The Day of the Jackal's Bond-style update continues one of TV's most annoying trends
Come for the content, stay for the existential crisis.
What am I doing with my life? A thought that probably pops into all of our heads from time to time. For me, it happens most often when I'm watching XXL versions of stories that have already been told in a much briefer form.
Let me start by saying that this isn't a hit piece on The Day of the Jackal or any of the creatives attached to it. The new spy thriller is competently put together and is getting some warm feedback from plenty of other critics.
For me, though, a major roadblock in my enjoyment was the overwhelming sense that the show was just too long. I was initially expecting the six-episode run common of British dramas, so you can imagine my jaw hit the floor when I saw this remake spans a full 10 hours of television.
A part of me can't fathom how a book previously adapted, to great effect, in two hours and 20 minutes, has ballooned to this excessive duration. Another part of me knows exactly why: Streaming. Content. Binge. Churn. All those lovely buzzwords that followers of the industry will have heard ad nauseam in recent years.
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For what it's worth, Sky's The Day of the Jackal does have a number of new elements to be cited in defence of its expanded length.
First, we have a more nuanced look at the personal life of the titular assassin, with Eddie Redmayne's take on the character being one-part cold and ruthless killer, one-part loving and protective family man.
Second, we're introduced to an Elon Musk-style tech billionaire with delusions of grandeur as the hitman's desired target, replacing French president Charles de Gaulle, who is so 1959.
And third, there are the broader changes that naturally come with a modern retelling, including a major stylistic shift that shares more in common with Daniel Craig's recent James Bond films than it does Fred Zinnemann's 1973 feature.
All of these updates are perfectly fine in my book. I have no sentimental attachment to The Day of the Jackal. This article does not come from a puritanical place of utter disgust at creatives taking a bit of artistic licence with a 53-year-old story.
It does, however, sprout from some exhaustion at this frustrating development in the world of modern television and streaming, in which brevity is discarded as a fusty old idea and long-form serialisation is idolised as the ultimate method of storytelling.
Of course, this is not a trend that's exclusive to television adaptations of books, films or earlier shows, with most original programming also now pitched with a five-year plan (that rarely comes to fruition, I hasten to add).
But it is particularly frustrating when these indulgent, meandering and leisurely strolls are through stories that we already know and have experienced before in far more concise fashion.
Sure, if I went back and watched 1973's The Day of the Jackal, I wouldn't get to see Eddie Redmayne disguised under a thick layer of latex pretending to be an old, cranky German janitor. Nor would I get to meet another messianic tech mogul, the likes of which I can barely escape in my day-to-day life these days.
But I'd happily part with those elements in exchange for an extra eight hours of spare time in which I could call my parents, read a book, embrace my partner or just rest my eyes to the sound of calming white noise. Ah, that's nice.
Partly, this stems back to the decades-old debate around remakes and reboots, which certainly do need to justify their existence. The thing is, though, I think it's quite easy to sell an open-minded person on a modern retelling of The Day of the Jackal – just not one that's going to take 10 hours.
I suppose the broader, more existential feeling that I have about this general tendency of long, long, long-form storytelling is the creeping sense that my very minutes on this earth have been commodified.
The longer I spend watching X continuing series or Y expanded adaptation, the less time I can spend on a rival streaming service, video game, social media platform, or – heaven forbid – away from my screens entirely.
So we can talk in circles amongst ourselves about the deeper exploration of this character or that theme, but it will never entirely shake the unease that I've spent more time with forgettable television than I have with some of my friends.
What am I doing with my life? Streaming. Content. Binge. Churn.
The Day of the Jackal premieres on Sky Atlantic and NOW on Thursday 7th November 2024.
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