The Assignment: Critic Reviews

If you believe that Elvis still lives or that a millennial invasion of flying saucers is imminent, you might buy the bogus premise.

Intelligent and gripping.

If there's a small saving grace to this crude thriller, it is the work of Montreal-born director Christian Duguay, who shows flashes of real flare.

Stylish spy flick with a surprisingly good cast.

A non-formula spy thriller without the glitz and romanticism usually associated with this genre.

The plot raises the keenly important question of whether professionals who fight evil may be corrupted by the ruthless means they employ; but the movie takes too much pleasure in sensationalistic digressions to explore this issue very thoroughly.

Quinn is excellent in the dual roles of Jackal and Ramirez.

Melodramatic pap.

A spy thriller with no thrills, no doubt an interesting cinematic gambit but not one we'd recommend.

An intelligent, imaginative bit a fiction about suggesting one way the killer may have been captured.

Quinn gives a commanding performance as both Ramirez and Carlos.

A film of real finesse, style and intelligence, an espionage thriller of the old school, with some modern technical embellishments.

Great premise is executed with enough style and thrills to keep the piece interesting throughout its close to two-hour runtime.

The assignment, should you choose to accept it, does pay off in potent thrills.

A mediocre action-thriller combination that revolves around a preposterous plan for the same reason that most pot-boilers do; it's just the nature of the beast.