The Day of the Jackal (2024): Movie review

I just finished watching The Day of the Jackal (2025), and my heart is still racing. If you’re expecting a straight-up remake of the 1973 classic, stop right there—this version has a pulse of its own. Sleek, modern, and disturbingly timely, it drags you into the shadowy world of covert operations, international politics, and one man’s flawless plan to kill... someone powerful. Too powerful.

This isn’t your average assassin thriller. It’s smart, methodical, and full of that unnerving quiet tension that makes you lean in closer without even realizing it.

Let’s Talk About the Jackal (No, Really)

Eddie Redmayne’s performance? Ice-cold. He’s not the twitchy, high-octane killer you’d expect in a modern thriller—he’s calculated, efficient, and disturbingly charming. He feels less like a man and more like a ghost that drifts in and out of countries and identities. And yet, there are these brief, almost uncomfortable moments where you think: Is he even enjoying this? That subtlety? Brilliant.

What I really appreciated was that the movie didn’t try to over-explain him. No tragic backstory, no forced sympathy. Just a highly skilled, morally ambiguous professional with a target.

The jackal himself

About That Ending…

Alright—let’s talk about the cliffhanger.

Just when you think MI6 agent Bianca Pullman (played with real grit by Lashana Lynch) has cornered him in Prague, he vanishes. Again. But this time it’s different—he chooses not to take the shot. Yes, the Jackal hesitates. Just for a split second. Enough to make you question everything.

Was it a crack in his armor? A moment of doubt? Or was this the plan all along?

The final scene—a silent, blurry CCTV feed of him walking away into a crowd—hit hard. No music. No closure. Just the terrifying realization that he’s still out there, and no one knows what he’s going to do next.

Bianca Pullman

My Take

I loved it!

Seriously, this film had me holding my breath from start to finish. It didn’t rely on noise or jump-scares—it built tension through silence, through stillness, through calculated pacing. And the fact that the Jackal isn’t caught? That he just disappears again? That’s what makes this film feel real. You don’t always get closure. You don’t always get justice.

You just get the unsettling truth that some people can walk away untouched.

Have you watched it yet?

What do you think the Jackal’s hesitation meant at the end?

Drop your thoughts below—I need someone to spiral with!

Cc: Churchill Tega Chisom