The Day of the Jackal: Eddie Redmayne delivers a killer performance in this fabulous update
Tuesday, 12 November 2024
REVIEW: Like 2022’s The Good Nurse, a new 10-episode “reimagining” of Frederick Forsyth’s best-selling 1971 political thriller The Day of the Jackal (which begins streaming on TVNZ+ on Friday, November 15) trades heavily on the quiet intensity of its star Eddie Redmayne.
Softly-spoken and easily overlooked, his seemingly milquetoast demeanour is a perfect fit for the assassin-for-hire previously portrayed by Edward Fox in Fred Zimmerman’s Bafta-winning 1973 film. Especially when he reveals himself to be a cold-blooded killer, capable of taking out his quarry either at close quarters or from hundreds of metres away.
Ronan Bennett’s (Top Boy) script here though, offers up a very different Jackal. Gone is the mysterious, shadowy figure employed to take out French President Charles de Gaulle. Instead, we have a modern-day freelance death-merchant whose cover is as an international corporate fixer so his Spain-based wife Nuria (Money Heist’s Úrsula Corberó) is unaware of the dangerous life he really leads. It’s an opening-out that provides an extra layer of jeopardy in the story and Daniel Craig-era Bondian emotional stakes, but could have gone badly wrong had Bennett’s sharp script not been able to juxtapose, juggle and blend the Jackal’s personal and professional lives as smartly and immersively as he has.
Cleverly, he also provides a mirror and comparison in the form of the Jackal’s main pursuer – MI6 Agent Bianca (No Time To Die’s Lashana Lynch). In a way, she invites comparisons to Tommy Lee Jones’ dogged Samuel Gerard in 1993’s The Fugitive remake, although we never got to see the toll it took on his home life (or procedural corners potentially cut) in his relentless pursuit of Dr. Richard Kimble the way we do here. And because Bennett spends time in both camps, viewers will find themselves divided as to whether they want the Jackal to slip Bianca’s ever-closing net or face justice for his crimes.
In the thrilling opening episode, one of five initially dropping in an unusual release strategy, Redmayne’s Jackal infiltrates a Munich business via his meticulous portrayal of 60-something cleaner Ralf (who he’s already eliminated).
While not everything appears to go to plan – his seeming-target is only wounded and his escape requires rappelling off the roof after having created a diversion – we quickly learn everything is not quite as it seems.
They are themes that continue throughout the series, as both hunters and the hunted suffer setbacks and reversals that will test their resolve and mettle.
Yes, there is an ultimate target, a The Blacklist-style cabal and a MacGuffin (software that apparently will reveal “global economic justice”, but, unlike so many modern-day action movies, they aren’t the be-all and end-all of the action and drama.
In a way, this Jackal owes plenty to both Paul Greengrass’ Bourne tales and Christopher McQuarrie’s latter-day Mission: Impossible Cruise-naissance in its invention (the suitcase gun is a standout), sometimes breathtaking set-pieces and identity-concealing prosthetics. But, blessed with the extra time the small-screen format allows, it actually has the audacity and brilliance to use that to, not just take the audience on a journey, but also make them feel invested in the characters – and the rising dramatic and emotional stakes.
The Day of the Jackal will be available to stream on TVNZ+ from Friday, November 15. Episodes will also screen on Duke on Fridays at 9.30pm.