Alex Cross is currently running on Amazon Prime, The Agency on Paramount+ and Black Doves on Netflix: The streaming services prove that spy series will continue to be popular in 2024. Despite all my love for series, I’ve become a bit tired of the genre with new Night Managers and Reachers almost every week. After all, spies, chases and conspiracies cannot be constantly varied. Or is it?
I went into WOW* expecting The Day of the Jackalthat I probably wouldn’t get past episode 1 – but I was promptly taught otherwise: the series captivated me in the first few minutes, in which a bullet finds its target miles away. After that, I couldn’t stop looking forward to each new episode. The breathless British spy thriller blew me away with dark James Bond vibes and became the favorite of my series year.
The spy series The Day of The Jackal gets your pulse racing
The Day of the Jackal didn’t have the best starting point as a remake for me. How many novels and films have recently been re-released as series? Another tiring phenomenon! And another mistake that I soon had to admit to myself. Because even though the book of the same name * by Frederick Forsyth was already adapted as The Jackal in 1973, the new series by Ronan Bennett (Public Enemies) brought one unexpected tension with. When you watch it, you’re immediately energized. After WOW released the first five episodes in one fell swoop, the weekly wait for the rest turned out to be my personal ordeal. Luckily all 10 episodes are here now.
The Jackal (Eddie Redmayne) works as Major league hitman. Only the richest can afford his services and no one knows his true identity. After a seemingly impossible murder, MI6 agent Bianca Pullman (Lashana Lynch) follows him. The latest target is billionaire Ulle Dag Charles (Khalid Abdalla), who soon wants to unveil a world-changing technology and steps on powerful toes as the controversial Robin Hood through the promise of global economic transparency. Time is running out to catch the jackal before his well-paid stop.
The killer and his huntress share the series The Day of the Jackal. The way their paths (almost) cross again and again means that the pendulum of tension never stands still. That this Cat and mouse game strongly reminiscent of James Bondis not just due to the return of No Time to Die actress Lashana Lynch to the agent business. The title song (“This Is Who I Am” by Celeste) also indulges in amazing 007 sounds. The fact that the series relies on British elegance instead of American coarseness strengthens the comparison even further: The Jackal presents himself as a mysterious James Bond – with great talent, but no license to kill.
The evil James Bond: Eddie Redmayne gives you goosebumps as a ruthless killer
Actually, I thought I had seen everything from Eddie Redmayne: as a singer in Les Misérables, as explorer Stephen Hawking in The Discovery of Infinity, as a questionable villain in Jupiter Ascending or as an autistic wizard in the Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts he has his range. Except that he’s in the role of one cold-blooded killer I would never have thought it possible before The Day of the Jackal that it could work out like this.
The Brit is known to be a meticulous planner of his acting, right down to the smallest gestures like in The Danish Girl. This controlled touch gives his jackal a absolute goosebumps appearance. No matter whether Eddie Redmayne dressed up as an old man, a nerd with glasses or a bald hat-wearer in the thriller series: I couldn’t escape his ice-cold aura, even if he did be Pulse never seemed to quicken. In a threatening scene, for example, he just stares wordlessly, far too close to a pursuer – and I immediately broke out in a sweat. The close support of his planning and his relationship with the ignorant Spaniard Nuria (Úrsula Corberó) give him the necessary touch of humanity.
The Jackal may have gadgets like James Bond, but not the morals of 007. The gifted anti-agent’s strength lies not in fistfights, but in precise action with the sniper rifle and deceptive maneuvers in unforeseen situations. Again and again I caught myself talking to the jackal rooted for him even though I condemned his actions. The balance between admiration for his skills and bewilderment at the ruthless murder of innocents balances the series cleverly on a knife’s edge.
This exciting moral divide In The Day of the Jackal, this is also reflected in his pursuer: Lashana Lynch’s tough Bianca represents the good as a heroine, but does not stop at blackmail or even torture to achieve her goal. Unlike the jackal, the agent has to fight a second battle against bureaucratic hurdles and is often one step behind. But that doesn’t make the search for clues any less sensational as the noose tightens around the killer’s neck.
The Day of The Jackal is the most pleasant series surprise of the year
The Day of The Jackal rose unexpectedly from the sea of spy series and remakes this year. Despite the fact that the jackal has existed for more than 50 years, his story never feels stale or regurgitated. Tricks like guns that can be converted into rolling suitcases and concert hall infiltrations amaze not only the other side. The fact that the French president is being swapped as a target this time for a computer activist similar to Steve Jobs fits perfectly Pulse of modernity.
Thriller series with killers and agents often fall into the trap of repeatedly returning to famous destinations such as Beijing, Dubai or New York. The Day of the Jackal focuses entirely on Europewhich, in addition to London and Paris, also gives us more unusual detours to Tallinn and Munich. The fact that the thriller begins with the murder of a German politician (Burghart Klaußner) almost triggers a feeling of home.
Season 2 was announced before the series ended and that fills me with immense relief. Because once you have found such successful high tension as that of The Day of the Jackal, you are reluctant to let it go again. There As far as I’m concerned, the “real” James Bond can wait longerwhen a new Jackal spy adventure awaits on the horizon instead.
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