In Day of the Jackal, Eddie Redmayne is Bond for the nerds

Once inside the building, he keeps his head down until things kick off, at which point he expertly dispenses of anyone in his way until reaching his target, whom he shoots… in the leg? You think he’s fucked up. But, of course, he hasn’t. The leg he’s lodged his bullet in belongs to none other than the son of his real target, a prominent German politician, who must now visit his bedridden boy in hospital. Meaning the Jackal has decided where his target will be (the hospital), and when (the day after the shooting). This allows him to set up his politician-shooting shop in an apartment block across the way. What a crafty, crafty man.

That apartment block is so far across the way from the hospital that intelligence services initially believe the shot to be impossible, because it would be longer than the world record for the longest-range kill ever made. Adding to their scepticism is the footage they see of the Jackal leaving the building with a suitcase nowhere near big enough to contain the length of gun that would be needed to make such a shot, were it even possible. Except we’ve seen that this is in fact possible because, of course, the suitcase is the gun. The Jackal has broken down his murder weapon into parts that then form the handle of his handy little carry-on. Our boy is wicked smaht.

Bond does, admittedly, do some of this kind of thing. He uses special fancy weapons and he pulls off some special fancy tricks, but he does it with the help of other people, who are so smart and secret they’re not even allowed more than one letter in their name. The Jackal, meanwhile, is a one-man murder band. And ok, his gun might be made by someone else, but even that someone else is not a highly-qualified spook with the resource of an entire national intelligence agency behind them, but seemingly just kind of… some bloke? The Jackal gets serious originality points for sourcing someone like that.

The effect of this solitary approach that the Jackal takes to his handiwork is that everything he does – and gets away with – contributes significantly to our admiration for him. If and when something goes right for him, it’s not only because he’s able to pull it off in the heat of the exam hall, but because he’s done his homework and revision beforehand. It also means that you or I – with our (sorry to assume on your behalf here) not-so-Bond-like bodies, can more easily imagine and appreciate the moves the Jackal is making. Could I use some martial art and muscle I don’t have to fight off a big scary attacker? No. Could I make a sneaky little plan to maybe trip him up and then whack him in the back of the head or something? Probably still no, but maybe. And maybe’s a little closer to yes. We’re not so different, me and this Jackal.