the assignment 1997 subdivx

Registro de cambios

The Assignment (1997)

Jack Shaw has experienced the terror first-hand. He’s a top CIA agent who’s tracked international killer-for-hire Carlos “The Jackal” Sanchez for over twenty years and barely survived Carlos’ devastating bombing of a Parisian cafe. Now, he finally gets a break when he discovers Carlos’ dead ringer: American naval officer and dedicated family man Annibal Ramirez.

Genre: Action , Crime , Thriller

Actor: Aidan Quinn Ben Kingsley Céline Bonnier Claudia Ferri Donald Sutherland Gabriel Marian Oseciuc Gregory Hlady Liliana Komorowska Vlasta Vrána Von Flores

Director: Christian Duguay , David McLeod , Guylaine Chagnon , Lorette Leblanc , Robbie Ditchburn

Country: Canada

Duration: 119 min

Quality: HD

Release: 1997

Stained (2019)

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans (2009)

Second in Command (2006)

Memory Lane (2011)

Secret Weapon (2019)

Re: Born (2016)

One Day: Justice Delivered (2019)

Godless Youth (2017)

George Reddy (2019)

Bloodhound (2020)

Match Point (2005)

Revolt (2017)

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, the assignment.

Now streaming on:

"The Assignment'' is a canny, tricky thriller that could serve as an illustration of what this week's similar release, "The Peacemaker,'' is not. Both films involve an international hunt for a dangerous terrorist, but "The Peacemaker'' is a cartoon and "The Assignment'' is intelligent and gripping--and it has a third act! Instead of an action orgy, it has more than enough story to see it through to the end and keep us absorbed the whole way. Yes, it ends with a deadly struggle, but as the setting for another stage of the movie's web of deceit.

The film is centered on a CIA plot to discredit and kill Carlos, the feared terrorist who operated for years, despite the best efforts of the free world's security agencies to capture him. Donald Sutherland plays Fields, the CIA agent for whom Carlos has become an obsession, and when he finds a U.S. Navy officer named Ramirez ( Aidan Quinn ) who's a dead-ringer for the terrorist, he devises a risky scheme: He'll train Ramirez to impersonate Carlos, then use the double to convince the KGB that their attack dog is disloyal. As a result, Carlos will either be dead or, almost as good, discredited in the eyes of his sponsors.

Fields works with an Israeli named Amos ( Ben Kingsley ) in training Ramirez, after first using psychological tactics to persuade the reluctant Navy man to leave his wife and family and become a counter-terrorist. (The scene where Fields shows Ramirez a dying child in a hospital is a direct echo of " The Third Man ".) Then the false Carlos, is sent into the field to work the deception, which I will not describe.

"The Assignment'' is fascinating because its characters can be believed, because there is at least a tiny nugget of truth in the story, and because from the deceptive opening credits, this is a film that creates the right world for these characters to inhabit. Sutherland's CIA man is especially well drawn: "I don't have any family,'' he says, "and I don't have any friends. The only people I've ever cared about were the ones I've killed.'' Quinn plays a dual role, as Ramirez and Carlos, and has some tricky scenes, especially one in which a former lover of Carlos helps train him sexually so that he will be a convincing bedmate for another of the terrorist's lovers.

The screenplay, by Dan Gordon and Sabi H. Shabtai , has action scenes that grow from the story and are not simply set pieces for their own sake. It's impressive the way so many different story threads come together all at once near the end.

The director, Christian Duguay , is new to me. What he has is a tactile love of film, of images. He and the cinematographer, David Franco, don't use locations so much as occupy them; we visit Jerusalem, Paris, Vienna, Washington, Tripoli and Moscow (or sets and effects that look like them) and yet the movie's not a travelogue but a story hurtling ahead.

I have seen so many lazy thrillers. They share the same characteristics: Most of the scenes involve the overpriced star, the villain is underwritten, and the plot is merely a set-up for the special effects, the chases and the final action climax. "The Assignment'' gives us ensemble work by fine actors, it has a villain of great complexity (developed through the process of imitating him), and at the end there is a tantalizing situation for us to unravel as we leave the theater.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Now playing

Brian Tallerico

The Strangers: Chapter 1

The Last Stop in Yuma County

Matt zoller seitz.

Monica Castillo

The Dead Don't Hurt

Banel & Adama

Glenn kenny, film credits.

The Assignment (1997)

Rated R For Strong Violence, Sexuality and Language

115 minutes

Aidan Quinn as Annibal Ramirez/Carlos

Ben Kingsley as Amos

Claudia Ferri as Maura Ramirez

Celine Bonnier as Carla

Directed by

• Christian Duguay
• Sabi H. Shabtai

Latest blog posts

The Language of Horror: Ishana Night Shyamalan on The Watchers

Everybody Wants Some!! Told Us Everything We Needed to Know About Glen Powell

Cannes 2024 Video #9: Festival Wrapup

The Future of the Movies, Part 3

The Assignment

Film details, brief synopsis, cast & crew, christian duguay, aidan quinn, donald sutherland, ben kingsley, claudia ferri, celine bonnier, technical specs.

Cuban-American navel officer Annibal Ramirez is a dead ringer for Carlos "The Jackal" Sanchez. His features are so close to those of Sanchez that he is brutally interrogated as a terrorist while on vacation in Israel. American counter-intellegence agent Jack Shaw and his Israeli counterpart Amos realize they can use Ramirez as bait for "The Jackal." Wanting to serve his country, Ramirez is unsure he can survive the physical and psychological trials he must endure to become like Sanchez. By the end of the training, however, Ramirez knows Sanchez better than anyone alive and enters the world as "The Jackal."

Vlasta Vrana

Liliana komorowska, mitchell david rothpan, gregory hlady, gabriel marian oseciuc, frederic desager, kliment denchev, yonathan gordon, ndiouga sarr, manuel aranguiz, leni parker, jacques lavallée, david francis, daniel pilon, richard jutras, hisham zayed, ted whittall, francis del vecchio, lisa wegner, lucie laurier, neil kroetsch, matthew dupuis, paul stewart, claude genest, michael caloz, david franco, heinz becker, louis bouchard, mark knoeffel, andres lange, martin morf, marcello adatto, benoit alarie, francois allard, pierre allard, alec anderson, michael annett, georges archambault, itzik ben aroya, henri aubertin, jean-paul auclair, nancy auclair, cheryl bainum, mihaly balasko, sandor balo, gyula balogh, itzhak bareli, krisztina barkoczky, franco battista, marc h beaulieu, louise bedard, benoit begin, marc bélanger, novek belanger, richard belanger, caroline beliveau, jocelyne bellemare, christian bergeron, sylvain bergevin, josee bernard, jacques f bernier, michel bernier, mickey binyamini, brian black, andras bogdan, jean boivin, michel bolduc, michel b bordeleau, philippe bosse, diane boucher, virginie boudreau, claude boulet, mary bradley, anderson chet bradshaw, cecile braemer, karoly braunner, michel brohez, michel brouillette, joseph lang browns, joseanne brunelle, frances calder, andrew d campbell, jean-francois campeau, helene canse, alain caporicci, johanne caporicci, annie carignan, claudine carpentier, tim j carroll, denis caspar, yves castonguay, jason cavalier, michel cerro, guylaine chagnon, stephane charron, jean chasse, jozsef cirko, steve clark, steven clark, alain clouatre, guy cloutier, gary coates, joseph n cohen, didier communaux, stephane connolly, sam coppola, normand corbeil, ryal cosgrove, francis covan, mike cozons, donna croce, gabor csakovics, zsolt csutak, denise d'amours, francois daignault, louis dandonneau, gary daprato, james darling, luc deguise, jean-yves denis, louise deschenes, marc desourdy, melina dicristo, robert ditchburn, kristen dolenko, jacques dorion, marion doucet, pascal dufaux, gina duhamel, paul dupont, yanick dusseault, john dykstra, bram eisenthal, shimon elimelech, zsolt feher, attila feherhegyi, bruno ferland, deak ferrand, natalie fleurant, raoul fortin, martin fournier, charlene francique, sassi franco, monika frankl, mario fraser, rene frechette, michel frenette, zoltan fulop, yiftach gabai, daniel gagnon, francine gagnon, sylvie gagnon, paul-emile gallant, gilbert garcia, jean-francois garcia, patrick garcia, benoit gauthier, francois gauthier, michel gauvin, sebastien gervais, nimi getter, michel ghorayeb, michel ghoyareb, stephen gilbert, natalie ginat, suzanne gingras, manon girard, moshe gissis, johnny goar, shai goldenberg, francois gosselin, melany goudreau, anne grandbois, jennifer-lys grenier, naama halperin, johnny harkala, avidan hatuka, terry hawkins, claude hazanavicius, simon hebert, r j henning, roger hewett, mark hoffman, julie houle, monika hufnagel, daniel huysman, france hyman, silvi imbeault, yehuda sar israel, pierric jouvante, michael joy, daniel juneau, boaz katzenelson, nick kerridge, shabtai kimhi, yaacov kimmelfeld, bobe kiraly, attila kiss, pini klavir, michael konydes, daria korolus, agota kovacs, balazs kovacs, gabor kovacs, tamas krausz, yohannan kredo, maurice krouche, brigitte labelle, helene lafrance, eric lafrance st-pierre, stephen laidlaw, miscellaneous notes.

Released in United States Fall September 26, 1997

Limited Release in United States September 26, 1997

Released in United States on Video March 17, 1998

Based upon a true story.

Completed shooting June 27, 1996.

Began shooting February 11, 1996.

Sign Up now to stay up to date with all of the latest news from TCM.

Your Browser is Not Supported

To view this content, please use one of the following compatible browsers:

Safari v11+

Firefox Quantum

Microsoft Edge

The Assignment

Streaming in:

We checked for updates on 249 streaming services on June 9, 2024 at 3:40:48 AM. Something wrong? Let us know!

The Assignment streaming: where to watch online?

Currently you are able to watch "The Assignment" streaming on Amazon Prime Video or for free with ads on Tubi TV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads. It is also possible to rent "The Assignment" on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu, Microsoft Store online and to download it on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Microsoft Store, Vudu.

Where does The Assignment rank today? The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

Streaming charts last updated: 1:18:24 AM, 06/09/2024

The Assignment is 8277 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 3907 places since yesterday. In the United States, it is currently more popular than Brothers but less popular than School Ties.

Jack Shaw has experienced the terror first-hand. He's a top CIA agent who's tracked international killer-for-hire Carlos "The Jackal" Sanchez for over twenty years and barely survived Carlos' devastating bombing of a Parisian cafe. Now, he finally gets a break when he discovers Carlos' dead ringer: American naval officer and dedicated family man Annibal Ramirez.

Videos: Trailers, Teasers, Featurettes

Streaming Charts The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

Production country

People who liked the assignment also liked.

Popular movies coming soon

Upcoming Mystery & Thriller movies

Similar Movies you can watch for free

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Assignment

• An American naval officer is recruited for an operation to eliminate his lookalike, the infamous terrorist Carlos The Jackal.
• 1986. In his civilian clothes while on shore leave in Jerusalem, Lieutenant Commander Annibal Ramirez of the US Navy is captured and interrogated by who he eventually learns is Mossad in a case of mistaken identity. Because of the resemblance, they believed him to be Carlos the Jackal, one of if not the most wanted and dangerous terrorist in the world. Shortly following, Henry Fields, using the alias Jack Shaw, he the Paris deputy chief of CIA counter-terrorism whose primary mission for at least the past ten years has been to get rid of Carlos in any way possible, tries to recruit Ramirez to work on a covert CIA-Mossad operation to stop Carlos' terrorist activities with the ultimate goal of Carlos' capture or death. The plan is for Ramirez to impersonate Carlos, in the process discrediting Carlos in the eyes of his current KGB backers, and thus effectively ending his career as a terrorist, with nowhere he can longer hide. After an initial reluctance on Ramirez's part, Shaw is able to convince him to do the job. The rigorous training is to ensure that Ramirez not only looks like Carlos, but instinctively behaves like Carlos, even to those closest to him, which also means how he makes love as one of Ramirez's interactions is to be with one of Carlos' old girlfriends. Beyond the potential problem of getting caught by Carlos or his associates, Ramirez may have problems stomaching his work and reconciling it with his real life as a military man. If he is able to carry out the mission and survive, the bigger question becomes whether being Carlos will have transformed his inherent being permanently. — Huggo
• An American naval officer is recruited by the government to impersonate the most vicious and cold-blooded terrorist there is in order to catch him. But are things really what they seem to be? — Steve Richer <[email protected]>
• The film opens to the sounds of a couple having sex. Afterwards, Carlos the Jackal (Aidan Quinn) kills a spider in its web with his cigarette and evicts the woman(Lucie Laurier) from his room because he claims he has work to do. He is seen donning a disguise, and he walks to a cafe where CIA agent Jack Shaw (Donald Sutherland) is sitting at a table outdoors. He recognizes Shaw and asks for a light. Shaw does not recognize Carlos, because of his disguise, but he turns to watch Carlos enter the cafe. He watches as Carlos detonates a grenade, killing dozens of people. The film shows an event of attacking the OPEC meeting by the Jackal and his fellows in 1975. In the present day, Carlos is apprehended in an open air market and brutally interrogated by a Mossad commander named Amos (Ben Kingsley). Carlos claims to actually be a US Naval officer named Annibal Ramirez whose identification was lost in the chaos of his arrest. Amos confirms his identity and lets him go, stunned that Ramirez looks exactly like Carlos. Back at home, Ramirez is visited by Shaw who tries to recruit him to play Carlos' double. Ramirez is so embittered by his rough treatment in Amos' hands, that he insists he will sue and flatly rejects the idea of portraying Carlos. Shaw persists, wooing Ramirez on several occasions. He finally convinces Ramirez by showing him a child in a hospital who he claims is a victim of one of Carlos' bombings. Amos and Shaw train Ramirez at a remote location. Much of his training is devoted to situational awareness and internalizing details of Carlos' life. His training concludes with one of Carlos' ex-mistresses training Ramirez in how to make love like Carlos. The plan to catch Carlos revolves around convincing the KGB, which supports much of his terrorism, that he has begun to work with the CIA. The team lures one of Carlos' girlfriends to Libya, where Ramirez meets up with her, successfully posing as Carlos, even during their lovemaking. The girlfriend has become an informant for the French, however. Several French agents arrive at their apartment, and Ramirez is forced to kill them to survive. He is horrified at having to kill allies in his undercover operation. Carlos sends an assassin to kill the girlfriend in France, ordering him to leave Europe through London. The assassin happens to be in Heathrow airport at the same time as Ramirez, and he quickly realizes he is an impostor after Ramirez doesn't recognize him. The assassin forces Ramirez into a bathroom and a struggle ensues. Amos rushes in and manages to kill the assassin before being fatally shot. After Amos' death, the CIA shuts down the mission and Ramirez returns home. Back with his wife, he makes love to her as Carlos would, and she is disturbed by the change in his personality. The next day, at his son's little league game, he gets into a confrontation with another father and nearly kills him. Shaw bails him out of jail, and both men are clearly suffering deeply by not being able to finish their mission and kill Carlos. They head to East Berlin and conspicuously meet with each other. The KGB sees Ramirez meeting with Shaw and assumes Carlos has turned on them. They raid his hotel, but as they try to arrest them, he escapes. Shaw and Ramirez are waiting outside the hotel for him, and Ramirez fights Carlos on the bank of a river. It's impossible to tell which is the real Carlos during the struggle. As one of the men is being held under water by the other, Shaw comes upon them and shoots the man above the water several times. He realizes that he has shot Ramirez, and Carlos swims away. Ramirez presses Shaw to leave him and chase Carlos, but Shaw insists that their plan has worked and Carlos is a marked man by the KGB. One way or another, Shaw points out that Carlos' days as a terrorist are over. The deaths of Ramirez and his family are staged by Shaw, and in the final scene, the family are safely cavorting on a beach. Ramirez moves to kill a spider in its web with his cigarette, but appears to change his mind.

Contribute to this page

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More from this title

More to explore, recently viewed.

The Assignment

With 30 Day Free Trial!

Watch Anywhere

'the assignment' streaming: how to watch anywhere.

Currently, The Assignment is available in the US, and Canada

If The Assignment is not available in your country or you're traveling, use ExpressVPN to access it anywhere. Plus, Reelgood users get 3 months free , making it easier to enjoy your favorite content without interruptions.

Streaming availability last updated: 03:02:54 AM, 06/09/2024 PST

More Information on The Assignment

An American naval officer is recruited for an operation to eliminate his lookalike, the infamous terrorist Carlos The Jackal. The Assignment featuring Aidan Quinn and Donald Sutherland is streaming with subscription on Prime Video, free on Tubi, available for rent or purchase on iTunes, and 3 others. It's an action & adventure and crime movie with a better than average IMDb audience rating of 6.8 (10,011 votes).

Action & Adventure

Christian Duguay

Annibal Ramirez / Carlos

Aidan Quinn

Jack Shaw / Henry Fields

Donald Sutherland

Ben kingsley.

Maura Ramirez

Claudia Ferri

Céline bonnier.

KGB Head Officer

Vlasta Vrána

Liliana komorowska, gregory hlady, gabriel marian oseciuc.

Joey Ramirez

Mitchell David Rothpan

Frédéric desager.

KGB Technician

Kliment Denchev

Yonathan gordon.

Carl Mickens - CIA

Franco Battista

Executive Producer

David Saunders

Sabi h. shabtai, normand corbeil.

Ratings & Reviews

The Reelgood Score is a comprehensive weighted index designed to evaluate movie & TV quality, deriving its value from a blend of Reelgood user engagement, external ratings metrics expressed through content popularity, and user feedback, including ratings such as "loved," "liked," and "disliked." The score is presented on a scale from 1 to 100, where 100 signifies content that is highly esteemed and positively rated within the community.

Cast & Crew for The Assignment

• Rent or buy
• Categories Categories
• Getting Started

The Assignment

Customers also watched.

Cast and Crew

Other formats

265 global ratings

How are ratings calculated? Toggle Expand Toggle Expand

• About Amazon
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell products on Amazon
• Sell on Amazon Business
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Become an Affiliate
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Host an Amazon Hub
• › See More Make Money with Us
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Amazon and COVID-19
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Amazon Assistant

• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

Social Links

The assignment.

Now on Digital and DVD

Get it now.

Jack Shaw (Donald Sutherland) has experienced the terror first-hand. He's a top CIA agent who's tracked international killer-for-hire Carlos "The Jackal" Sanchez for over twenty years and barely survived Carlos' devastating bombing of a Parisian cafe. Now, he finally gets a break when he discovers Carlos' dead ringer: American naval officer and dedicated family man Annibal Ramirez (Aidan Quinn). With the aid of his Israeli Intelligence counterpart, Amos (Ben Kingsley), Jack trains Annibal to impersonate Carlos through a series of harrowing physical and psychological exercises and draw the real killer out of hiding and into an elaborate trap.

© 1997 Allegro Film Productions V Inc. All Rights Reserved.

© 2024 Sony Pictures Digital Productions Inc.   All rights reserved

The Assignment

Where to Watch

Aidan Quinn (Annibal Ramirez) Donald Sutherland (Jack Shaw (Henry Fields)) Ben Kingsley (Amos) Claudia Ferri (Maura Ramirez) Céline Bonnier (Carla) Vlasta Vrana (KGB Head Officer) Liliana Komorowska (Agnieska) Von Flores (Koj) Al Waxman (Carl Mickens - CIA) Mitchell David Rothpan (Joey Ramirez)

Christian Duguay

An American naval officer is recruited for an operation to eliminate his lookalike, the infamous terrorist Carlos The Jackal.

Recommendations

More about The Assignment

The forgotten ’90s thriller the assignment took paranoia to another level.

What Are You Watching? is a weekly space for The A.V Club ’s staff and readers to share their thoughts, observations, …

Advertisement

The Assignment

With action set in the U.S., Canada, France, Libya and Israel, "The Assignment" has the makings of a vintage international spy thriller, but the story of American and Israeli agents trying to entrap notorious real-life terrorist Carlos (The Jackal) Sanchez comes off disappointingly flat. As usual, Montreal helmer Christian Duguay delivers all kinds of eye-catching visuals and crackerjack suspense sequences.

By Brendan Kelly

Brendan Kelly

• Bell Canada Buys Astral Media, Becoming TV’s Top Dog North of the Border 11 years ago
• Canada Pubcaster: Identity Crisis in Two Languages 11 years ago
• Tax Incentive Helps Montreal Become Videogame Central 11 years ago

With action set in the U.S., Canada, France, Libya and Israel, “The Assignment” has the makings of a vintage international spy thriller, but the story of American and Israeli agents trying to entrap notorious real-life terrorist Carlos (The Jackal) Sanchez comes off disappointingly flat. As usual, Montreal helmer Christian Duguay delivers all kinds of eye-catching visuals and crackerjack suspense sequences. But the less-than-inspired script takes way too long to get into high gear and simply doesn’t dispense the requisite amount of thrilling moments. The film remains a reasonably entertaining suspenser, but it will be a challenge for Triumph to attract a substantial audience given pic’s lack of marquee star power and the crowded action marketplace. B.O. will likely be better overseas and in the video market.

Related Stories

Virtual production market grows as average stage size contracts, welcome to 'ren faire': lance oppenheim's hbo docuseries follows a festival trapped in a real-life game of thrones, popular on variety.

The evil Jackal is first introduced in a flashback to early 1970s Paris, where the longhaired killer Carlos (Aidan Quinn) is shown tossing a grenade into a crowded cafe. CIA operative Jack Shaw (Donald Sutherland) just happens to be sitting outside the exploding coffee shop and, after seeing the effects of Carlos’ nasty handiwork, Shaw vows to hunt down and destroy the terrorist any way he can.

Globetrotting tale then jumps forward 15 years to mid-’80s Jerusalem, where squeaky-clean U.S. naval officer Annibal Ramirez (also Quinn) is on vacation. He is picked up and interrogated by Israeli intelligence agents after Mossad commander Amos (Ben Kingsley) becomes convinced that Ramirez is, in fact, the dreaded Carlos. It appears that the upstanding naval veteran and the murdering terrorist look remarkably similar.

The mix-up is eventually ironed out, and Ramirez heads back home to Norfolk, Va. In the meantime, Shaw has somehow heard about this guy who is practically the identical twin of his arch-nemesis, and he heads to Ramirez’s home to convince the naval officer to impersonate Carlos in an elaborate scheme to reel in the Jackal. Thanks to some heavy-duty strong-arming from Shaw, the initially reluctant Ramirez gives in and accepts the risky assignment.

Then it’s off to Montreal for some rigorous, downright strange training overseen by Shaw and Amos, with Ramirez learning to dodge oncoming snowmobiles, shooting blanks at people, eating dozens of bowls of porridge each day and ingesting hallucinatory drugs. The far-fetched plan is to make the KGB, which is sheltering Carlos in Libya, believe that Carlos is about to switch sides and go over to the CIA. Once they discover this, the Russians will presumably bump off Carlos themselves.

Ramirez meets an old g.f. of Carlos’, Carla (Celine Bonnier), and Shaw and Amos force him to have sex with the sultry woman just so he’ll pick up a few tips about Carlos’ macho style in the sack. After that, he is ready to hook up with another old Carlos g.f., Agnieska (Liliana Komorowska), in a crucial part of the sting.

A key problem here is the length of time it takes for story to reach optimum cruising speed. After nearly an hour, Ramirez is still in training at a dilapidated penitentiary and has not even hit the road to try to draw Carlos from his lair. Duguay, who showcased a sure hand with energetic thrills ‘n’ spills in his previous feature, “Screamers,” once again shows he is a fine action helmer, with various high-adrenaline chase and shootout sequences. But the tale is simply not strong enough to perk up interest, and scripters Dan Gordon and Sabi H. Shabtai have not provided enough character development to compensate for the lackluster pacing.

Quinn is the best of the leads, giving some much-needed depth to his portrayal of the goody-two-shoes career naval officer who discovers his own dark demons while impersonating Carlos. Sutherland hardly breathes any life into his role, and Kingsley is equally uninspired.

Duguay, a former cinematographer, and lenser David Franco give the pic a great look and know exactly how to shoot the fast-paced action scenes. All other tech credits are first-rate.

• Production: A Triumph Films release of an Allegro Films production, with the participation of the Quebec and the Canadian governments. (International sales: Columbia TriStar, Culver City.) Produced by Tom Berry, Franco Battista. Executive producers, David Saunders, Joseph Newton Cohen. Co-producer, Stefan Wodoslawsky. Directed by Christian Duguay. Screenplay, Dan Gordon, Sabi H. Shabtai.
• Crew: Camera (color), David Franco; editor, Yves Langlois; music, Normand Corbeil; production design, Michael Joy; art direction, James Fox; costumes, Ada Levin; digital effects, Richard Ostiguy; sound, Thierry Morlaas-Lurbe; assistant director, David McLeod; casting, Mary Margiotta, Karen Margiotta, Lucie Robitaille. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Gala), Sept. 9, 1997. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 115 MIN.
• With: Annibal Ramirez/Carlos - Aidan Quinn Jack Shaw/Henry Fields - Donald Sutherland Amos - Ben Kingsley Maura Ramirez - Claudia Ferri Carla - Celine Bonnier KGB Head Officer - Vlasta Vrana Agnieska - Liliana Komorowska With: Von Flores, Al Waxman, Mitchell David Rothpan, Gregory Hlady, Gabriel Marian Oseciuc, Frederic Desager, Kliment Denchev, Yonathan Gordon, Ndiouga Sarr, Manuel Aranguiz, Leni Parker.

More from Variety

Gainax, japanese anime firm behind ‘neon genesis evangelion,’ files for bankruptcy, netflix, roku accelerate streaming momentum in sports rights deals, jojo siwa drinks from vodka bottle at l.a. pride and drags online troll who called her a man: ‘i f—ed more girls than him’, howard university retracts sean ‘diddy’ combs’ honorary degree, what media & entertainment execs are saying about using gen ai: the vip+/harrisx spring 2024 survey, ‘lessons in chemistry’: how lab coats, a piano melody and knitwear built brie larson’s character , more from our brands, jelly roll duets with mgk, shirtless bert kreischer during spotify house’s cma fest weekend, how to collect vintage watches: 5 expert tips from dealer alan bedwell, capitals to purchase, privatize popular nhl salary site capfriendly, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, michael mosley, british tv presenter, dead at 67 — had been missing for days, verify it's you, please log in.

Beautiful, interesting, incredible cinema.

THE ASSIGNMENT

A dead ringer for international terrorist Carlos Sanchez, U.S. Naval officer Annibal Ramirez (also Aidan Quinn) is mistakenly arrested in Israel in this fact-based thriller.

• Coming Soon Theaters • Online
• Advanced Search
• Collections Top 500
• Film Awards
• Recommendations Movies • TV Shows
• Search by Name
• Popular Top 500
• My TV Shows
• My Calendar
• Coming Soon Premieres

Movie's ratings

• Kinorium 6.7 500+
• IMDb 6.8 9981
• Critics 62% 21
• Cast & Crew
• Technical Data

The Assignment

Videos Stills Posters Filming Covers

Carlos the Jackal has sex and kills a spider in its web with his cigarette then evicts the woman from his room. He dons a disguise and walks to a cafe where CIA agent Henry Fields ( Donald Sutherland ) is sitting at a table. He recognizes Fields and asks for a light but Fields does not recognize Carlos, because of his disguise. He watches as Carlos detonates a grenade, killing dozens of people.

Related Movies There are no related titles yet, but you can add them:

Christian Duguay — Best movies and TV Shows

Add a short review

280 characters

Sign up and you will see here friends impressions of the movie.

Friends comments and ratings, movies by canadian film or video production tax credit (cptc).

Trending movies

The best website for movie search and thoughts sharing with friends

• Browser extension

'Under the Bridge' explained: The real Rebecca Godfrey didn't actually hunt for Reena Virk's killers

• Hulu's "Under the Bridge" is based on Rebecca Godfrey's book about Reena Virk's murder.
• Godfrey is played by Riley Keough in the series as she aids the police in their investigation.
• Here's what to know about Godfrey's involvement with the case.

Hulu's " Under the Bridge " examines the 1997 murder of Reena Virk (Viritka Gupta) in Saanich, Canada.

She was attacked by a group of teenagers, nicknamed the " Shoreline Six ," before two others beat her unconscious and then drowned her.

The show is adapted from Rebecca Godfrey's 2005 book of the same name. It stars Riley Keough as a fictionalized version of Godfrey, who helps the police investigate Virk's murder by trying to get the local teenagers to open up about what really happened.

True crime has long been popular but has exploded lately, driven by hit shows like " Baby Reindeer " and " Griselda ."

"Under the Bridge" is widely praised too, with an 83% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes .

Godfrey did not actually help the police investigate Virk's murder

"Under the Bridge" revolves around Godfrey working alongside Officer Cam Bentland (Lily Gladstone) to find out who killed Virk.

Related stories

But she didn't actually work with the authorities during the initial investigation.

In 2019 Godfrey told The Believer, a magazine, that she started writing about the case after the suspects had already been arrested.

"I was given an assignment from a women's magazine to write about the fourteen-year-old girl who was accused of the murder, Kelly Ellard," she said.

"I went back home to Victoria, and sort of bluffed my way into the juvenile detention center," Godfrey continued. "I didn't know enough to call the warden or go through any official channel — I called the head of youth programs. I guess my voice sounded young because he assumed I was working on a school project."

Godfrey worked on the series, but she died in 2022

Director Quinn Shepherd spoke to Vulture about creating the series with input from Godfrey, who died mid-way through production in 2022 from lung cancer. She was 54.

Shepherd said Godfrey approved of being a character in the series, and was happy she was depicted as an "anti-hero" at times.

"This woman in her 20s went and did what no journalist, no cop, and no lawyer was able to do, which is get the real truth of what happened," Shepherd said. "It was a big priority for Hulu that the show have an adult perspective, and she felt like an obvious place to start.

She added: "Then we would have an opportunity to comment on the nature of true crime and what it does to somebody who immerses themselves in that."

Watch: A transgender advocate shares stories of how transgender sex workers are targets of violence

• Main content