WildBullWriter Aside from the boring dialogue, crappy acting, and lousy script, this was a real thriller. (Ha.) Geez, what a waste of time it was. And I watched it thinking I was willing to waste a bit of time, as I had a cold & wanted an easy, non-thinking, non-demanding flick to watch. Even so, I regretted watching this one. As bad as Richard Gere was (not that he had much of a role to work it), poor Sidney Poitier was even worse, and Bruce Willis really must win some award for "most cliched acting of the year, if not decade". My point is: Don't waste your time with this flick. Watch a rerun of a conventional TV cop show instead; at least you want feel disappointed (and you'll waste less time!).

TonyMontana96 (Originally reviewed: 05/03/2017) There I was thinking Mr Willis didn't have any more hidden pieces of trash lying about but here is The Jackal a film that would be formulaic if it had any style in its plotting. The film starts with atrocious dialogue, stereotypically personality free bad guys and a Russian antagonist asking one of his friends if he managed to kill any militia cops in the event of his brother's death and when he says none he apparently must die and gets an axe in the back of his head. It's the code says this villain, but others might say well we think it's stupid and over the top and you would be correct on both counts as I found that whole scene an insulting to audience members who like a better reason for how events turn out; but luckily that Russian simply hires Willis's character a few minutes later, now his name is unknown as he is in and out of identities and a master of disguise so he's nicknamed The Jackal. I 'll admit Bruce Willis play's this character effectively; playing a harsh but menacing villain, if only he had some form of a competent story to help him; but to no avail.Richard Gere play's the imprisoned Irish protagonist 'Declan Mulqueen' and though at first I was unsure if he was going to go in and out of accents; he really did give a solid performance and he's likable; has a good Irish accent and has a vendetta against The Jackal for a reason I will not disclose but he and Willis do have a couple of good scenes together; and the performances by the rest of the cast, especially Diane Venora as a major militia officer are decent with the exception of a weapon and so called info dealer played by Jack Black who is plain and simple a pig and an annoying hippy who belches, rambles on and brings nothing to the film except another reason to dislike it. Also featuring are a cringeworthy, unnecessary gay bar sequence and a completely separate, cruel, distasteful scene involving a character being used as target practice to test a weapon and the way its shown is completely sick and twisted; and whether you like the character or not, there's no need for such a sinister sequence.The outcomes of the plot are as inept as the plot; instead of explain anything it just hopes the audience will find it believable but anyone willing to ask questions may be extremely frustrated like myself, as I kept wondering how could The Jackal operate a Gatling gun/multi tuned weapon while being a huge distance away from it, we know it's operated by a button and yet that button is obviously shown on the weapon and it can go off from a distance with no explanation on how, as I didn't see Willi's character with a detonator or a switch so it's clear the picture is beyond absurd and it even tries to twist it's alleged plot several time's thinking it's clever but in truth it's merely stupid and so bad I couldn't even merit a laugh.Then of course a lot of people are killed like usual in these type of films, usually FBI agents or Russians cops for nothing more than a pointless body count; and whichever way you look at it; the action is forgettable and poorly directed. I was simply unimpressed with it; and especially Michael Caton-Jones's direction; which is equally as bad as Kenneth Ross and Chuck Pfarrer's screenplay which is truly awful at times; and most noticeably in the final act which defies sense and reason where Declan's wife played by Mathilda May manages to come out of nowhere at a shootout in a train station and fire off a shot; two questions 1) how did she manage to get there so fast and 2) how on earth did she know exactly where to find them. The picture is filled with pure idiocy, void of sense, trashy and an utter mess; it may not be the worst film Willis has ever done but it sure is among them.

boatista24 I think people here expect to see a remake of The Day of the Jackal. This movie has nothing to do with The Day of the Jackal. This is an independent fictitious tale based upon Carlos the Jackal. It is one of my favorite Bruce Willis flicks, and has one of the greatest movie scores of all time. As far as entertainment by Bruce Willis goes, this is an 8 out of 10, hands down. Get over this being a lousy remake of an entirely different movie, and appreciate it for what it is. An outstanding effort - $60 million worth. In my opinion, Bruce Willis is as good as a bad guy as he was in any of his good guy roles. I would not dismiss this movie until you see how great he was in it. A terrific cast and great story line make this a must see.

spamobile Not sure why this movie seems so low rated, it's well worth a view ! It's fast paced with a number of strong actors and characters portrait very well by them. Maybe the story is not entirely believable, it seems that some leads are obtained a bit too easy, but does that matter? It's just great, action packed, clever, and if you like crime it should keep you on the edge of your chair. No, it's not like the original but I don't think the makers set out to do this. It would have been a crime to do that actually as the original is in it's own an excellent movie and remakes are most of the time disappointing. Go watch it, buy the DVD!