Discuss The Jackal
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Great bad guy
posted by DRDMovieMusingsSTAFFMOD on April 2, 2017 at 2:27 AM
Bruce Willis was the fast, smooth-talking frat boy who could do no wrong when he first really caught our attention in Moonlighting.
He made the jump to action, joining Sly and Arnie as the standard-bearers of the new generation of action movies that was the 80s/90s.
And so, come 1997, Willis surprises us with this decidedly different character - he's not a good guy, not a fast-smooth talker, and not funny. He's calculating, smart, cold-blooded, efficient and ably demonstrates his range far beyond what we'd seen to date.
Reply by alias
on April 2, 2017 at 3:07 AM
Bruce can play anything from comedy to tragedy - I guess that's why he's still around!
Reply by Strange Bedfellows
on April 3, 2017 at 5:23 PM
I liked this movie - it's one of the few remakes I can enjoy watching. I don't think it had the class of the original but it was certainly entertaining and I think all of the cast members did a good job. Bruce Willis showed a surprising turn of character in this - I appreciated him dropping the world weary sneer for a couple of hours. I have seen it two or three times now and still enjoy it.
Reply by Patrick E. Abe
on November 27, 2018 at 7:33 PM
This is a Hollyweird version of "Day of the Jackal," which was a star-making vehicle for Edward Fox. It has explosions, lots of gun fire, violent on-screen deaths, and enough costume changes to match the original. It's all business, though this "Jackal" leaves enough clues in his wake to outline his target. The original was more of a nail-biter in it's relatively quiet way, since "The English Man" left few clues for the Police along the way, unlike "The American." The twists in the plot and fully realized characters in the 1997 version raised my rating a bit.