The Jackal
The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Isabella slips Declan a key to a locker as they walk towards the dock where her husband and daughter are. They stop and have a conversation and during the entire scene, Isabella's hair swaps from blowing in the wind up wildly to lying down barely moving calm every time the camera changes from a shot of her to a shot of Declan and back. (00:35:50 - 00:37:20)

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Character mistake: Sophie finishes making fake passports and IDs for the Jackal, and states that she had to use ethyl acetone, and that it's naughty stuff that causes liver cancer. This is wrong, as Ethyl acetone is non toxic and a popular solvent because of this. (00:15:25)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As the MVD and FBI are together watching the footage of the torture and interrogation of Politovsky, Witherspoon has his hand up on his face. The camera cuts to an angle from behind everybody showing the screen and now his arm is down. It then cuts to a closer shot of him sitting beside Preston and his hand is back up again on his mouth. (00:18:20)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: The Jackal takes a drink from his glass and as he looks at it, it's almost completely empty with just a little bit at the bottom. He then tells Terek he wants $70 million to take this job. After Terek agrees, the camera cuts back to Jackal and his glass on the table beside him. His glass is now half full. (00:11:55)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the Jackal and Terek are discussing the terms of his target and payment, the Jackal begins saying how much he wants. His glass on the table next to him is about half full. He continues talking and the camera cuts to a close up, at which point he reaches for and pulls the glass up into view to take a sip. There is now noticeably less liquid in the glass. (00:11:35)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Terek comes into the room where the Jackal is staying and pours himself a drink from a bottle. He turns to the Jackal as he is putting the cork back into the bottle and holds it up, asking if he would like a drink. The camera cuts to the Jackal, who speaks in Russian for them to just get to the point. When the camera cuts back to Terek, he's still holding the bottle out in the same position he was, but now the cork is suddenly gone from it. It jump cuts to him turning to set the bottle down, and then suddenly the cork is back in it once more. (00:10:30)

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Continuity mistake: When Ghazzi says "Do you think I'm afraid of the M.V.D?" in the club, you can see various plates and glasses on the table in front of him. To his left, there is a tall beer glass between him and his henchman with a smaller shot glass in front of it. Preston points his finger at him and says that's enough, at which Ghazzi then flips the table. When the camera cuts to an angle behind Ghazzi as he's flipping the table, the tall glass and the shot glass have switched places. (00:06:55)

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Continuity mistake: The guy who greeted Ghazzi at the door escorts him and a group of men inside the club and to a table. As he is showing them their seats, he places his hand on the guy's shoulder to his left and nudges him to the table. It then cuts to a closer angle and suddenly he's facing the guy to his right again before he then rubs his nose and then places his hand on the guy's shoulder to his left again to nudge him forward. (00:05:05)

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Continuity mistake: When The Jackal approaches Koslova after shooting her, his rifle is loose in his right hand. After he pushes her to the ground we cut to Koslova and the assassin is holding the rifle with both of his hands. (01:25:25)

The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Koslova is asleep on a couch just before Declan is going for his razor and finds the gun in the drawer. The close up shot shows her in one position with her hands on a book, but then it jump cuts to further away to show Declan walking up. Now suddenly her hands are not on top of each other, the book is sticking out less, her hair is further down over her face, her jacket is covering more of her arm and legs, and her position on the pillow is slightly different. (00:43:25)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As the FBI and Koslova are walking away from Declan at the prison grounds, they are walking almost in line with each other with Preston in the front, Witherspoon in the back, and then Koslova and the other guy between them. But when it cuts to them stopping to turn around in response to what Declan says, they are suddenly almost standing shoulder to shoulder with each other. (00:27:30)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Revealing mistake: As Politovsky is walking up on the orange van before they ambush him, you can see one of the men walk past the left back door and can see the window on it. The window is completely covered in frost with no parts disturbed. Then after they shoot Politovsky with the rubber ball and are loading him into the back of the van, you can see the door again but now there are clear finger prints on the window in the frost from where they did previous takes of this shot in filming where the guy grabbed the door there to close it. (00:14:00)

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Continuity mistake: When the Russian officer tells Preston that they need to conduct the interrogation efficiently and then walks away, you can see Preston contemplating what he means looking awkwardly. He's looking almost straight ahead with his head slightly turned to his left. The camera then cuts to by his shoulder before he turns to Witherspoon and suddenly he's now got his head turned fully to the left watching the Russians leave the room. (00:13:25)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Declan gets a good shot off on the Jackal's leg that hits through the concrete wall. However when it cuts to the next shot the Jackal is holding a different part of his leg than where he was shot, and the hole in his pants and blood are gone. (01:49:45)

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Other mistake: The heavy caliber high powered mounted machine gun in the minivan with such a high cyclic rate would have recoiled so violently, that not only would the glass in the minivan shatter but it would have rocked the vehicle and kicked it around so that its shots would have been wild and all over the place after the first shot. Unlike how it's shown in the film. We are dealing with a 14.5 MM rapid fire cannon here. And when the gas tank is shot, the van isn't even shaking as the weapon is still firing. (01:43:50)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After The Jackal shoots Koslova, he places a pillow under her head to prop it up. Once at rest, her face is clear of any hair. It then cuts to the Jackal as he tells her about her blood being black and she has 20 minutes to live, then back to her. And now she has some strands of hair down over her left eye. (01:25:40)

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Continuity mistake: As the helicopter is coming down for Declan and Preston, in the wide shot Declan is standing outside the car leaning against the door facing forward. But as the chopper draws near, he turns his body around and looks at it. It then cuts to a close up of him and suddenly he's facing forward again. (01:20:30)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As Declan is holding Koslova as she dies, her hand is on the side of his face. As she takes her last breath, you see her index and middle finger next to his ear, while her ring finger and pinkie are bent in and touching his neck. It then cuts to a shot of Declan's face as he reacts to her death, and suddenly her hand is flat on his cheek with all fingers on it, just before it drops as the life leaves her. (01:28:10)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: The Jackal kills Witherspoon, who stumbles back against the stairwell wall and is in a sitting position. He's seen behind Koslova as she's kneeling behind the couch trying to shoot the Jackal back. Witherspoon's body is then shown again after the Jackal shoots Koslova and is approaching her as she tries to crawl away. Witherspoon's body changes positions in several ways. Most notably, his head is now sitting more straight up and closer to the doorknob. His legs are bent up more with his feet now almost touching the table leg. And also the rug he is on is bunched up more, having only 1 large bump before, but now having two. (01:24:50 - 01:25:20)

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Declan Mulqueen: Preston, what about letting me have a gun?
Preston: Are you crazy? If the right people knew I was letting you walk around without cuffs, I'd have forced retirement.
(01:08:45)

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More quotes from The Jackal

Trivia: Just a few months before his death at age 91, Fred Zinnermann, who directed the original The Day of the Jackal (1973), on which this movie is based, actually fought Universal Studios to change the name of the film. Saying that the original had stood the test of time and he did not want the remake to bear the same name. (00:01:25)

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More trivia for The Jackal

Question: Why did the Jackal tell Koslova how she is going to die?

Answer: He's sadistic, and it's a way to torment her during her final moments.

raywest

More questions & answers from The Jackal

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