THE DAY OF THE JACKAL (2024)

In 1973, the trick for director Fred Zinnemann was to build suspense on an international thriller where you knew going in that cold-blooded hitman the Jackal would fail to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle.  In 2024, the trick for this reboot is that these big-ticket streaming items only go into profit if you get a second season so you can’t kill your lead.  Zinnemann triumphantly solved his problem; this rethink ignores its, but still finds plenty of ways to stumble thru nearly eight extra hours where every expansion is a diminution of the original’s cool precision.  Here, hitman Eddie Redmayne is no man without a shadow, but a (wait for it) loving family man!  With idiots for in-laws and (as an actor) zero chemistry with wife & child.  (The only emotional note comes when Jackal seems to connect in the ‘gay cover’ subplot, an elaboration from the earlier film.)  The hunters, British MI6 (?) replacing the amusingly drab methodical deskmen & bureaucrats of 1973, seem to come from other streaming series with a lead investigator who somehow manages to needlessly lose four or five people early on (including two agents) and not only isn’t instantly removed from the case, but gets what amounts to a vote of confidence.  Jackal’s target a Master-of-the-Universe technology geek (think Elon Musk/Steve Jobs), a laughably inadequate substitute for de Gaulle.  Meanwhile director Paul Wilmshurst (or someone - the series has multiple helmers) blows the filming on three or four pivotal assassination attempts before failing (twice!) to sell the ridiculous idea that you can get off a precision shot while riding sea waves on a small boat a couple of miles away from your target.  (Heck, my weather forecaster can’t tell me if it’s going to rain tomorrow.)  Credit for running a few action set pieces with flair, some military flashbacks meant to give Jackal psychological background are decent enough (if exactly the sort of Freudian explanation Jackal should not have) along with some neatly turned car chase scenes.  I know, car chase scenes, not what made the book and subsequent feature film such original thrillers back in the day.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK:  No surprise: THE DAY OF THE JACKAL/’73  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2011/06/day-of-jackal-1973.html

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID;  With freckles you could see from outer space, Redmayne’s Jackal must be the most spotable fugitive on the planet, even in disguise.  I had more trouble locating corporate villain Charles Dance in the first couple of episodes.   (BTW - He’s the Jackal’s likely Season Two target.)