THE JACKAL: Starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Diane Venora, Mathilda May. Rated MA.

Bruce Willis as a bad guy makes a pleasant change and as it happens he was a very credible one.

I liked his portrayal of the lone assassin, cold-blooded and willing to work for anyone who could afford his services.

The plot was reasonably straightforward, with the Jackal (Willis) hired by a Russian Mafia boss to avenge the death of his brother at the hands of the FBI.

Vengence did, however, call for the hit to be big, bloody and very public and of course, for our sake, not as simple as first appears.

Sidney Poitier as the FBI deputy chief delivered to his usual high standard.

Probably the better performance, though, came from Diane Venora as the hard-hearted Russian agent who lives to fight crime and is so hardened, mentally and physically, by that life, it has become self perpetuating.

The movie leapfrogs across Europe in the manner of any half decent mega budget movie, before landing our villain in Canada with a complete new identity.

He quickly sets about preparations for the big job, the scale of which will force his retirement.

The FBI can't find him on their own, of course, and so enters Richard Gere to save the day.

This character is a very, very bad person. An IRA hitman with no hope of seeing the Emerald Isle again in this life.

But he is one of the only people who has ever seen the Jackal and what's more has worked with him in the good old days.

Poitier takes the Irishman out of the slammer to help with the case and although he treats him with the contempt deserving of his a background and reputation, eventually takes a shine to the man with the blarney (excuse me while I puke!).

(In an age of discerning and highly intelligent mass audiences, why is it necessary to cast a fake Irishman in a big budget movie? It's not like there's a shortage of the real thing.)