Bruce Willis Fought Richard Gere In This Forgotten '90s Action Thriller

In a career comprising nearly 150 acting roles, Bruce Willis has very rarely played the bad guy. And I mean a proper villain: murderous, psychotic, cold-blooded. So, if you're a fan — and who doesn't love Willis in his peak, honestly? — you have to really savor those performances when he went full-on evil. Despite its often logically defective plot, Michael Caton-Jones' 1997 action thriller "The Jackal" is one of those films. It's an unabashed showcase for Willis, who devours every minute spent on screen, having the time of his life playing a psychopathic hitman hired to kill an American public figure. He's the star here, period.

Now, a lot of people tend to dislike this film since it's a very (very!) loose remake of the 1973 original, "The Day of the Jackal," which itself is an adaptation of Frederick Forsyth's classic bestseller political thriller of the same name. Right from the start, it's blatantly obvious that "The Jackal" has absolutely no interest in being the most loyal or realistic adaptation of its predecessor or the source material. Personally, I wouldn't even consider it a remake (or adaptation) of the original story.

Evidently, Caton-Jones wanted to make a loud, suspenseful, and characteristic action thriller, the kind that was big in the '90s. And "The Jackal" absolutely fits that description. It requires no brain but a heart madly in love with old-fashioned thrillers and the stars that made them a ton of mindless fun — and maybe a bucket of popcorn with a can of Coke to wash down.

"The Jackal" follows the Jackal (Willis), a codename for an international assassin with an unknown identity, as he takes on a job to assassinate a prominent American as revenge for the murder of a mafioso's younger brother. To reveal the identity, methods, and potential whereabouts of the feared hitman, the FBI, joined by Russian Police Major Valentina Koslova (Diane Venora), seeks the help of an ex-IRA member, Declan Mulqueen (Richard Gere and his failed Northern-Irish accent), who's currently in prison. They believe his ex-girlfriend might know who the Jackal is.

After meeting with him, Declan does them one better, since he claims to know the Jackal, too, and agrees to help in exchange for release and providing safety for his ex-lover. With a set of strict conditions, the FBI makes a deal with him, and the hunt for the man begins. Caton-Jones spends the first half building up the titular character as a larger-than-life legend — a menacing threat and a meticulous killer, always a step ahead of everybody. We see him plan, travel between countries, and change his identity constantly like a chameleon. And Willis couldn't be more game.

The range of his hairdos, accents, and demeanors (including his sexuality) is wild, to say the least, yet you never feel for a second that he isn't one hundred percent committed to all of them. He relishes the opportunity but never steps over the line to spiral into a caricature villain. In fact, when we see him using Jack Black's slacker criminal as a test dummy for his newly assembled sniper rifle, things get real immediately. He puts on a show that only he can do.

Nearly 30 years after its release, I get that "The Jackal" probably doesn't land as well for first-time (or younger) viewers, but back in the '90s, this flick was more than acceptable. Yes, there are some dumb and illogical plot points, questionable character decisions, and an utterly disposable romantic subplot (between Declan, his old lover, and Koslova), but Caton-Jones knew how to handle his stars to get the best out of them.

Because make no mistake, without Willis (and I guess, Gere, too, to some degree), this thriller wouldn't be half as fun as it is. And that stands even if most of the action scenes only arrive in the back half — although the exposition prepares them pretty neatly — yet they do hit the spot for the standards of '90s action filmmaking. The majority of critics might've hated it initially or since, but it's quite telling that "The Jackal" made bank at the box office back then, more than doubling its budget of $60 million with a $159 million score worldwide.

Although it was never able to acquire the cult-classic label or a reappraisal, I'd encourage any fan with a soft spot for '90s actioners (like John Travolta's "Broken Arrow" or Schwarzenegger's "Last Action Hero") to give it a chance — if for nothing else, to see Bruce Willis' turn as a smooth as hell baddie having a ball.