“The Jackal” began life as a remake of “The Day of the Jackal,” but when director Fred Zinnemann complained, the title was changed. The filmmakers even skirted the issue of giving credit to author Frederick Forsythe, whose novel inspired the original film, by claiming they were basing their film on the screenplay based on the book, and not the book itself. Whatever.

Lucky Forsythe, because what emerges is a tired, cliched spy thriller. Bruce Willis stars as the international terrorist whose use of disguises has kept him an enigma. Russian Intelligence officer Diane Venora and FBI Deputy Director Sidney Poitier join forces with Irish terrorists to stop the Jackal before he assassinates a high-profile government official. Chuck Pfarrer’s screenplay is a constant stream of unlikely close-calls and cliched plot elements.

Willis is fine as the fair-haired professional who kills everyone he comes in contact with, but Gere seems uneasy as the former terrorists with an Irish accent who, like Great Garbo, just wants to be left alone. Poitier is the best thing about the film, a strong presence that lends some credence to the chaos that ensues.

COMPLETE CHECK-UP

VISION: [ X ] EXCELLENT [ ] GOOD [ ] RESUSCITATE [ ] D.O.A.

The dual-layered transfer captures the intense shadows and stark colors with clarity. Nice, crisp 2.35:1 Anamorphic wide screen presentation frames the action, no matter how silly, perfectly.

HEARING: [ X ] EXCELLENT [ ] GOOD [ ] RESUSCITATE [ ] D.O.A.

Excellent. Great use of the 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround. There’s a lot of action and fast-paced dialogue, and it all gets respectful treatment here. No fade-outs. No tinny highs. Great separation that throws you right into the middle of the action. Carter Burwell’s carefully crafted score flavors rather than overpowers the scenes. There’s also a French Dolby Surround track that gets the job done.

ORAL: [ X ] EXCELLENT [ ] GOOD [ ] RESUSCITATE [ ] D.O.A.

Closed-captioned in English, with sub-titles in Spanish and French.

COORDINATION: [ X ] EXCELLENT [ ] GOOD [ ] RESUSCITATE [ ] D.O.A.

Okay, so “The Jackal” isn’t a film that you would write home about. It’s common and clumsy. The main attraction here are the extras that Universal does so well in the Collector’s Editions. “The Making of the Jackal” goes behind the scenes of the global production, explaining the painstaking process the filmmakers went through to bring “The Jackal” to the big screen. Most interesting are the deleted scenes and alternate ending that provide further insight. Unfortunately, the deleted scenes were virtually rescued from the cutting room floor, and haven’t been given the same pristine treatment as the rest of the film. Production notes, theatrical trailers, cast & crew bios and scene access are complimented by an running audio commentary by director Michael-Caton Jones. All in all, a nice compilation of material for a film that really isn’t worthy.

PROGNOSIS: [ ] EXCELLENT [ ] GOOD [ X ] RESUSCITATE [ ] D.O.A.

This one died at the box-office, so don’t expect resuscitation on DVD unless you’re a big fan of the stars. A definite rental for folks who love to go behind-the-scenes.

VITALS: $34.98/Rated R/125 Min./Color/31 Chapters/Keepcase/#20262

ATTENDING RESIDENT: John Larsen

PATIENT: THE JACKAL: COLLECTOR’S EDITION

BIRTH DATE: 1997

HMO: Universal Studios Home Video

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 3rd, 2001 at 12:48 am and is filed under Film Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.