Fred Zinnemann’s tightly wound 1973 film “The Day of the Jackal,” and the Frederick Forsyth novel he adapted it from, are tough acts to follow. While Peacock’s 10-part series doesn’t rival either, it’s still a remarkably well-done update worth your streaming time.
Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne is chilling and suave as the globe-trotting master of disguise “Charles,” a wily hitman nicknamed the Jackal. Hot on his blood-drenched trail is the obsessed British intelligence officer Bianca (Lashana Lynch of “No Time to Die”), a tough nemesis who puts her family on the backburner, and even in harm’s way, as she pursues her target all over the globe, and then uses questionable methods to get at him.
She and her team seek to squelch his next contracted killing and what a doozy it is, rubbing out a gay tech billionaire (Khalid Abdalla) who’s preparing to launch an app that exposes all the dirty money-making secrets of the world’s filthy rich. That includes an icicles-in-his veins New Yorker (Charles Dance, oozing refined cruelty) who has built an empire on shady shenanigans. He hires “Charles” to dispense with the threat.
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Creator Ronan Bennett’s modernizing of Forsythe’s plot works to this series’ advantage, even though expanding upon the backstory and vulnerabilities of the steely jackal prove tricky and present some challenges. Always there to intercede and distract are the gorgeous hopscotching destinations — Spain, Croatia, Turkey, Estonia, Ireland, to name a few.
Unlike the book and the film, Charles does lead another life in an idyllic villa in Spain — far from prying eyes. That addition works sometimes better than others, but does make Redmayne’s character more emotionally prone to make mistakes, a good development.
It’s fortunate too that actor Úrsula Corberó, playing someone connected to Charles, doesn’t make her character a pushover but a fiery presence who demands answers. The same is true of the well-written role of Bianca, a complex, tenacious woman who always wants to come away the victor. Lynch is explosive in the part.
Bennett’s series lags a bit at the halfway point but then picks itself up and gallops to the finish line, only to leave us with a sense that this story isn’t entirely done.
Contact Randy Myers at sotsrandy@gmail.com.
‘DAY OF THE JACKAL’
3 stars out of 4
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Lashana Lynch, Úrsula Corberó, Khalid Abdalla, Charles Dance
When & where: On Peacock; five episodes drop Nov. 14 with more episodes released weekly on Thursdays and a double-episode finale Dec. 12.