by Jason Whyte

Jan 25, 2000

About as mind numbing as getting stuck in a car wash, "The Jackal" is a strong reminder about how screwed up Hollywood film is today. A massive budget, a pathetic story, and character-free characters who are paid big bucks for no seeming reason.

That is the ongoing theme of "The Jackal". Never at one point will you care at any point in this so called thriller, since it is loaded will all too familiar elements of the ilk. Watch Bruce Willis as "The Jackal", as a hired assassin by the russian mafia who goes through a massive ordeal of hiding his identity, getting a fake canadianpassport, and assembling what looks like a battleship gun to assassinate his prime target, all for the paid now, paid on delivery cost of $70 million (!) (He's also gay, a plot hook that got lots of "ha ha, he's gay!" laughs from the people in the audience). Watch Richard Gere as an Irish terrorist (! again) sprung from jail to help the FBI track him down. And Gere tries his damndest to get to personally know his FBI assistant (Diane Venora), so that is so much fun!! Hell, the two actors are supposed to be so good, they can't decide on whom gets top billing in the movie (it's that lower left, higher right billing they used for Steve McQueen and Paul Newman in The Towering Inferno). Don't know why, because we only stare at them for two hours and we haven't even been convinced they are characters yet.

Directed by Michael Caton Jones (! again) who has directed some very good films like "Rob Roy" and "Memphis Belle", he has put his mind on hold just for a big budget and a lot of money from us, the paying audience. Not to mention theterrible CGI effects, especially in the final tunnel chase, Keep in mind there is two excellent films out right now, "Boogie Nights" and "The Sweet Hereafter" (if you live in Canada), that are must sees. But the major company ads seem to be working, since I was in an almost sold out crowd when I saw it.

That's about it for the mind-numbing film, a rehash of bad thrillers for the last twenty years. Think "The Devil's Own" but twenty times worse. I'm sorry that I have bored you with a review for a movie so bad. I hope you will accept my apology and go see a better movie.

Grade: F

Tech Review:

Picture: 3 An OK Universal print, but the CGI effects are really noticeable, they totally change the color of the film. Colors are poor, but black is good.

Sound: 4 Only mix in dts, and that is just fine. Although at my theater the dts dropped out and reverted to mono about an hour and a half in, what I heard was very good.

Photography: 4 Shot in Panavision, it is a good job by Jones, who has framed some shots that will suffer too badly on video. Like it matters, the movie is so bad I don't really care what they do to it.

Length: 125 minutes. Rated R for gory violence and language. By Jason Whyte. Feel free to email at jwhyte2@ibm.net or jwhyte2@hotmail.com

 

by Richard LaFreniere

Jan 25, 2000

The Jackal, staring Bruce Willis and Richard Gere is a edge of your seat thriller. I only managed to see it in DTS sound, not SDDS which would have made it a whole lot better. The movie starts out with the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) investigating a crime lord over in a forein country. A Few of the principle cast members are introduced. The FBI stage a raid of a bar in an attempt to arrest this crime lord. After the attempt is made and the Crime lord killed, his boss asks "The Jackal" (Willis) to assasinate a few american citizens including someone high up in the US Government at a public event. The Jackal plans well for his murders, carying four fake identifications anda brand new caravan. The color of his van changes throughout the movie as to protect his identity. Anyone, of course who suspected him, was murdered. The FBI inlist the help of Convict, Richard Gere. The only part I didn't like was the opening credits...they were a bit weird and nothing I have come to expect in a movie.

 

by

Jan 25, 2000

CLEAR="ALL"></TH> <TD VALIGN=TOP><A HREF="HOMEDIR/cgi/FindReviewer?Peter+Woods">by <B>Peter Woods</B></A>
This is one of Bruce Willis' Worst movies of the year, It is really bad. It is not even good on Video, It is so bad. This movie is a piece of Junk. That is all that I will say about this movie

Rating:*

Rated R for being lame and it will make you barf.

 

by

Jan 25, 2000

CLEAR="ALL"></TH> <TD VALIGN=TOP><A HREF="HOMEDIR/cgi/FindReviewer?Ron+Higgins">by <B>Ron Higgins</B></A>
Starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere and Sidney Poitier, this movie takes on the same kind of feeling as "The Saint", "The Rock" and "In the Line of Fire". It's not as "feel good" as The Saint, and it's not as violent as The Rock. Instead it's somewhere in between.

Bruce Willis is "The Jackal", an assassin who is hired to retaliate for a crime that took place in Russia. His target is someone high up in the US government.

We follow Willis as he prepares for his task by gathering all of the fake ID's he will need. Buying the equipment he will need, and establishing the contacts he will need in order to pull off this job.

The CIA (or was it FBI?) learns of this mysterious person, whom very few have ever seen, and start the process of trying to stop him from carrying out his plan. They come up with one person that knows what this "Jackal" looks like, but they can't find her.

In comes Richard Gere who is currently in prison, as the only one that knows where to find this woman who knows what the Jackal looks like. They spring him from jail in order to help them find the Jackal. Much like Sean Connery's character in "The Rock".

Well lo and behold, there is actually something personal between the characters played by Gere, Willis, and the woman (played by Mathilda May). The movie turns into a cat and mouse game with the CIA (FBI?) trying to figure out who the Jackal is and who his target is.

There isn't anything real special about this movie. I found Richard Gere's character annoying. He's done much better. Mathilda May wasn't in a whole lot of scenes, so nothing significant to report there. Sidney Poitier plays a CIA (FBI?) agent. He does a good job with it. Diane Venora is also involved in a majority of the film, but you don't learn much about her, thus cannot connect with her character and why she is doing what she is doing.

Overall, I'd say wait for this one to show up at the video store or on cable. It's ok, but with the holiday movie season upon us, there are better movies to see.

<I>Copyright 1997 - Ron Higgins No unauthorized publication or distribution without the consent of Ron Higgins.</I>

 

by Rick Gagliano

Jan 25, 2000

First of all...I really liked it. This film has three great actors who come together to make a great film. Bruce Willis is perfect as the elusive assassin, Richard Gere is believable as the former terrorist turned government informant and Sidney Poiter is cool as the Assistant Director of the FBI. Diane Venora rounds off the cast as a Russian Intelligence Agent working with the FBI to stop crime and terrorism throughout both our lands. Now, this film is a bit like the `Saint', with Bruce Willis changing his looks and voice throughout to stay one step ahead of the FBI, but he does it so realistically, that no one would put all the faces together as the same person. Richard Gere is a former terrorist who helps out the US Government but is really looking for some type of deal to get out of prison early. And Poiter is your honest and hard-working FBI man trying to make the world a better place for all. If you like fast-paced action and great weapons, then this is a film for you. If you liked the `Die-Hard' Willis, then you'll love the `International Terrorist' Willis even more. Bottom line....from beginning to end, this film will keep you asking for more.

 

by jessica Mcpherson

Jan 25, 2000

Bruce Willis is so cool truely a great actor. Good story with all that makes a good movie good guys, bad guys, love interest, blood and gore.