Over the past decade, Bruce Willis has starred in some of Hollywood’s best action movies. The “Die Hard” series, “12 Monkeys” and “Last Man Standing” have shown the world some of the most suspenseful cinematic action of the past 20 years. But with his last two movies — “The Fifth Element,” and the newly released “The Jackal” — Willis, an actor who came to fame through the romantic sitcom “Moonlighting,” has fallen on hard times, action-wise. “The Jackal,” co-starring Richard Gere and Sidney Portier, may be exactly what Willis doesn’t need — another mediocre thriller. Willis plays “The Jackal,” a former KGB assassin who is hired by the Russian mafia to shoot a high-ranking American official. FBI Director Carter Preston (Portier) tries to capture the Jackal and prevent the assassination. To do so, Preston bails former IRA terrorist Declan Mulqueen (Gere) out of prison to help the feds and the Russian government hunt down the illusive Jackal. One of the few surprising things about the film was the portrayal of the heroine. Russian officer Valentina Koslova is not typical of James Bond-esque leading ladies, who are supposedly intelligent, but always need 007 to race to the rescue. Koslova is no airhead bimbo; the Russian major could actually be a real person — she’s convincing, moving and real. Gere puts a good performance into a movie that is a departure from his usual drama-flick genre. His portrayal of Mulqueen hunting the Jackal and eventually gaining Preston’s trust is a high point. Depth was added to the rivalry between Mulqueen and the Jackal when it’s discovered that the Jackal was responsible for the death of Mulqueen’s unborn son years before — a plot device that is often overused, but works in “Jackal” because the discovery isn’t made until late in the film. Unfortunately, high-quality acting is wasted by an ineffective plot that a two-year old could predict. The Russian mafia guy gets killed, the chief of the Russian mafia decides to avenge the death, the Jackal is hired, the feds find out and get Mulqueen to help, they hunt the Jackal, the Jackal evades the feds multiple times, blah, blah, blah. Willis’s most recent films lack what makes action movies work — namely, suspense. While “Element” was juvenile, “Jackal” was simply obvious. By the time the butter has melted on the popcorn everyone in the theater knew who was going to die, who was going to live, who was going to fall in love and who was going to blow the operation. Even the “surprise” ending wasn’t very surprising. If life were like this movie, “The Psychic Friends Network” file for bankruptcy. Action movies that aren’t suspenseful don’t usually do well at the box office. It’s the difference between “The Phantom” and “12 Monkeys.” “Monkeys” had a major bonus — THE OUTCOME WASN’T CLEAR BEFORE THE FIRST BATHROOM BREAK. That’s not to say that “The Jackal” is without merit. Gere and Willis put in good performances, and it may have been worth $6 to see Jackal’s monolithic cannon — a gun over eight feet long, mounted on a computer-activated turret. The “A Bad Guy Getting Killed in a Really Cool Way” category scored points in this film. The Jackal’s disposal of the engineer behind the cannon was a high point in the film. It’s not common that well-acted parts help make up for a bad plot, and “The Jackal” is no exception. Willis is effective as a bad guy — despite his likeness to Jack Nicholson — but without a plot, Willis, Gere and all the other actors are lost. Maybe Willis should give Cybil Shephard a call. “Moonlighting II: The Next Generation,” perhaps? |
