The Jackal

The Jackal was as expected: efficient entertainment, no worse and no better. Bruce Willis is something of a hero, after all, so it was certainly a pleasure to see him in various disguises as the ice-cold and almost identity-less hitman the Jackal. His emotional coldness ultimately makes it impossible for the audience to identify with him.

The Jackal has been given a job by a Russian gangster boss who intends to teach the FBI a severe lesson for meddling in his affairs and being indirectly to blame for the murder of his equally criminal brother. The Jackal's chosen victim is not just anybody. Only at the very end do the Jackal's opponents find out exactly who is to be murdered.

FBI man Carter Preston heads the team that operated in Russia in cooperation with the Russian police and that gets wind of the sinister plans. His partner is the fearless Major Valentina Koslova. They need help from someone who can identify the Jackal, but such people barely exist - with the exception of the former IRA terrorist Declan Mulqueen, who is imprisoned in the USA. Mulqueen agrees to help, for inwardly he thirsts for revenge on the Jackal.

As Politiken rightly points out, there is something rotten in the way the film portrays its two protagonists. One killer is evil because he kills for money. The other is an honourable man who killed for a cause. Geres role could well have been a little more nuanced!

Afterwards I am left with the feeling that I would actually like to see the original film with Edward Fox as the Jackal.