The Day of the Jackal
The streaming format claims another victim
The Day of the Jackal (2024)
2 stars/5
It seems clear what the showrunners were trying to do here: “update” the Forsythe classic for a “modern” audience by subverting tropey expectations and delivering something “new”. But the source material here is one of the greatest thrillers ever written. It has already been put on screen twice, a superb film in 1973, and a solid remake in 1997. We know this story. It’s almost Campbellian. Subverting this story is like re-making Dirty Dancing but in the last scene Johnny tells Baby “your dad is right–you should be in the corner.”
As the story progresses, it feels like a cruel bait and switch. Remember in 2021 when Lashana Lynch got floated as a new 007? From a distance this show looks for all the world like we’re going to see what a Lynch-led Bond film would have looked like. It’s got a torchy theme song that sounds like something John Barry would have written for Adele, MI6 internal machiavellian douchebaggery, some delightful gadgetry (!), and a slick assassin to chase as he pursues a potentially world-altering scheme. All the tentpole Bond/Bourne/Hunt spy stuff is here.
And then the streaming format smothers it. To pad this story to 10 episodes, Lynch can’t be a top MI6 agent here. She’s got to be a frumpy desk-jockey with an inexplicable chip on her shoulder, a chafing unearned girlboss work attitude that would turn any office toxic (it’s no wonder her superiors don’t believe her “crazy theory that turns out to be right” trope-aliciousness), and … family issues. FAMILY ISSUES! What?! But that’s not quite enough to get this to 10 episodes. So you know who else has a deep anxiety subplot about relationship problems? The Jackal. The cold-as-ice assassin making sniper hits from over a kilometer out is deeply worried about how he’s going to make it work with his hot Spanish wife and her baby son who he loves as his own. What!? Do you even care how it ends now?
2 stars of 5: It’s got all the ingredients, but then lards the recipe until you can’t taste the good stuff anymore.