THE ASSIGNMENT
RATING: 7 / 10 --> Good movie
Review Date:
May 24, 1998
Director:
Christian Duguay
Writers:
Dan Gordon and Sabi H. Shabtai
Producers:
Franco Battista and Tom Berry
Actors:
Aidan Quinn as Annibal Ramirez/Carlos "the Jackal"
Donald Sutherland as Jack Shaw/Henry Fields
Ben Kingsley as Amos
Genre:
Thriller
Year of Release:
1997
The second Jackal-based film to come out in 1997 (the other
starring Bruce Willis was simply entitled THE JACKAL), this one
stars Aidan Quinn and Donald Sutherland, and is directed by a man
who hailed from JoBlo's own alma matter, Concordia University in
Montreal, Canada. The story is based on the exploits of the real
terrorist known as the Jackal, but does not pretend to be 100%
factual.
PLOT:
Naval Officer Ramirez (Quinn) gets called upon by the CIA to
impersonate the international terrorist known as the Jackal, in
order to put an end to the actual militant's radical activities.
He is chosen for this role because he physically resembles the
real terrorist to a tee. Ramirez reluctantly agrees to take part
in this "assignment", and soon finds himself wrapped up
in a true web of international terrorism, intrigue and
double-personality syndrome (which does not sit well with his
uninformed wife and kids back in the States.)
CRITIQUE:
Great premise is executed with enough style and thrills to keep
the piece interesting throughout its close to two-hour runtime.
Admittedly, I wasn't a huge fan of any of the main actors in this
film, and didn't expect much from this movie beforehand, but
surprisingly it did have its thrilling moments, as well as a
mostly plausible and absorbing story line. The first hour is
mostly just a build-up of things to come, and does offer a great
characterization of the Jackal, but the second hour is the one
that really cranks in the cool scenes and a sweet ending.
Quinn was adequate in both roles as Naval Officer Ramirez and the
real Jackal, but didn't offer anything extraordinary, in my
opinion. Sutherland and Kingsley seem to be playing the same role
that they've played in both of their respective careers of late,
but nonetheless, appeared to relish the cold-heartedness of their
chosen characters. I didn't like performance put forth from
Quinn's wife in this flick, but then again, she doesn't show up
in most of the film, so that wasn't so bad.
I did however enjoy director Duguay's interesting style and
cinematic vision. This thriller could easily have been boring
during many sequences, but Duguay always seemed to find something
interesting to show the viewer. I thought that was neat. Having
said that, I didn't think the first hour needed to be as long as
it was, and the film did have me tinkering on the bridge of
believability when the "fake" Jackal met with the
"real" Jackal's girlfriend without much retrospection
on her part, but all in all, not too many complaints in a movie
that could easily be enjoyed by all those who take pleasure in
the spy and terrorist thriller genre.
Little Known Facts:
Ben Kingsley's real name is Krishna Banji, he stands 5"8,
was born in Scarborough, England, and won the Best Actor honor in
1982's Academy Awards presentation for the title role he
portrayed in GHANDI.
Many scenes from this film were actually shot in Montreal, Canada
(JoBlo's haven of restfulness).
Donald Sutherland has fathered actor Kiefer Sutherland, is
Canadian, and apparently still owns a place in the North of
Montreal.
(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian
Movie Reviews by Berge Garabedian
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