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The Assignment

1997, Movie, R, 115 mins

The Assignment: Review

ASSIGNMENT, THE
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Poor Annibal Ramirez (Adrian Quinn): His face is his misfortune. The Cuban-American naval officer looks exactly like world-famous terrorist Carlos, aka The Jackal, and obsessed CIA bigwig Jack Shaw (Donald Sutherland) is determined to make Ramirez part of his complex and dangerous plan to forever put Carlos out of the business of murdering and maiming civilians for the highest bidder. With the help of Mossad muckety-muck Amos (Ben Kingsley), Shaw trains Ramirez to walk, talk and think like the Jackal, all so he can stage a series of events that will make Carlos's KGB allies think he's scheming to defect to the West and kill him themselves. It will come as no surprise that this carefully laid plan erupts into bloody chaos, or that Ramirez has a world-class moral dilemma on his hands once it does. Cold War nostalgia drives this thriller -- let's face it: For most people the Jackal, now safely ensconced in a French prison, is the definition of yesterday's news -- and Canadian direct-to-video specialist Christian Duguay does a workmanlike job with Dan Gordon's cynical tale of ruthless spymasters and innocent pawns in the game of international intrigue. But the film has an oddly subdued -- almost diffident -- quality, even as bullets fly, bombs explode and bloody bodies pile up. Quinn does nice work in the dual leads, Sutherland oozes corrupt sincerity, and Kingsley's delivery of the word "oy" is the picture's single biggest -- and apparently unintentional -- laugh-getter. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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