The Jackal/Headscratchers

The Jackal

• I'm just gunna say one thing: if you've got a honkin big remote controlled gun, why would you sit in the park next to it? Why not phone in the kill from Venezuelan or something? Complete Idiot Plot.
  • His remote had probably a limited range because a stronger signal would be easier to home in on. If the secret service is looking for unusual signals that can be used to trigger a bomb/control a gun the weaker the signal is the better for him. He also has video on his remote which needs a higher bandwich, so the internet of 1997 is not going to able to give enough of it. And if he got himself a dedicated data line/satelite connection (like tv crews do for their live reports) these are easely traceable (and for a high profile event booked for month in advance). His plan wasn't bad - at least not that part of it.
    • All true, but doing the kill from four blocks away instead of half a block would have left the Secret Service with an exponentially larger area to search and almost certainly guaranteed his successful getaway. At the very least, he should have been out of direct line-of-sight.
• Here's another one: $70 million USD to kill...ANYBODY. Who would pay $70 million to have a single person killed? How would they pay you? WHY would they pay? If you got away w/ it,you'd be hunted down anywhere in the world and you would certainly be "convinced" to give up the people that are paid you. VERY stupid movie.
  • Eh, it is a stupid movie, but you're ignoring the motivation. The $100k question is, why would a Azerbaijani mobster put that kind of resources into avenging his dead brother? That "single person" ended up being the First Lady and Jackal openly said it would have to be his last job. And the $70 million was the figure Jackal himself threw out, him being an implied world-class assassin also implied he knew what kind of money it would take to keep himself safe in retirement. That part was was actually very faithful to the book (sans the gratuitous fee, even accounting for inflation).
• How was Declan able to piece together from the line "he can't protect his women" that the real target was the First Lady and not the head of the FBI? Was there something else I missed?
  • "Remember: public, but brutal." It's likely the original dossier that had Donald Brown was a red herring so that the FBI would focus resources on keeping him safe and out of the public eye, while leaving the First Lady out in the open to do a speech at the opening of a children's section of a hospital. My impression is that Declan knows the Jackal's MO, and going after a well-protected but not really that visible figure in the government didn't fit. I suppose then it raises the question of why the Jackal gave that information in the first place.
• Forgive me if this seems obvious but... what the hell is that magic spray he uses to kill the hijacker? and why isn't he carrying this rather potent chemical weapon around with him at all times? After all it appears to require only the slightest contact and I'm sure a man as cunning as him could have found some way to introduce this to Declan during the subway chase.
  • He probably considers it too dangerous, even for him. If he's chased and falls, or shot at, or punched the wrong way, the canister could crack, to the immediate lethal detriment of whoever's holding it.