The Jackal (2017)

If The Jackal was made 20 years later.

Directed By: Antoine Fuqua

Plot
A joint operation between the FBI and the MVD leads to the death of the younger brother of an Azerbaijani mobster. In retaliation, the mobster hires an assassin known only as the "Jackal" to kill an unidentified American target. The Jackal demands $70 million for the job, to which the mobster agrees. Meanwhile, the MVD capture one of the mafia's henchmen. During the interrogation, the henchman reveals the name "Jackal". This, coupled with documents recovered from his briefcase, leads the FBI and MVD to assume the target for the retaliatory hit is FBI Director Donald Brown.

As the Jackal begins his preparations for the assassination—utilising a series of disguises and stolen IDs in the process—the FBI learns of one person who can identify him. FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston and Russian Police Major Valentina Koslova turn to a former IRA sniper named Declan Mulqueen, who had a relationship with an ETA militant named Isabella Zancona, who they believe can identify The Jackal. Mulqueen agrees to help in exchange for their best efforts to get him released from prison.

It later transpires that Mulqueen has a personal motive for hunting the Jackal: the assassin wounded Zancona while she was pregnant with Mulqueen's child, causing a miscarriage. Zancona provides information that can help identify the Jackal, including the fact that he is American and that he had served in the U.S military and was stationed at El Salvador. Zancona gives Mulqueen a key to a drop box that has a clean passport and $10,000 cash for him to go back to Ireland. However, Mulqueen has given Preston his word not to run so that he can find The Jackal.

Meanwhile, the Jackal arrives in Montreal to pick up the weapon he intends to use and, after evading a group of hi-jackers after his weapon, hires small-time hood/gunsmith Ian Lamont to design and build a control mount for it. Underestimating the threat represented by the assassin, Lamont tries to blackmail him for more money; the Jackal kills him while test-firing the weapon (a Polish ZSU-33 14.5 mm weapon). The FBI discovers Lamont's remains and, with Mulqueen's help, deduce that the Jackal intends to utilize a long-range, high cyclic rate weapon, I.E. a heavy machine gun.

With the help of a Russian mole in the FBI, the Jackal realizes that he is being tracked by Mulqueen with assistance from Zancona, and he infiltrates her house after receiving an FBI access code from his insider. Instead of Zancona, however, he finds Koslova and Agents Witherspoon and McMurphy. He kills the agents and mortally wounds Koslova. The Jackal says that Mulqueen "can't protect his women," which she repeats to Mulqueen as she dies.

As the Jackal makes his final preparations, Mulqueen realizes that his target is not Brown, but the First Lady, who is due to give a major public speech at a new Chemotherapy Center. The Jackal plans to shoot the First Lady via remote control. Arriving just in time, Mulqueen successfully sabotages the Jackal's weapon by shooting the telescopic mount, while Preston absorbs a bullet meant for the First Lady. After a cat-and-mouse chase through the subway tunnels, Mulqueen and Zancona shoot the assassin dead.

A few days later, Preston and Mulqueen stand as the only witnesses to the Jackal's burial in an unmarked grave. Preston reveals that he is going back to Russia to pursue Terek Murad, the mobster who hired the Jackal. It is revealed that Mulqueen's request to be released was denied, but that he will likely be moved to a minimum security prison. Preston's heroics in saving the First Lady have made him a hero in the FBI. Knowing his current clout will prevent any real backlash against him, Preston turns his back on Mulqueen, allowing him to go free.

Cast

 * Mark Wahlberg as the Jackal
 * Matt Czuchry as Declan Joseph Mulqueen
 * Samuel L. Jackson as FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston
 * Amanda Peet as Major Valentina Koslova, MVD
 * Anna Kendrick as Isabella Celia Zancona
 * Dean Norris as FBI Agent Timothy I. Witherspoon
 * Josh Gad as Ian Lamont

Rating
Rated-PG