The Assignment

Aidan Quinn, Ben Kingsley and Donald Sutherland add a good deal of interest to what is essentially a chase and shoot espionage drama which has been loosely penned around the life and time of the notorious real life terrorist and extortionist known as Carlos The Jackal.

A U.S. Navy officer named Annibal (Aidan Quinn) is on leave in Jerusalem when he's nabbed by Mossad, the Israeli secret service led by Amos (Ben Kingsley). It's a case of mistaken identity brought about by the close physical resemblance Annibal has to Amos.

Annibal is a good family man and after his rough treatment by Mossad has no hesitation in rejecting their pleas to help them catch Carlos. But then the CIA step in through Jack Shaw (Donald Sutherland) and Annibal is more or less forced to cooperate.

Here The Assignment begins to resemble The Assassin where a reluctant Bridget Fonda is subjected to training devised to change her personality so that she can then assassinate people. In The Assignment Annibal must become like Carlos so that he can discredit Carlos in the eyes of Carlos's Soviet masters.

Annibal must become nasty, ruthless and unfeeling towards women, because that is the way Carlos behaves. This provides Aidan Quinn with a great opportunity to show off his fine acting skills, as does The Assignment for the other main players.

Ben Kingsley's Amos plays the zealous patriot with a sad zeal that defines again this type of character and Donald Sutherland is a cynical C.I.A. operative who has "only ever cared about the people he's killed." We do come to care for these three violent men and that's the strength of The Assignment.

That we also come to hate Carlos is a testimony to Aidan Quinn and the directing prowess of first time director Christian Duguay.