The Assignment

Slick, tidy, and well-made old school version of how a great international thriller should be made. Determined to nail a feared global terrorist who is known as "Carlos the Jackal", Jack Shaw (Donald Sutherland, "Without Limits", "Space Cowboys"), a CIA operative and his Israeli counterpart, Amos (Ben Kingsley, "Gandhi", "Sexy Beast") get a noble Naval officer, Annibal Ramirez (Aidan Quinn, "Music of the Heart"), to become Carlos and use him in a daring plot to get the KGB to kill the real Carlos, because he took an offer from the CIA. Sutherland and Kingsley are both good here, but the movie really belongs to Quinn here, who embodies himself here (in a dual role). Director Christian Duguay and cinematographer David Franco provide another great asset of the film here with Hitchcockian-like suspense and great sights of the world.

Intriguing and tense movie full of suspense from the beginning to the end , being based upon a true story , about an ordinary man recruited to impersonate an ominous murderer . Good and attractive film plenty of tension , action and entertainment . This well-paced picture is packed with historic events , tension , hectic intrigue and the suspense is maintained throughout . The deeds of this exciting movie start in Vienna , there takes a place a notorious kidnap executed by a nasty terrorist . This is a historical event of attacking the OPEC meeting by the Jackal and his fellows in 1975 . Later on , in Jerusalem , Lieutenant Commander Annibal Ramírez (Aidan Quinn) of the US Navy is detained and interrogated by who he eventually learns is Mossad in a case of mistaken identity. As the Mossad agent Amos (Ben Kingsley) captures the man whom he thinks is Carlos , only he's a double , US officer Annibal . Then , he is recruited for an operation to eliminate his lookalike , infamous terrorist Carlos the Jackal who is largely shown plying his trade . So a CIA counterterrorism expert named Shaw (Donald Sutherland) and Amos decide to turn the officer into the terrorist in order to catch him . As they scheme an elaborate plot to have Carlos' Russian handlers (KGB) , as they think the terrorist has betrayed them .

Decent and workmanlike film based on a thrilling script written by Dan Gordon and Sabi Shabtai . This stirring picture is full of suspense , tension , thrills and is very entertaining , though overlong . There are some perfectly mounted set-ups for a somewhat efficient payoff . The film's intrigue snowballs toward a surprising final . We see this sensational film not only by its action and intrigue but also by the historical deeds that are well depicted and related to criminal terrorist Carlos the Jackal . Extraordinary casting , all of whom give admirable acting , such as starring Aidan Quinn who plays perfectly a double role ; both , a dynamic seaman and the most cold-blooded and vicious killer ; brilliant Ben Kingsley as the intelligent Mossad agent , and , of course , Donald Sutherland's interpretation who steals the show as the haughty counterterrorism expert Jack Show . Support cast is frankly good , such as : Claudia Ferri , Celine Bonner , Liliana Komorwska , Von Flores , Al Waxman , Daniel Pilon and Vlasta Vrana.

It contains a moving and adequate musical score by Normand Corbeil . As well as an evocative and appropriate cinematography by David Franco and Christian Duguay himself . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Christian Duguay . Chistian's smoothly persuasive direction attracted reception by the public and was a success at the box office . Christian Duguay was born in 1957 in Outremont, Québec, Canada . Frequently casts Donald Sutherland and he is former husband of Liliana Komorowska . He is a director and assistant director, known for Scanners II and III , Human trafficking (2005), Art of war (2000) , Extreme Ops , Boot Camp , Rouge Brésil (2012) . Furthermore , he has directed various historical TV series , such as : The Medici , Joan of Arc , Pío XII , San Agustín , Anna Karenina , Coco Chanel , Guillermo Tell and Hitler: The Rise of Evil , among others . Rating : 7/10 . Better than average . Well worth seeing .

The Assignment is a solid thriller which is comparable with The Jackal in terms of story. However it is a much better film than it's big budget brother with better story and a more compelling sense of tension (and you don't have to put up with Richard Gere's wandering Irish accent).

Aidan Quinn is good in twin roles of Carlos and Ramirez, in particular portraying the way Ramirez changes during his training. Sutherland is as good as always - but in some scenes still has an element of hamminess about him, Kingsley is good but underused.

The story is more believable than The Jackal (if you can get past the fact that Carlos has an exact double!) with plot to get Carlos being more intelligence and espionage based than the gunplay solution of The Jackal. Indeed the story is what makes this film so interesting. There are only a few action scenes in the film but again are all tense, the scenes of terrorist attack are frightening but tend to linger of shots of extras with bad blood makeup (some horrors are more terrible if left to the viewers' imagination).

Overall, a tight little thriller that makes up in plot and acting what it lacks in star-power and budget.

I found this movie to be quite enjoyable and fairly entertaining. Good characters,good actors and enough suspense to keep your interest throughout. The plot twists might have been a bit much but overall a decent thriller. If you liked this film I would recommend The Spanish Prisoner, The House of Games and No Way Out.

This is certainly a quality movie with a classy cast. As far as movies about Carlos the Jackal go, this one beats Bruce Willis' feeble efforts in 'The Jackal' to a bloody pulp, then spits on them. I am a bit surprised that this movie hasn't attracted more votes, something of a 'sleeper' obviously. A pity because this film is definitely worth a watch. It is clever and never dull. See it, 7/10