MovieChat Forums > The Jackal (1997) Discussion > Those things that did not help the film.

Those things that did not help the film.

posted 12 years ago by marknovack
3 replies | jump to latest

First off, I enjoyed the film. Great? No. Good? Yes. But often in films like this are those few plot necessities that turn down the heat.

Richard Gere as an IRA terrorist? C'mon. Sean Bean could have done the role to the max and been much more credible. Using Gere, who is a fine actor, insured that his part had to be major, bringing me to the next issue.

And that is why must they use the terrorist who has spent 6 years in prison for anything more than identifying the Jackel? Suddenly, none of the highly trained FBI personnel are capable of profiling, abstract thinking, tactical planning, and they must enlist Gere's help with every last issue. A downfall to the plot of using a superstar.

Again a Gere problem. Is nobody carrying binoculars? Instead of spotting for the Army sniper who has probably trained for years on his sniper rifle, it's Gere that must take the shot at the minivan. Only then can he hand the weapon back to the sniper. Then the minivan blows up with the force of a 20 kilo TNT blast.

In the subway. A machine gun blasted away at the first lady. Yet the subway is fully open, no cops buttoning things up. The secret service is nowhere in site, maybe off playing poker and hiring hookers? Gere and Willis all alone for a small eternity for the great stand-off scene. And from nowhere, the ex-girlfriend comes to save the day. Then the Jackel revives to receive one last burst of bullets to punctuate the moment. A critical viewer feels the leg getting pulled a bit more.

The Russian government not going immediately after Tarek for the special ops kill when they know he is in a hotel in Helsinki. Go ahead, pull the other leg a bit. Since when did border issues or legal channels stop Russia from removing national embarrassments with lethal force?

A bit more conservative casting to avoid the false role given to Gere, a little more attention to trying not to pull the audience by the hair and this movie could have gone up a star or two even. Willis was great as an emotionless psychopathic assasin who obviously really enjoy his work. He really seemed a man hatched into the world without a mother. Poitier, solid, class, just, typical Poitier. Using Gere forced the writer and directors hand into making his part uncredible. To bad, the film suffered for that.

[–] jlfan1959 12 years ago

Agreed.

[–] uvl 12 years ago

Excellent points about Gere's character, who, at least here in this screenplay, was just shoehorned into the story. It made little sense.

I'll just add in a few more plot and exposition shortcomings . . .

The scene where he was pursued into the underground garage, power-washed the van in scant seconds, and then sprayed a toxin on the door handle to kill one of his pursuers was useless. It did nothing to advance the story.

The first gunshot at the first lady's speech should have had the Secret Service swarming all over her. But no, they did nothing until well after Preston ran in to knock her to the ground.

The FBI makes a big deal about moving Isabella and her family out of harm's way, but after the killings by the Jackal, she's suddenly back. Sort of like the end scene, where she's mysteriously just there.

Also at Isabella's house -- and I'll admit this is a bit of a nitpick -- the music blasting away on the back lawn? Sounded like a system requiring several hundred watts, but no, it was a clock radio hooked up to a couple of cheap stereo speakers.

And once again at Isabella's house . . . where on earth did Mulqueen and Koslova develop a relationship that produced such a tender moment on her death-couch??? The only point up until then that indicated any interest between the two was when she told him her first name while they were in the car.

Early in the movie, in the Russian disco, all those heavily armed militia soldiers accomplished next to nothing against three lightly armed thugs.

And yes, as you indicated, it was so very ridiculous for Isabella to show up at the last second to put a bullet into the Jackal's throat. And then -- and so many movies are guilty of this -- neither she nor Mulqueen do anything to secure the Jackal's weapon or search his body for any other weapons. These were both seasoned terrorists, who presumably had been through numerous killing and life-threatening situations, and yet the story is asking us to believe that they are only interested in rolling around on the floor in some emotional Hollywood orgasm???

This movie is a mess. In typical Hollywood fashion, it stole a few plot points from an excellent book and then dropped them and some big celebrity names into a blender and jizzed the jumbled contents all over the screen.

[–] bearuk 12 years ago

The things that annoyed me were the special effects and lighting. Like when Richard Gere is in the subway tunnels and the trains are going by. Or when he's on the roof with the marine, and the early scene with Isabella, they have a very fake look to them. I enjoyed seeing Leslie Phillips in the movie though.