The Jackal
The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: The Jackal leaps in front of the metro train to get on the other side as it passes as he is attempting to escape Declan. As he lands, the train skids to a stop and you can see a red reflector or light close to Jackal's head, with one of the doors of the train by it. After it cuts to Declan trying to get through the train, then back to The Jackal getting up, the number 81,622 suddenly appears next to the train door which was not there in the previous shot. (01:47:45)

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Character mistake: As Declan and his spotter see the Jackal's van, the spotter states that the range is it's at is 762 meters. But in the shots showing the van and their position, it is much closer than that. It's possible they meant 76.2 meters, a much more reasonable number. (01:43:05)

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Revealing mistake: When the Jackal shoots Douglas, you can briefly see the outline of one of the blood packs under his white shirt. (01:32:50)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When The Jackal shoots Koslova through the couch, you can see a small hole in the fabric of the couch already there, before it's made larger by the special effects team's work. (01:25:05)

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Character mistake: At the docks, The Jackal draws his pistol on Declan to kill him, but Koslova returns fire to save Declan. The Jackal's pistol is silenced, however Koslova's is not. And they engage in a fire fight and foot chase on a dock crowded with people. Koslova appears to be using a Beretta 9mm pistol, which is loud in it's own right. Yet as they exchange shots, not a single civilian near by reacts to the fire fight or panics whatsoever. She even runs past a few and pushing them out of the way waving her gun around, and they merely treat it like an annoyance. There was plenty of people around to hear the loud gunshots of Koslova's pistol and could see the Jackal firing with his as well. (01:12:20)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Witherspoon is shot in the head by The Jackal, we see a large blood splat hit the wall behind him. But later as Declan is running through the house while the FBI and paramedics are there, he runs past this same spot and now the blood splat is much closer to the corner of the wall. (01:24:30 - 01:27:00)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Once the Jackal sets off the music at Isabella's house, making Koslova rush outside, the other FBI agent upstairs starts running down them when the Jackal shoots him though the stairs, leaving many bullet holes. As he falls down the stairs though, they seem clean and unscathed. A few shots later as the Jackal is coming out from under the stairs, you can now see there is damage to them. Most notably the large chunk of splintered wood on the 5th step up that appears. (01:22:45)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: Declan and Preston are hanging out at an airfield in a blue car when they realise one of the numbers in the notebook they have is an FBI access code that The Jackal now has. In establishing shot of this scene you see the blue car sitting more towards the left with Declan on the hood. Then when Preston calls in this finding and they get a helicopter to come pick them up, in the shot with the chopper coming the car is now suddenly much further to the right. It seems they had to move it during filming to allow a place for the chopper to land. (01:19:05 - 01:20:30)

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Other mistake: When the Jackal is on his boat, you see him set the spinnaker sail, which fills out with air in the shot from above. This sail is only usable when wind is coming from behind. But in the next few shots after the Jackal sits down, the wind is coming from in front of him or slightly to the side, as seen by his hair and the flag behind him blowing. (01:05:20)

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Revealing mistake: When Lemont reacts to getting shot in the arm, this exact same footage of him is used again right before he gets shot in the chest. They just reused the same expression reaction shot twice. (01:00:30 - 01:01:10)

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Character mistake: Jackal begins to unload his weapon at Lemont and his car. And as the camera pans to a reaction face of Lemont, it quickly cuts to his chest where you see a large burst of blood suddenly happen as one of the shells nails him in the chest. The very next shot is of him tumbling backwards and now there is no hole in his chest. (01:01:10)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Revealing mistake: As the Jackal is opening up his large weapon onto Lemont and Lemont's car, there is a close up of the car's fender as bullet holes get riddled through it. Just before the third hole appears, you can see an outline in the paint where a patch is covering one of the special effects explosive charges rigged to blow the hole open. (01:01:05)

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Other mistake: The Jackal only test fires 1 shot at the pumpkin target before he tells Lemont to run for the speed test. When he's siting the weapon in on Lemont, the read out on his screen shows that the number of shots fired is 2. (00:58:55)

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Revealing mistake: The prop weapon that is used as the Jackal's big gun has some flaws. When he turns the weapon on Lemont, you can see the ammo feed belt just fall out. (00:58:20)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After the Jackal takes the tarp off the gun and you see the lens cover sleeve, we then see another shot with the tarp lying on the ground behind the weapon where the Jackal would sit. The lens cover sleeve is not visible anywhere yet. But then a minute later after he's firing the gun up and getting it ready, the shot shows the tarp behind the Jackal, and now the lens cover sleeve is sitting on top of the tarp in clear view. (00:55:40 - 00:57:05)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After the Jackal sets down the equipment for the gun, he flips the lid off the ammo box and lets it tumble down onto the ground in front of it. You can see the lid fall flat upside down still under the tarp of the gun. Once the Jackal uncovers it and then bends down to pick up ammo from the box, neither he nor Lemont touch the lid. But in the next shot with him standing up to put the bullets into the gun, the lid of the ammo box is now propped up against the box. A few moments later, after Jackal tells Lemont to shut his mouth, the lid is back where it was before lying on the ground upside down. (00:55:25)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: On the FBI's private jet, while discussing the Jackal, Preston has a book on the table in front of him. The book's edge is nearly perfectly running parallel to the edge of the table and is a good 2-4 inches away from the edge. When Koslova smarts off to Declan about how he got caught, getting up to walk towards another part of the plane, the camera cuts to a different angle as Declan watches her in a stunned expression. Suddenly now Preston's book is crooked with the bottom corner of it almost right at the edge of the table. (00:52:30)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the Jackal sees that some men are watching him, he heads into a Cyber Cafe. When walking up the cashier is at his desk with his arm down at his side, a black wrist band on his arm. The very next shot from inside, the cashier now suddenly has his arm up against his face. The Jackal then walks up to him and asks to use a computer, which the guy them responds with sure and looks back down at what he was reading. His arm still up at his head. The Jackal then heads towards a computer and the angle changes again, and now suddenly the cashier's arm is back down. (00:47:10)

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The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the Jackal meets Douglas, once they are sitting down there are 4 glasses on the table in front of them. As the Jackal reaches for his, closes to him, the one on the far end of the table has two olives in it and a red straw/toothpick sticking out of them. The straw is pointed out and away from the Jackal. In the shot where Douglas says that the Jackal is never going to call him, the straw is now pointed towards the Jackal. (00:42:00 - 00:42:35)

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Video

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: What is the title and author of the music played at Isabella's house on the stereo?

Answer: It's called "Red Tape" by Agent Provocateur.

More questions & answers from The Jackal

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