Friday, November 14, 1997
"The Jackal"
Directed by Michael Caton-Jones
Starring Bruce Willis and Richard Gere
"The Jackal" looks like a stereotypical action movie, what with
its heartless killer-for-hire antagonist, its
convict-with-a-heart-of-gold hero and a few rotten-toothed,
smug-faced Russian villains. And while looks can be deceiving, in
this case, they’re right on.
The unoriginal story surrounds the FBI’s involvement with an
incarcerated IRA sharpshooter (Richard Gere) in the hunt for the
Jackal (Bruce Willis), a career killer who is planning to take out
an influential American political figure. It has mediocre
performances, badly written one-liners masquerading as dialogue and
completely nonsensical plot developments.
Willis is an incredible disappointment, considering some of his
more charismatic roles. He’s proven just how much power a
well-delivered one-liner can punch, but as an aloof sociopath,
Willis is suppressing the sardonic nature that makes him so
intriguing. As a soft-spoken methodical sniper, he isn’t
charismatic, he isn’t interesting, and he isn’t even remotely
believable.
In comparison to Willis, Gere’s performance is pretty good. He
plays a prisoner with stronger moral fiber than Ghandi, and manages
to deliver his holier-than-thou lines without coming across
annoyingly perfect. His Irish accent is more consistent than some
of the shoddier accents that have disgraced the screen this year.
But he is just too clean-cut to pass as a prisoner or a reformed
killer.
The one performance that surpasses these otherwise unimpressive
ones is Diane Venora’s Russian officer. Venora’s performance is
strong and intriguing, showing cool strength in the threat of
violence, but remaining emotionally human. She maintains her
feminity without becoming a sexual object. It is an unusually
powerful performance, particularly for a woman in an action
film.
With its scant amount of action, one wonders why the film
presents itself as part of the action genre. There are few
explosions, little suspense and the fights and chases are
minimalistic at best. Yet it maintains the sloppy lack of attention
to plot that many action movies get away with.
Basically, Venora aside, "The Jackal" is a failed attempt at
action, plot and performance.
Emily Forster
Grade: D
"The Man Who Knew Too Little"
Directed by Jon Amiel
Starring Bill Murray
After a string of recent flops, Bill Murray has finally returned
to the genre that made him famous: the ludicrously silly comedy.
While his new film, "The Man Who Knew Too Little," never quite
produces the laughs of these earlier incarnations, it does succeed
in boosting Murray’s humor quotient beyond recent failures such as
"Larger Than Life."
The film’s plot, while a little confusing and over-written,
adequately gives Murray several opportunities for elaborate
slapstick sequences. Murray portrays Wally, an average guy from
Iowa who inadvertently becomes engulfed in a scheme to rekindle the
Cold War. Wally believes he is taking part in a theater
presentation in which all the events occurring around him are
staged for his enjoyment (think "The Game"). Unfortunately, through
a series of bizarre coincidences, he marches headfirst into a real
espionage story involving plastic explosives, grandiose car chases
and a team of Russian hit men.
All of the gags depend entirely upon this tired gimmick Â
an average man unknowingly becoming a spy — but Murray proves to
be a saving grace, using his standard wit and charm to downplay the
mediocre writing and uncreative plot devices. Most other actors
would fail to capture the film’s essential timing and tone, but he
hits every joke, giving the movie a gentle and easygoing feel.
While probably not destined for major box-office success or rave
critical reviews, "The Man Who Knew Too Little," provides 90
minutes of genial humor while simultaneously proving that Murray
has the comic mettle to continue making quality films.
Lonnie Harris
Grade: B+
"Nick and Jane"
Directed by Richard Mauro
Starring Dana Wheeler-Nicholson and James McCaffrey
Romantic comedies about opposites attracting is the most
reliable love story formula around. Audiences coo and swoon over
two unlikely souls who, despite their backgrounds, friends and
better judgment, fall in love and struggle to live happily ever
after. In "Nick and Jane," this tried-and-true recipe is played out
once again with mixed results.
Jane (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson) is a successful financial analyst
whose perfect yuppie life is thrown for a loop when she catches her
sleazebag boyfriend (John Dossett) in bed with one of their
co-workers. To make him jealous, she asks cab driver Nick (James
McCaffrey) to pose as her new high-executive boyfriend. Nick, a
disillusioned, starving, yet sick of starving artist, is so
lovestruck at the sight of Jane that he happily agrees.
As the two play couple and spend time together, their feelings
grow, to the dismay of her ex-boyfriend and his artist roommate
(Gedde Watanabe of "Sixteen Candles"). The sweet and unlikely
romance between the two is enchanting and the audience is treated
to a quiet courtship.
Wheeler-Nicholson plays the prim uptown businesswoman with
modest charm, while McCaffrey is absolutely winning as a
blue-collar good guy who cleans himself up and even brushes up on
his business courses to get the girl.
If director Richard Mauro had let the couple’s charm be the only
focus of the film, it would have been fine. But he feels compelled
to litter the film with unnecessary and unfunny supporting
characters.
Watanabe is only annoying and pretentious as Nick’s fellow
suffering artist who gets mad at his friend for "selling out." And
Jane’s lustful best friend (Lisa Gay Hamilton) is gratingly loud
and shallow. The other characters are stereotypes of uptight
businessmen and over-flamboyant homosexuals that insult the
audience’s intelligence.
But since the supporting cast do not make much of an impact on
the story, the audience at least is not distracted from the main,
luminous story. "Nick and Jane" is a sweet, contemporary love story
that should have had more faith in its couple’s chemistry and
focused less on its supporting characters.
Aimee Phan
Grade: B+
Universal
Bruce Willis stars as the Jackal, a ruthless assassin hired to
eliminate a government official in the eponymous film.