More like a year of your life

Complaining that you’ve seen this story before – specifically regarding an adaptation of a book first published in 1971 that was already made into a movie in 1973 and made into another movie in 1997 – is generally a waste of time. “Day of the Jackal” is a piece of intellectual property. The only reason there is a new iteration of Frederick Forsyth’s novel is because readers liked it then, and then moviegoers liked seeing the story unfold on screen, and then moviegoers went to see it again 20 years later later (although very few of them seemed to enjoy the Bruce Willis/Richard Gere version, including Forsyth, who filed an injunction to prevent the film from using the same title as his book).

But hey, just because Roger Ebert ranked Fred Zinnemann’s “The Day of the Jackal” among his 10 best movies of 1973 and then ranked “The Jackal” among his 10 worst movies of 1997 doesn’t mean the franchise is dead. If anything, it means most of the franchise’s virgin fans are dead – 1971 was a long time ago, and the poor reaction to the latest remake may have soured people on the property for … 27 years? Now the IP must be updated. And where there’s a timeless genre (international assassin), an enduring copyright (from Universal Pictures to NBCUniversal), and a streaming service in need of new content (hello, Peacock), there’s a way.

To be fair, “The Day of the Jackal” (2024) does its due diligence in updating Forsyth’s action thriller for today’s audiences. Supporting the cat-and-mouse game between The Jackal (Eddie Redmayne), a mysterious assassin known only by his codename, and the obsessive MI6 officer, Bianca (Lashana Lynch), is a class war orchestrated by the obscenely wealthy and a family. drama that means it’s impossible to find a proper work-life balance when the job you have to live requires more hours than there are in a day. Written by Ronan Bennett, the Peacock series even does the work of connecting the dots between the untouchable billionaires who control the politicians, the politicians who control the government middle managers, and the middle managers who exploit the will of their working class employees. to do whatever it takes to keep their job (and sometimes wanting to do whatever it takes because they take pride in their work).

Less meaningful (though always timely) are the tired parallels drawn between cops and killers. Although the Jackal and Bianca are both puppets of the man, we’ve seen these comparisons too many times before, in official “Jackal” properties and countless other action movies, which brings us back to redundancy. “The Day of the Jackal” is a story we’ve seen before, and whether that’s why you’re watching or it’s your first time out, the latest series suffocates under the weight of its own repetition. At 10 hour-long episodes, Season 1 is wildly bloated — overburdened with extraneous subplots and long-winded scenes that are very long cues to the best moments from mildly cool to tiresomely pretentious. In the end, not only is there enough to distinguish the show from its other tales, the sheer length proves so detrimental that it’s hard to enjoy “The Day of the Jackal” as pure genre fair. There are better assassin stories out there, better spy stories and better IP

Here, Redmayne’s Jackal is defined by three characteristics: First, he is a master of disguise. The nine-minute opening sequence shows him donning the persona of a well-dressed janitor. The jackal practices his thick, gravelly accent while applying latex and makeup to look like the much older gentleman. It’s a trick he’ll use repeatedly, whether he’s trying to impersonate someone (“Mission: Impossible” style) or simply avoid being seen as himself. Each time it’s convincing, but each time we spend more and more minutes watching him put on and take off the disguises, and it’s never more impressive than the first time.

Second, the Jackal is an expert marksman. One of his early hits – though not particularly his first hit, as that would be too effective for this script – is made at such a distance that it arouses the disbelief of various pundits (“Oh, the Germans measured the distance? Get the dummies to measure it again.”) and draws the attention of British authorities. In the second half of the season, you’ll learn a bit about how the jackal honed his skills and got started as an assassin, but the really telling flashbacks are reserved for later. These don’t go into why he joined the army to begin with, or what about his demeanor or talents made him such a good sniper rifle.

Finally, the Jackal is also a family man. When he’s not jet-setting around Europe, he relaxes at his home in Spain with Nuria (Úrsula Corberó), his wife, their infant son and her constantly nagging immediate family. (An extremely late-arriving subplot involving her brother is one of the show’s most unnecessary diversions.) But lounging by the pool and killing time isn’t enough for the man they call Chris. No, he needs more. He’s not an adrenaline junkie or the kind of secret killer who enjoys getting as close to the people looking for him as possible, but he has to work and he wishes to work.

The same can be said about Bianca. While she doesn’t dress up as an old woman to avoid detection or cultivate particularly impressive weapon skills, she does make an effort to impersonate the happy wife and mother while at home with her husband and teenage daughter, and she can certainly hold her own good enough when the bullets start flying at work. She’s also not addicted to the rush and she doesn’t romanticize the journey over the destination when it comes to chasing her goals, but she also has to work and likes her job.

Unfortunately, Lynch – an actor previously praised for supporting roles in “The Woman King” and “No Time To Die” – is hung out to dry as a co-lead here. Not only is her character simplistic, but her performance feels flat and repetitive due to all the extraneous screen time. While Redmayne gets to transform again and again, showing off his shifting physicality, intonations and charm, Lynch is stuck in chase mode: always chasing down leads only to be frustrated when they don’t pan, always fighting with his family, what she does and why she does it, always trying to bring moral complexity to a cop who is completely off the deep end. (Her character’s reaction to her first big mistake is clearly meant to instantly connect Bianca and the Jackal—they both have unnecessary blood on their hands, dammit!—but it’s such a massive, life-ruining screw-up that it’s moving on is nearly impossible, no matter what Lynch does to convey guilt.)

Beyond the topical themes (we really need to do something about these billionaires, you guys), “The Day of the Jackal” features a few solid sequences and set pieces. Director Brian Kirk’s recurring use of mirrors to illustrate his subjects’ deceptive intentions (and inescapable truths) – especially seen in the Jackal and Bianca’s shared fatal flaw – pays off in the finale with an expected but satisfying showpiece. Every time the Jackal sets up a target that has set an “impossible” distance, there is considerable tension as we wait for him to pull the trigger. Makeup, cinematography and editing all work together to help make the Jackal’s disguises convincing and impressive, and the action scenes are thankfully not too dark to watch or too quickly cut together to tell what’s going on.

And yet none of that is what I will remember about “Day of the Jackal.” Instead, I want to remember how long it felt to sit through it and how painful it exaggerated its story. Regardless of whether Peacock required 10 hours per season or the filmmakers, even if they themselves needed so much time, there is simply too much and too little happening at once. Even the spycraft – which starts off strong – deteriorates over too many episodes and too long. (Seeing a character carelessly dispose of a phone once is forgivable, but two or three times? In a series that emphasizes the importance of details? Sorry, but that’s a problem.)

If there’s going to be another “Day of the Jackal” — whether it’s Season 2 or another remake — I pray it feels more like 24 hours and less like 27 years.

Grade: C-

“The Day of the Jackal” premieres Thursday, Nov. 14, on the Peacock. Five episodes will be released at launch, then one per week for three weeks before the final two episodes premiere on December 12.