Plot

An imprisoned I.R.A. fighter is freed to help stop a brutal, seemingly "faceless" assassin from completing his next job.

In Moscow, the FBI and their Russian counterpart, the MVD, are working on a joint mission to apprehend Russian mobster Ghazzi Murad specifically for the murder of Mayor Nikolai Semankho. During the arrest, they are forced to kill Ghazzi. Ghazzi's brother, Terek Murad, also a mobster, begins his own form of deadly retribution against the MVD for Ghazzi's death. But the FBI and MVD also get wind that Terek has hired an assassin by the code name Jackal to carry out a hit on a high profile but unknown American target for the Americans sticking their nose in Russian affairs. Intelligence points to that target being Donald Brown, the Director of the FBI. The Jackal is known only by name and reputation but no one in authority knows who he is, what he looks like or if he even really exists. They learn of only one person alive who they know has had ties to the Jackal: former Basque separatist Isabella Zanconia, whose whereabouts are unknown. As such, the FBI and MVD decide to turn to the one person they know who has had ties to Isabella: Declan Mulqueen, who is currently in an American prison serving twenty-five years for his deadly IRA activities. To their surprise, Declan purports to have met the Jackal. Although they are unable to meet all his demands including not being able to guarantee his release and return back to Ireland after all is said and done, Declan agrees to help them on the promise that they will do their best to meet that request. What happens is largely a function of Declan's relationship with his two handlers, the MVD's Major Valentina Koslova and FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston, the latter in particular who does not fully trust Declan. It is also affected by the nature of the history between Declan, Isabella and the Jackal. Through it all, Declan may, if given the opportunity, do what Carter believes he will do, which is run without keeping to his side of the bargain.—Huggo

Russian mobster Terek Murad has declared open season on the Russian militia and the United States FBI over the shooting of his brother in a Moscow nightclub. He hires "The Jackal" -- an elusive, nasty assassin -- to kill FBI Director Donald Brown. Present at the shooting of Murad's brother were FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston and Major Valentina Koslova of the Russian militia. Nearly no one has ever seen The Jackal, save for Declan Mulqueen, an imprisoned IRA sniper. Upon learning that the Director Brown is a target, Preston and Koslova enlist the services of the reluctant Mulqueen to track down the Jackal before he can assassinate Brown.—Jeff Cross <blackjac_1998@yahoo.com>

The United States is trying to help the New Russia in its war against organized crime. Presently, they are after Terek Murad, a deadly crime boss. They get evidence against one of Murad's people who is also his brother for murder so they try to arrest him. But the man tries to kill Russian cop, Major Koslova so she kills him. Murad seeks revenge against the ones who killed his brother, FBI agent Carter Preston and Russian Major Valentina Koslova, and wanting to send a message to America about interfering in matters he believes are none of its concern. Thus, he hires "The Jackal," an international assassin, to kill a prominent American. The Jackal tells Murad to go into hiding till the job is done. When Preston and the Russian police learn that Murad has gone into hiding; they wonder why? So they grab Murad's man and under intense interrogation he mentions the Jackal. Preston knows about the assassin. Koslova confirms it because the Russians have used him. She also tells Preston that Murad's man had info on the Director of the FBI which makes Preston think, the Director is the target. So he informs the Director who chooses not alter his schedule or add security. He tells Preston to find him quietly. So Preston needs to find someone who's seen the Jackal and unfortunately there are not that many and most of the ones they know of are dead. There's a woman who knows him but she's vanished so he tries to enlist the help of a man who might know where she is, Declan Mulqueen, an imprisoned IRA sniper. Mulqueen refuses to help till he learns about the Jackal and tells them he knows who he is, so they let him help them. But finding the Jackal is not going to be easy.—rcs0411@yahoo.com

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, mafia proliferated in Russia and used that as a base to expand operations into the US. To combat the threat a joint US-Russian law enforcement operation called the MVD was launched.

A joint mission of the American FBI and the Russian MVD leads to the death of the younger brother of an Azerbaijani mobster Terek Murad (David Hayman). The operation was led by FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston and Russian Police Major Valentina Koslova. Koslova shoots Murad's brother when he tries to stab her during his arrest at a Russian nightclub.

Murad finds out and declares war on the FBI, which he says was started by the FBI. In retaliation, Murad hires an ex-KGB asset, an international hit-man operating under the code-name "the Jackal" (Bruce Willis), to assassinate an unidentified prominent American for $70 million. With the assassination, Murad wants to send a very public message and strike fear into the heart of the Americans. The meeting took place in a hotel outside Helsinki.

Two weeks later, the MVD capture and interrogate one of Murad's henchmen, Viktor Politovsky (Yuri Stepanov). The MVD was monitoring Murad and knew that he was holed up inside the Helsinki hotel for 5 days and Victor was the only contact with the outside world. They discover the assassination plot. The interrogation, coupled with recovered documents, leads the FBI and MVD to suspect that FBI Director Donald Brown (John Cunningham) is the intended target.

The Jackal begins his preparations for the assassination, utilizing a series of disguises and stolen IDs in the process. He also orders a heavy caliber machine gun, to be delivered to an address in Quebec, Canada. The FBI learns of one person who can identify him. FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston (Sidney Poitier) and Russian Police Major Valentina Koslova (Diane Venora) turn to a former Irish Republican Army sniper named Declan Mulqueen (Richard Gere), who had a relationship with a Basque Separatist named Isabella Zanconia (Mathilda May), who they believe can identify The Jackal. Mulqueen reveals that he knows the Jackal and agrees to help in exchange for his release as well as U.S. citizenship and safe haven for Zancona.

It becomes apparent that Mulqueen has a personal motive for hunting the Jackal: the assassin wounded Zanconia while she was pregnant with Mulqueen's child, causing a miscarriage. Zanconia provides information that can help identify the Jackal, including that he is a United States Army Special Forces veteran with combat experience from his stationing in El Salvador and describes him as sociopath with no emotions. Zancona discreetly slips Mulqueen a key to a drop box containing a clean passport and $10,000 cash to return to Ireland. However, Preston had earlier warned Mulqueen that if he ever escaped, refused to cooperate, or if an IRA squad tries to rescue him, he would be shot.

Meanwhile, when the Jackal arrives in Montreal to collect a large caliber weapon, a contact notifies him that hijackers are pursuing it. The Jackal kills one hijacker with an extremely poisonous chemical and evades the others. The Jackal hires gunsmith Ian Lamont (Jack Black) to design and build a mount for the weapon he intends to use for the assassination. The Jackal demands that all design specs be turned over to him, and he also requires Lamont's complete confidentiality. Underestimating the danger posed by the Jackal, Lamont demands more money in exchange for keeping quiet. The Jackal responds by brutally murdering Lamont using the very equipment Lamont built.

The FBI discovers Lamont's body and, with the help of Mulqueen, deduce that the Jackal intends to utilize a long-range heavy machine gun for the assassination. With the help of a Russian mole in the FBI, the Jackal realizes he is being tracked by Mulqueen with assistance from Zanconia. He infiltrates Zanconia's house after receiving an FBI access code from his insider. Instead of Zanconia, however, he finds Koslova and Agent Witherspoon (J.K. Simmons), promptly killing Witherspoon and mortally wounding Koslova. The Jackal gives Koslova a taunting message regarding Mulqueen - "He can't protect his women" - which she delivers to Mulqueen moments before her death.

The Jackal sails across the Great Lakes to Chicago, where he escapes the FBI. As the Jackal drives to Washington, D.C., Mulqueen deduces from the Jackal's mocking statement that his target is not Director Brown, but in fact the First Lady of the United States (Tess Harper), who is due to give a major public speech.

The Jackal, masquerading as a gay man, dates Douglas, a man he encountered earlier in a bar; unbeknownst to Douglas, he uses his garage to store his machine gun. When a news report exposes the Jackal's identity, he kills Douglas.

On the date of the First Lady's speech, the weapon is hidden in a minivan parked near the speaker podium, with the Jackal planning to shoot the First Lady via remote control. However, before the Jackal can take his shot, Mulqueen uses a sniper rifle to destroy the weapon's scope and takes off in pursuit of the Jackal, while another marksman blows up the van's fuel tank.

The Jackal blindly opens fire before his vehicle is destroyed, and Preston is shot and wounded while tackling the First Lady to safety. Following a chase through the Washington Metro tunnels, Mulqueen confronts the Jackal, who is then shot from behind by Zancona. However, the Jackal's gun discharges a shot, and Mulqueen is also wounded. While Zancona tends to Mulqueen, the severely wounded Jackal retrieves a spare handgun: seeing this, Mulqueen grabs Zancona's pistol and shoots the assassin several times, finally killing him.

A few days later, Preston and Mulqueen witness the Jackal's burial in an unmarked grave. Preston reveals that he is returning to Russia to pursue Terek Murad and his gang, and that Mulqueen's request to be released was denied but he will likely be moved to a minimum security prison. Preston also remarks that his heroics in saving the First Lady have made him "untouchable" within the FBI: knowing his current clout will prevent any backlash against him, he turns his back on Mulqueen, allowing him to go free.