The Day of the Jackal Review 2024 Tv Show Series Cast Crew Online
The key thing that makes programmes like this any good is the source material they are based on and in this case, the source material is an excellent novel that has stood the test of time. A lone assassin is employed to kill an influential person and the forces of “good” pursue in a game of cat and mouse.
The writing here borrows much from the source material updated for modern times. There’s no big surprises and the “twists” are about as signposted as it gets. There’s some interesting action and aside from a bad miss or two on the casting front (see later), there’s much to enjoy.
It’s longer than it needed to be and would have been much better if they had cut some of the padding which adds nothing.
Also, the amount of which you are supposed to suspend reality is a bit much. I don’t know who the advisor was, but either they weren’t listened to or they weren’t that bothered about accuracy. The world record shot that is achieved early on has no bearing on reality. From the “view” through the scope, to the “test” shots down to the shot itself. The whole thing was ridiculous for anyone with even a passing knowledge of long range shooting – and the sad part is, it wasn’t needed. The assassin doesn’t have to be the best shot in the world who’s ever lived, that’s not the key part of being an assassin.
The tradecraft on display is equally ridiculous. I know that real tactics are often concealed so as not to educate potential terrorists, but I struggle to believe that MI6 operates in anything like the open plan office, don’t worry about who might be listening, no concern for the rule of law, way that is shown here. It’s things like how the special forces team who are performing a forced entry extraction give the potential targets a countdown before they breach. It’s laughable.
The main character slips from analyst, to asset handler, to subject matter expert, to tactical weapons team member as if they are all the same job – you must think that their induction took a while! The attempt appears to be to portray them as superhuman, complete with family, but it misses badly. What is more, when that same person is directly responsible for multiple deaths (some that they bear a direct responsibility for) while producing minimal leads, it’s probable they would be removed from service, if not fired – they wouldn’t be allowed to carry on as if everything is fine.
There’s loads more stupid things that happen, but if you want to see them, then just watch it yourself. They happen every few minutes or so.
That brings us to the main problem with the series. Lashana Lynch. She looks like she walked in from the set of Eastenders (east London soap opera for those outside the UK). She is not believable in any of the scenarios she finds herself in. Her delivery is wooden and she fails to bring any warmth to her character at all. It’s not long before you find yourself rooting for the assassin.
She’s so bad it’s almost as if the writers made bad things happen to her because they found out she was being cast and did it as petty revenge.
All in all, this isn’t a bad series and there are far worse things that are currently being offered on streaming services. It’s just a shame that what, for a few tweaks, could have been a great series is spoiled by things that could have been easily fixed.
