Willis contracts
with Russian terrorists to rub out the director of the FBI. The dashing Sidney
Poitier is the FBI agent stalking him, with the help of an IRA operative
(Richard Gere, sounding like the Lucky Charms leprechaun) and a cool-as-vodka
Russian intelligence officer (Diane Venora). But the star power, high-tech
gadgetry, and breathless pacing can't entirely compensate for the film's patchy
plot and uneven suspense. Plus, Willis can't rival the worldly flair of the
original Jackal, Edward Fox, who intrigued simply by looking great in an ascot
and an Alfa Romeo.
--Alicia Potter
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