A movie saved by the Bruce Willis bell

"The Jackal" is a remake of the 1973 movie "The Day of the Jackal". In that movie, a professional hit man known only as The Jackal is hired to assassinate French president De Gaulle. His perfect murder plot is foiled only at the very last second, in a closing scene that's almost a cult classic. In the new version, The Jackal is hired by a foreign mobster to take out a high ranking American official. Soon, both the FBI and the ex-KGB are on his tail.

Unfortunately, the new version is very boring. It's saved by Bruce Willis, an excellent actor when not forced to make trivial "Die Hard" sequels. Willis stars The Jackal, who turns out to be a sociopathically overconfident terrorist who looks somewhat gay! I didn't know Willis could look gay, but it seems this man can do pretty much anything. I like him best in the last part of the movie, when The Jackal slowly but steadfastly looses his grip. The transformation from overconfident Übermensch to hunted crazy animal is pretty convincing. Two other good actors involved in this production are Sidney Poitier and Richard Gere.

And yet, not even the presence of three Hollywood stars can save this production. The original movie was clever, almost too clever. The new film is simply one of many action thrillers. It contains all the usual stereotyped plot elements: a bunch of Russians, a stupid backwoods nerd who can build *really* big machine guns, a closing fight between the Bad Guy and the Good Guy...and, of course, a Bad Guy that dies really hard! Those who remember the original version will gasp at the rather silly remakes of the various plot elements. Not to mention all the loose ends...

But yes, Bruce Willis was excellent. I guess you could say that "The Jackal" was saved by the Bruce Willis bell!