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"The Assignment'' is a canny, tricky thriller that could serve as an illustration of what this week's similar release, "The Peacemaker,'' is not. Both films involve an international hunt for a dangerous terrorist, but "The Peacemaker'' is a cartoon and "The Assignment'' is intelligent and gripping--and it has a third act! Instead of an action orgy, it has more than enough story to see it through to the end and keep us absorbed the whole way. Yes, it ends with a deadly struggle, but as the setting for another stage of the movie's web of deceit.

The film is centered on a CIA plot to discredit and kill Carlos, the feared terrorist who operated for years, despite the best efforts of the free world's security agencies to capture him. Donald Sutherland plays Fields, the CIA agent for whom Carlos has become an obsession, and when he finds a U.S. Navy officer named Ramirez ( Aidan Quinn ) who's a dead-ringer for the terrorist, he devises a risky scheme: He'll train Ramirez to impersonate Carlos, then use the double to convince the KGB that their attack dog is disloyal. As a result, Carlos will either be dead or, almost as good, discredited in the eyes of his sponsors.

Fields works with an Israeli named Amos ( Ben Kingsley ) in training Ramirez, after first using psychological tactics to persuade the reluctant Navy man to leave his wife and family and become a counter-terrorist. (The scene where Fields shows Ramirez a dying child in a hospital is a direct echo of " The Third Man ".) Then the false Carlos, is sent into the field to work the deception, which I will not describe.

"The Assignment'' is fascinating because its characters can be believed, because there is at least a tiny nugget of truth in the story, and because from the deceptive opening credits, this is a film that creates the right world for these characters to inhabit. Sutherland's CIA man is especially well drawn: "I don't have any family,'' he says, "and I don't have any friends. The only people I've ever cared about were the ones I've killed.'' Quinn plays a dual role, as Ramirez and Carlos, and has some tricky scenes, especially one in which a former lover of Carlos helps train him sexually so that he will be a convincing bedmate for another of the terrorist's lovers.

The screenplay, by Dan Gordon and Sabi H. Shabtai , has action scenes that grow from the story and are not simply set pieces for their own sake. It's impressive the way so many different story threads come together all at once near the end.

The director, Christian Duguay , is new to me. What he has is a tactile love of film, of images. He and the cinematographer, David Franco, don't use locations so much as occupy them; we visit Jerusalem, Paris, Vienna, Washington, Tripoli and Moscow (or sets and effects that look like them) and yet the movie's not a travelogue but a story hurtling ahead.

I have seen so many lazy thrillers. They share the same characteristics: Most of the scenes involve the overpriced star, the villain is underwritten, and the plot is merely a set-up for the special effects, the chases and the final action climax. "The Assignment'' gives us ensemble work by fine actors, it has a villain of great complexity (developed through the process of imitating him), and at the end there is a tantalizing situation for us to unravel as we leave the theater.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film Credits

The Assignment (1997)

Rated R For Strong Violence, Sexuality and Language

115 minutes

Aidan Quinn as Annibal Ramirez/Carlos

Ben Kingsley as Amos

Claudia Ferri as Maura Ramirez

Celine Bonnier as Carla

Directed by

• Christian Duguay
• Sabi H. Shabtai

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• Cast & crew
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The Assignment

An American naval officer is recruited for an operation to eliminate his lookalike, the infamous terrorist Carlos The Jackal. An American naval officer is recruited for an operation to eliminate his lookalike, the infamous terrorist Carlos The Jackal. An American naval officer is recruited for an operation to eliminate his lookalike, the infamous terrorist Carlos The Jackal.

• Christian Duguay
• Sabi H. Shabtai
• Aidan Quinn
• Donald Sutherland
• Ben Kingsley
• 73 User reviews
• 22 Critic reviews

Top cast 40

• Annibal Ramirez …

• Jack Shaw (Henry Fields)

• Maura Ramirez

• KGB Head Officer

• Carl Mickens - CIA
• Joey Ramirez

• KGB Technician
• Nigerian Oil Minister

• Venezuelan Oil Minister

• OPEC Receptionist
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Based upon a true story.
• Goofs At the naval reception, the American flag hanging above the band is backwards. The field (the stars) should be on the left, not on the right.

Annibal Ramirez : What do you think is out there, Maura? A safe little world with your shopping malls, you little league and ballet lessons? Hey! People are killing, Maura. And I'm one of them. Not neat and surgical like firing a missle from some sub but close enough so his brains splattered on me. And they weren't even the enemy Maura. It was to keep from blowing a cover. I've killed men, I let a friend die, I betrayed everything I've ever believed in. And yes, I've fucked other women. And you know what's worse? I've made you and the children a target because someone out there is going to kill you unless I kill him first. That's my job, Mona. And if you don't mind, I'm late for work.

• Connections Featured in Siskel & Ebert: The Peacemaker/Soul Food/The Edge/The Ice Storm/The Assignment (1997)
• Soundtracks The Most Wonderful Time of the Year Performed by Andy Williams Written by George Wyle and Eddie Pola Courtesy of Barnaby Records Inc. By Arrangement with Celebrity Licensing Inc.

User reviews 73

• Luigi Di Pilla
• Jul 13, 2002
• How long is The Assignment? Powered by Alexa
• September 26, 1997 (United States)
• Dead Sea, Israel
• Triumph Films
• Allegro Films
• Allegro Film Productions V
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• Sep 28, 1997

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 55 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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Liza Wiemer

Award-winning author, educator, and public speaker, the story behind the assignment.

• THE ASSIGNMENT – Curriculum Guides and Teacher Info
• Out and About: A Tale of Giving
• Life Imitates Art
• Visit HELLO? Sites
• Contributor to Small Miracles from Beyond
• Contributor to Small Miracles of the Holocaust
• Waiting for Peace
• Extraordinary Guidance
• Author Visits
• Curriculum Guides
• On July 25, 2016, I received a message on Facebook from librarian Wendy Watts Scalfaro asking if I would be interested in coming to her Syracuse-area high school to conduct workshops about my YA novel, Hello? . It’s important that I mention that Wendy and I had never met in person. We were Twitter friends and she was taking a “Teacher’s Write” class that was a part of
• In September 2016, Wendy contacted River’s End Bookstore to arrange for a book signing and I finalized the event on December 7, 2016. We set the date for Tuesday, April 4, 2017
• I traveled to the Syracuse area on Sunday, April 2, 2017. I had a full-day school visit on the 3rd. On the 4th, I decided to leave extra early for Oswego. It was pouring and my windshield wipers could barely keep up. I was concerned about driving in those conditions, especially since River’s End Bookstore was quite a distance away. At one point, I wondered why Wendy had contacted this bookstore when there were at least a half-dozen bookstores within the Syracuse area. I was truly baffled. It took me nearly an hour to get to Oswego. At this point, I was desperate for caffeine and ended up stopping at this grocery store.
• It’s hard to tell from the photo, but this parking lot is slightly bowl-shaped. I had pulled into a spot on the right side of the photo, but because of the amount of rain, the lot was flooded. I didn’t want to get out of my car because I was wearing knit Ugg boots and my feet would have been soaked through immediately. So, I did something I normally wouldn’t do to pass the time: I went on Facebook.
• That’s when I saw this article posted by my aunt.
• I clicked on the link. To my shock, I discovered that this antisemitic school assignment debating the Holocaust took place in Oswego. I contacted my aunt. I contacted writer friends, attaching the link to my text message, saying, “Can you believe I’m in this town?” I spoke to fellow author, Gayle Rosengren, and told her and my aunt that I needed to figure out a way to get in touch with Archer Shurtliff and Jordan April, the two teens courageous teens who refused to do the assignment. Although they and one other student did an alternative, that left over 70 students who created a memorandum from the Nazis’ point-of-view. Even though the assignment had been completed, Archer and Jordan were determined to never have anyone else be in a position of having to do this assignment. I was impressed by their conviction and very much wanted to let them know that I thought that they were brave and their actions heroic. The problem, however, was that I had no idea how to get in touch with them. It’s not like I was speaking at a local high school. Finally, I made the decision to ask the bookstore owner for his help. I planned to purchase copies of my YA novel Hello? and ask him to send them to the teens along with a personal note. I was nervous. What if the owner disagreed with the teens’ stance and advocated in favor of the assignment?
• I decided the risk was worth it. At this point, my expectations for the evening were low. It was still raining and I wasn’t sure how many people would come out in the rain to hear me speak. I arrived a half-hour early, and once again rehearsed how I would approach the owner about my special request.
• In a blink of an eye, everything changed. I took four steps into the bookstore and immediately recognized Jordan. I stopped in my tracks and said, “Oh my goodness! It’s the world-famous Jordan!” Her face morphed from confused to surprised. “How do you know who I am?” she asked. I showed her my phone. It turned out that Jordan worked at the bookstore.
• I did purchase my book for both teens and inscribed it with a message of gratitude. That night, I had a three-way call with Jordan and Archer. I was amazed by their strength, courage, and determination. I was in awe of their decisiveness: the assignment was wrong. No one should advocate for genocide.
• That evening, I could barely sleep so I wrote about the experience. Those thoughts turned into an article that was published on several sites. Here’s one of them: Opinion: No justification for high school assignment debating genocide . When I returned home, author Clara Kensie said to me, “You have to write a YA novel about this.”
• It might seem like it was an easy decision, but it wasn’t. The day before had been one of the most challenging I’d had as an educator and speaker and I admit that I wondered, Is this what I’m supposed to be doing with my life? It was a bad moment. And then it got worse. That evening, I received the sixtieth + rejection for a YA novel that I had worked on for over six years: “Thank you for your query. Sorry it’s taken me an embarrassingly long time to get back to you. I’m afraid XXXXX is a pass for me. I’m just not connecting in the “must have” way that I’d need to offer representation. Best of luck,” ____Agent Z
• I was done. Clearly, writing was not what I was supposed to do with my life. So, I called my elder son Justin and told him that I’d reached my end and that maybe I should attend UW-Milwaukee and get a master’s degree in psychology. Justin, oh-son-of-mine, said what I’ve said to him on many occasions. “This will pass. It was one bad moment. Don’t give up.”
• Obviously, I didn’t. But that’s because I couldn’t turn my back on all the amazing series of events that lead up to what transpired the very next day. I believe in miracles. I believe in Divine Providence. For me, writing this novel has been an experience of that faith.
• Early on in my research, I connected with Syracuse University Professor Emeritus, Alan Goldberg, Coordinator Spector/Warren Fellowship and Director Regional Holocaust & Genocide Initiative, School of Education. Professor Goldberg was one of the individuals who spoke out against the real assignment and was involved in creating new curriculum to be used in New York Schools. For me, what was remarkable is that Professor Alan Goldberg shares the same name as my father, Alan Goldberg. It was the first time in my life I’d ever met someone who had the same name as my dad.
• On November 3, 2017, an author friend of mine, Debbi Lakritz, told me about the Jewish Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators’ Seminar, which was to take place on Sunday, November 12th in New York City. At this point, I had finished several drafts of my new novel and was ready to find an agent. This seminar sounded like a fantastic opportunity. There were several issues, however. The cost of the conference and buying a plane ticket. Money was extremely tight. My husband had been freelancing for several years and we were definitely struggling. I talked to my husband about the event and my concerns. Without any hesitation, he encouraged me to go. I contacted Evie Saphire-Bernstein, the program manager at the Jewish Book Council. Despite missing the deadline, she welcomed and encouraged me to be a part of the event. Her kindness was the open door I needed. So I signed up and bought my plane ticket.
• At the seminar, I met some fantastic people, many have become friends. I also reconnected with Lizzy Mason, a publicist from Bloomsbury (now Page Street), who spoke at the event. We’d met on several occasions at Book Expo America events and so seeing her made this event even more special. We discussed this novel, and from that conversation Lizzy became one of my biggest cheerleaders. I also received valuable feedback from two agents: “This is an important topic, but you need to rewrite your novel from third-person omniscient to first person. I got the message and promised myself that I would start again. But the most incredible thing that transpired at the seminar was a meeting Random House publicist Josh Redlich. I introduced myself right after his panel discussion, shared the elevator pitch for The Assignment. He said, “I know who would love this book. Send it to Beverly Horowitz. I sent myself a email with her name…and…
• Many rewrites later, I was ready to send my manuscript out to agents again. This time, I received requests for the entire novel almost instantly. One of those agents was Steven Chudney, who turned out to be my dream agent. When it was time to submit to editors at publishing houses, I asked Steven to include Beverly. He put her on the top of the list.
• Within a few weeks we had an offer from Beverly. So, there you have it. What a journey! Thank YOU, dear reader, for being a part of it.

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The Assignment

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Watch The Assignment with a subscription on Prime Video, rent on Fandango at Home, Apple TV, or buy on Fandango at Home, Apple TV.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Christian Duguay

Aidan Quinn

Lt. Cmdr. Annibal Ramirez

Donald Sutherland

Ben Kingsley

Claudia Ferri

Maura Ramirez

Céline Bonnier

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The Assignment

With action set in the U.S., Canada, France, Libya and Israel, "The Assignment" has the makings of a vintage international spy thriller, but the story of American and Israeli agents trying to entrap notorious real-life terrorist Carlos (The Jackal) Sanchez comes off disappointingly flat. As usual, Montreal helmer Christian Duguay delivers all kinds of eye-catching visuals and crackerjack suspense sequences.

By Brendan Kelly

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With action set in the U.S., Canada, France, Libya and Israel, “The Assignment” has the makings of a vintage international spy thriller, but the story of American and Israeli agents trying to entrap notorious real-life terrorist Carlos (The Jackal) Sanchez comes off disappointingly flat. As usual, Montreal helmer Christian Duguay delivers all kinds of eye-catching visuals and crackerjack suspense sequences. But the less-than-inspired script takes way too long to get into high gear and simply doesn’t dispense the requisite amount of thrilling moments. The film remains a reasonably entertaining suspenser, but it will be a challenge for Triumph to attract a substantial audience given pic’s lack of marquee star power and the crowded action marketplace. B.O. will likely be better overseas and in the video market.

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The evil Jackal is first introduced in a flashback to early 1970s Paris, where the longhaired killer Carlos (Aidan Quinn) is shown tossing a grenade into a crowded cafe. CIA operative Jack Shaw (Donald Sutherland) just happens to be sitting outside the exploding coffee shop and, after seeing the effects of Carlos’ nasty handiwork, Shaw vows to hunt down and destroy the terrorist any way he can.

Globetrotting tale then jumps forward 15 years to mid-’80s Jerusalem, where squeaky-clean U.S. naval officer Annibal Ramirez (also Quinn) is on vacation. He is picked up and interrogated by Israeli intelligence agents after Mossad commander Amos (Ben Kingsley) becomes convinced that Ramirez is, in fact, the dreaded Carlos. It appears that the upstanding naval veteran and the murdering terrorist look remarkably similar.

The mix-up is eventually ironed out, and Ramirez heads back home to Norfolk, Va. In the meantime, Shaw has somehow heard about this guy who is practically the identical twin of his arch-nemesis, and he heads to Ramirez’s home to convince the naval officer to impersonate Carlos in an elaborate scheme to reel in the Jackal. Thanks to some heavy-duty strong-arming from Shaw, the initially reluctant Ramirez gives in and accepts the risky assignment.

Then it’s off to Montreal for some rigorous, downright strange training overseen by Shaw and Amos, with Ramirez learning to dodge oncoming snowmobiles, shooting blanks at people, eating dozens of bowls of porridge each day and ingesting hallucinatory drugs. The far-fetched plan is to make the KGB, which is sheltering Carlos in Libya, believe that Carlos is about to switch sides and go over to the CIA. Once they discover this, the Russians will presumably bump off Carlos themselves.

Ramirez meets an old g.f. of Carlos’, Carla (Celine Bonnier), and Shaw and Amos force him to have sex with the sultry woman just so he’ll pick up a few tips about Carlos’ macho style in the sack. After that, he is ready to hook up with another old Carlos g.f., Agnieska (Liliana Komorowska), in a crucial part of the sting.

A key problem here is the length of time it takes for story to reach optimum cruising speed. After nearly an hour, Ramirez is still in training at a dilapidated penitentiary and has not even hit the road to try to draw Carlos from his lair. Duguay, who showcased a sure hand with energetic thrills ‘n’ spills in his previous feature, “Screamers,” once again shows he is a fine action helmer, with various high-adrenaline chase and shootout sequences. But the tale is simply not strong enough to perk up interest, and scripters Dan Gordon and Sabi H. Shabtai have not provided enough character development to compensate for the lackluster pacing.

Quinn is the best of the leads, giving some much-needed depth to his portrayal of the goody-two-shoes career naval officer who discovers his own dark demons while impersonating Carlos. Sutherland hardly breathes any life into his role, and Kingsley is equally uninspired.

Duguay, a former cinematographer, and lenser David Franco give the pic a great look and know exactly how to shoot the fast-paced action scenes. All other tech credits are first-rate.

• Production: A Triumph Films release of an Allegro Films production, with the participation of the Quebec and the Canadian governments. (International sales: Columbia TriStar, Culver City.) Produced by Tom Berry, Franco Battista. Executive producers, David Saunders, Joseph Newton Cohen. Co-producer, Stefan Wodoslawsky. Directed by Christian Duguay. Screenplay, Dan Gordon, Sabi H. Shabtai.
• Crew: Camera (color), David Franco; editor, Yves Langlois; music, Normand Corbeil; production design, Michael Joy; art direction, James Fox; costumes, Ada Levin; digital effects, Richard Ostiguy; sound, Thierry Morlaas-Lurbe; assistant director, David McLeod; casting, Mary Margiotta, Karen Margiotta, Lucie Robitaille. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Gala), Sept. 9, 1997. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 115 MIN.
• With: Annibal Ramirez/Carlos - Aidan Quinn Jack Shaw/Henry Fields - Donald Sutherland Amos - Ben Kingsley Maura Ramirez - Claudia Ferri Carla - Celine Bonnier KGB Head Officer - Vlasta Vrana Agnieska - Liliana Komorowska With: Von Flores, Al Waxman, Mitchell David Rothpan, Gregory Hlady, Gabriel Marian Oseciuc, Frederic Desager, Kliment Denchev, Yonathan Gordon, Ndiouga Sarr, Manuel Aranguiz, Leni Parker.

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The Assignment (1997)

A 1997 spy thriller film directed by Christian Duguay , starring Aidan Quinn , Donald Sutherland , and Ben Kingsley .

While on holiday in Jerusalem in 1986, Cuban-American naval officer Annibal Ramirez (Quinn) is detained and roughed up by Israeli intelligence officer Amos (Kingsley). Turns out Annibal is the spitting image of 'Carlos the Jackal' Sanchez, the infamous Venezuelan terrorist who has evaded every attempt to kill or capture him. The mistake is eventually sorted out but, gives Amos an idea. Together with Jack Shaw aka Henry Fields (Sutherland), a CIA operative with his own axe to grind with Carlos, they plan to use Annibal to frame Carlos as a CIA informant, so he will be murdered by his own side.

Not to be confused with the 2016 action movie by Walter Hill .

This movie has the following tropes:

• A former prison is used for Annibal's one-man Spy School . As a child Annibal had to visit his father in a Cuban prison, so this is a deliberate Mind Screw from his trainers.
• Annibal meets Carla in a derelict building in the Dead Sea, where the only furniture is a bed — all that's needed for the training he receives there.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys : In her very first words, Carla spells out what Carlos' appeal to women is. Carlos: The thing about Carlos is... he doesn't lose himself with a woman. A lover is not different to him. He might have a use for them , so he has to seduce them properly, make sure they're so crazy about him that they'll do anything for him. It's not... not pleasure, it's a sick kind of conquest. He'll do anything... he is the perfect lover. He'll do it all, not to please you, but to excite you, to make it dangerous for you. (starts to stroke herself between her thighs) It's very sexy too, to a woman that danger, like he could kill you in a second but instead he makes you come. And it's like he's killed you and there isn't anything left of you and... he makes you be reborn again the way he wants you to be, so there isn't a thought in your brain that he hasn't put there. Not a feeling in your body that he hasn't put there.
• And Your Little Dog, Too! : When Annibal talks of leaving the operation, Shaw says he has no problem using Annibal and his family as The Bait to lure out Carlos. Having already attracted the attention of a terrorist he bumped into by coincidence, Annibal can't afford to ignore the threat.
• Asshole Victim : Annibal sees a father slapping his son for underperforming at baseball. When Annibal tells him to chill out, he gets in Annibal's face and receives a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown . Shaw has to bail him out of jail to continue the mission. Shaw: He was a Baseball Dad — he deserved it!
• Bait-and-Switch : After seeing Carlos in action in Paris 1974 and Vienna 1975, we cut to 1986 with Carlos apparently planning a terror attack in Jerusalem. This turns out to be our protagonist, Annibal Ramirez, playing tourist while his ship is docked in Haifa.
• Annibal and Shaw wear beards and wigs when meeting in an East Berlin café. The KGB use Facial Recognition Software to remove the beards and match their faces with photos of Carlos and known CIA counterterrorism agent Henry Fields. Of course this was the plan all along , and the fake beards only increase the chance that the computer will give a false positive result for Annibal.
• Carlos wears a fake mustache and wig for the Paris bombing.
• Be Careful What You Wish For : After the Libyan disaster Annibal wants to go home and see his family. Then Amos is killed and Annibal is sent home just when he's motivated to go ahead to make Amos's death mean something.
• Becoming the Mask : Annibal is trained to think and act like Carlos, so much so that it starts to affect his normal behaviour.
• Big Fancy House : The East Berlin safehouse used by Carlos and his fellow terrorists. The large grounds make it easy for Annibal to pretend to be leaving or entering as 'Carlos', when he's actually hiding in the surrounding woods.
• Black-and-Gray Morality : Carlos is a thrill-seeking sociopathic terrorist, but Amos has Annibal snatched off the street and held for days without charge, and Shaw is a cynical manipulator so obsessed with catching Carlos he's prepared to destroy Annibal's life and let hostages die in Vienna just for revenge.
• Blofeld Ploy : Carlos wonders out loud who revealed his safehouse in Libya, then cheerfully assures an underling that it couldn't be him, because: "We go way back." (shoots him through back of chair)
• At the start of the movie, Carlos puts out a cigarette on a spider. At the end of the movie Annibal goes to do the same...but stops.
• When told that Carlos has 70 hostages in Vienna, Shaw snaps, "Fuck the hostages!" When a wounded Annibal tells Shaw to leave him and go after Carlos, he snaps, "Fuck Carlos!" and carries Annibal to safety.
• Boom, Headshot! : The first DST agent shot by Annibal; the other is a Cruel and Unusual Death , and another blows up with his car , making it obvious that Annibal has definitely killed them .
• Brief Accent Imitation : Annibal eventually confesses everything to his wife, including his infidelity, then walks out on her to finish the mission, saying in his Carlos voice: "I'm late for work."
• As the Libyan police examine the charred remains of the DST car and the taxi abandoned by Annibal, a van passes by and a KGB agent leans out to take a photo .
• The KGB snap several shots of 'Carlos' meeting a bearded man in an East Berlin pub , and subject them to Facial Recognition Software .
• Camping a Crapper : A terrorist takes Annibal into a Heathrow airport restroom to be interrogated by having his head shoved in a toilet bowl . Fortunately Amos sees him being led off and follows, leading to a Mutual Kill .
• Character Tics : Carlos likes to lower his sunglasses to look at people, a habit that Annibal copies.
• Carlos sends a Japanese terrorist to kill Agnieska, ordering him to exfiltrate via London. While at Heathrow airport, he runs into Annibal who, posing as Carlos, asks the terrorist what he's doing there. As Carlos should already know this, the terrorist does an Impostor-Exposing Test that Annibal fails.
• When Annibal is blaming himself for not having bluffed the Trust Password , Shaw tells him there's no way he could have guessed it, and relates an incident where he killed a man who didn't know the correct countersign: "But not as sticky as two summers ago." When Shaw finds himself confronted by two Carlos's, he uses this phrase to establish which one is Annibal .
• Chekhov's Gunman : Agnieska is introduced bringing Carlos the hand grenade he uses to blow up the café.
• Chekhov's Skill : As part of his spy training, Annibal must enter a mock-up apartment and work out from clues if the woman living there has been cheating on her husband. Later Annibal uses the same technique to establish that Agnieska met someone in the Libyan safehouse before he got there.
• City of Spies : The climax takes place in East Berlin.
• Code Name : On starting Spy School Annibal is given the codename 'Miguel', so he asks if 'Jack Shaw' is also a codename. Shaw claims it's his real name, but he is referred to as 'Henry Fields' by his colleagues and the KGB.
• Confronting Your Imposter : Annibal is still on the grounds of Carlos' safehouse when the KGB launch their assault, so he lays low. But seeing that Carlos is about to escape, he pursues and ends up fighting Carlos hand-to-hand. Carlos: (staring) Who Are You? Annibal: I'm you, motherfucker. (headbutts Carlos)
• Contrived Coincidence : Annibal just happens to be identical with one of the most notorious terrorists in the world, arrested after being mistaken for him then recruited by the CIA. On top of that, he's also Latin American and even has the same last name, Ramirez. Since he's a US citizen and Navy officer, this makes his recruitment far easier.
• Cruel and Unusual Death : Annibal shoots a DST agent who falls screaming off a roof onto several power lines and goes up in a blaze of sparks.
• Darkest Hour : Annibal is feeling guilty because he killed four agents from his own side. Then Amos gets killed after a terrorist spots Annibal at Heathrow so the operation is suspended by the CIA Director pending review, making it look like it's been All for Nothing .
• Dark and Troubled Past : Annibal's father was imprisoned in Cuba.
• A Darker Me : The secondary purpose of his training is to bring this out of Annibal, replacing the rules-bound naval officer with someone more like Carlos.
• Dark Side : Shaw even quotes from The Empire Strikes Back . "How do you stand this shit Annibal? I mean they're all so fuckin' constipated. [snip] You don't belong to them. You belong to me. Remember what Darth Vader said to Luke, "Come over to the Dark Side"? Come over, Annibal. You have no idea of the power we have."
• Disappeared Dad : Carlos' father abandoned his family for a playboy lifestyle, and Amos advises Annibal to use his feelings about his own father (see Dark and Troubled Past ) to empathise with Carlos and become him.
• Dissonant Serenity : When told there might be another two months training (though this might be another psychological ploy), Annibal blows his stack and insists he can take any test they can think up. So that night Amos and Shaw spike his food with LSD . Amos worries they might have gone too far, but they find Annibal the next morning with his feet up on the table , dressed and groomed and ready to go to the next stage.
• Dodge by Braking : Annibal is in a stolen taxi that's falling apart under the abuse, being pursued by DST gunmen. He drives down a stairway halfway then pulls on the handbrake and ducks — the car behind hits the back of his own, flips over and bursts into flame .
• Don't Call Me "Sir" : At the start of his training, Shaw tells Annibal to stop calling him sir because it gives away the fact that he's military.
• Double Entendre Annibal: I have everything I want to eat, right in front of me. (goes down on Agnieska)
• Eiffel Tower Effect : The movie opens with two kids urinating on the cobblestones, then a crane shot pulls up to show a view of 1970's Paris including the Eiffel Tower. Apart from this however the trope is avoided, using Scene Shift Caption instead.
• Empathic Environment : Annibal goes home to his family on a bright sunny day. That night it's raining and he gets into a shouting match with his wife.
• External Combustion : We hear a car start before it explodes in a ball of fire.
• Faking the Dead : The Ramirez family get into their car which explodes into a ball of fire and an Empathy Doll Shot . Carlos gets a newspaper clipping announcing their deaths. After a funeral that Shaw attends, we see Annibal watching his family playing on the beach.
• Fire-Forged Friends : Annibal with both Amos and Shaw.
• Foil : Carlos is described as a superman compared to rules-bound, Happily Married family man Annibal. Amos: Carlos is the opposite, that's what makes him so seductive, you know? He can kill whoever he chooses, ravish whoever he chooses, take whatever he chooses, do whatever he chooses.
• Foregone Conclusion : Carlos will obviously survive as he was caught in 1994 and is currently serving multiple life sentences in a French prison.
• Fresh Clue : In the Sherlock Scan exercise, the milk in the fridge is only slightly off, indicating that it's been replaced recently and hasn't been sitting there a week.
• Annibal kills four French agents escaping the DST trap in Libya.
• In the climax, Shaw mistakes Annibal for Carlos and gleefully puts several shots into him.
• Annibal deliberately knocks over various objects while fleeing through a Jeruselum marketplace to slow his pursuers down.
• The DST do a drive-by shooting of the contents of a Libyan market stall.
• Gallows Humor : As Amos is dying, Annibal jokes that he can't die yet as he never got around to suing him.
• Gambit Pileup : Annibal gets caught in a trap set by the French DST to catch the real Carlos. Shaw: How could we know? It was their operation and they didn't tell us about it. I mean, we sure as shit didn't tell them about you.
• Gender-Blender Name : Annibal has this problem as his name sounds like "Annabelle". When the Baseball Dad makes a snide comment about it, Annibal has him Talk to the Fist .
• Going by the Matchbook : During the Sherlock Scan exercise, a matchbook in the rubbish bin tips off Annibal that his fictional wife met someone in a bar.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking : Carlos smokes, so Annibal has to as well. His wife is not happy. Maura: You started smoking again? Annibal: Yeah, I'll be doing heroin soon.
• Grenade Hot Potato : In the Paris bombing, Carlos can be heard counting down after pulling the pin on his grenade before throwing it into the café. After taking hostages in Vienna, he trolls one of them by fiddling with a hand grenade as if he doesn't know how to use it, pulling the pin, then tossing the grenade to the terrorist guarding the door, who throws it outside at the police who've just shown up.
• Hallucinations : For his final test, Amos and Shaw spike Annibal's food with LSD. The subsequent trip includes Talking to Themself (as naval officer, resentful spy trainee, and Annibal-Carlos), Dark and Troubled Past (visiting his father in a Cuban prison as a child) and parental fears (Carlos playing baseball with Annibal's son...using a grenade).
• The Handler : Shaw for Annibal.
• Annibal is introduced to their Mossad liaison, who turns out to be Amos. Annibal refuses to shake his hand because he's still pissed about what happened in Israel.
• Played for drama during the Vienna airport scene (see Nothing Up My Sleeve ).
• Heartbeat Soundtrack : When Annibal is being questioned by a Libyan customs officer on his first mission.
• Hero Stole My Bike : While escaping from the DST, Annibal carjacks a taxi, throwing the driver out onto the street where he barely avoids getting hit by another vehicle.
• High-Dive Escape : Carlos dives from a balcony into the Spree River to escape the KGB. Annibal dives right after him.
• Hyper-Awareness : Carlos has this ability, picking up even the smallest out of place details in a location, which Annibal is taught to double him.
• Identical Stranger : Annibal and Carlos aren't related at all; they're from completely different countries.
• Impostor-Exposing Test : While buying duty free cigarettes at Heathrow Airport, Annibal is approached by a Japanese terrorist that Carlos sent to kill Agnieska. Terrorist: (quietly) What are you doing here? Annibal: (in Carlos voice) Buying cigarettes. What are you doing here? Terrorist: (politely) Excuse me, sir, I only wanted to know where I can get a newspaper? Annibal: Libya, quite a tragedy. (leaning close) I told you never to address me in public! Over by the phone booth and wait; I'll come to you. (goes to leave) Terrorist: Excuse me, sir. (jams carry bag concealing a gun into Annibal's ribs) I asked... if you knew... where I can get a newspaper. ( Oh, Crap! look on Annibal's face) You make the slightest move, and I shoot. And I don't miss.
• Indy Ploy : Subverted; Annibal is able to fool an ex-girlfriend of Carlos because he's had months to prepare. When he tries to wing it at Heathrow Airport, it doesn't work.
• Insane Troll Logic : Annibal points out the idiocy of training in snowy Canada to catch someone who's in the Middle East.
• Institutional Allegiance Concealment : Annibal is travelling in mufti while on leave in Israel, and ditches his dogtags and ID while being chased by men he assumes are Arab terrorists. Amos doesn't believe that he's a US Navy officer until one of his men finds Annibal's bag, and even then the Israelis hold him for three days until they're absolutely sure he's not Carlos.
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies : Even though he wants to sort out the mess he's made of his home life, Annibal must leave to continue the mission because his family will never be safe as long as Carlos is alive.
• It's Personal : In 1974 while Shaw was sitting outside a Paris café, he was recognised by Carlos who borrowed a light off him , then proceeded to the balcony above and threw a hand grenade into the crowd. Shaw survived the attack, but was humiliated by having missed one of Europe's most wanted men when he was literally right under his nose .
• Just a Stupid Accent : When he's snatched off the street by the Israelis, Annibal thinks he's been kidnapped by terrorists so exaggerates his Cuban accent so they won't realise he's an American officer.
• Karma Houdini : Averted in the long run; Carlos escapes both the CIA and KGB, but is now persona non grata in both East and West. Without a sanctuary, he's eventually captured in 1994.
• Lady Drunk : Carla is introduced swigging directly from the bottle, which she then rolls across the floor to Annibal so he can take a drink too. Given that she was betrayed by the man she idolized, is now working for her former enemies, and is about to have sex with a man who is the spitting image of her ex-lover so he can kill Carlos , one imagines she has a lot to drink about .
• Latex Perfection : Annibal skillfully uses this for the risky first meeting with an ex-lover of Carlos. She enters the safehouse in Libya only to be grabbed by a bald-headed man in a mustache who threatens to kill her (and other things ) if she doesn't reveal where Carlos is. Agnieska denies knowing anyone of that name, whereupon the man peels off a latex headpiece and removes his fake moustache to reveal a smiling 'Carlos'. As such mind games are entirely in character for him, she's entirely willing to believe it's done to test her loyalty , instead of a trick to make her less able to see one impersonation behind the other .
• Latin Lover : Carlos is always shown either in bed with a woman, or with an attractive female terrorist among his entourage.
• Leave No Man Behind : When Amos is shot, he tells Annibal to leave him to die alone because it will be All for Nothing if Annibal's cover is blown. After being shot Annibal urges Shaw to leave him and chase after Carlos, but Shaw finally puts aside his vendetta and carries him to safety.
• Lie Back and Think of England : Being Happily Married , Annibal isn't as glad as he should be that the next stage of his training involves having sex with a beautiful French ex-lover of Carlos. Shaw: Don't think of it as cheating on your wife, think of it as... fucking for your flag. Amos: [mock gravitas] When in doubt, close your eyes. Think of England.
• Manipulative Bastard : Shaw turns up at a US Navy ball and proceeds to push Annibal's buttons, looking for a weakness. Does he resent the Gilded Cage of a career Navy officer? Is he attracted by the freedom and power of a spy? His country needed him and he Refused the Call ; wouldn't that look bad on his personnel file? None of it works, until Shaw has Annibal brought to the bedside of a boy the same age as his son injured by a bomb that Carlos planted. Annibal later realises the whole thing was just a performance for his benefit.
• Married to the Job : Shaw: I don't have any family, I don't have any friends, and I think the only people who mattered to me are the ones that I killed. And you.
• Mistaken Nationality : An admiral goes on about how good it is that Mexican-American officers are coming up through the ranks, until Maura politely informs him that they are, in fact, Cuban-American.
• Modesty Bedsheet : Gender-inverted; the women are shown fully naked while Carlos or Annibal is the one whose groin is always hidden by the sheet. The Fanservice Extra with Carlos does however cover herself with the sheet in a hurry when one of his goons walks into the bedroom .
• Mutual Kill : Amos and the Japanese terrorist shoot each other at the same time.
• Annibal after shooting a French agent in the face. It quickly goes From Bad to Worse as the DST keep attacking and he has to kill several more to survive.
• Annibal sees a man slapping his own son during baseball practice. When the man gets in his face Annibal beats him up, then realizes his own son has witnessed this.
• Shaw misses Carlos when he's right in front of him in Paris.
• The protagonists trigger a trap to catch the real Carlos, causing the death of several agents of an allied country.
• Annibal tries to pose as Carlos when he encounters a terrorist at Heathrow airport. He's quickly exposed and Amos gets killed saving him.
• Annibal is drowning Carlos in the river when Shaw turns up and shoots Annibal, mistaking him for Carlos despite knowing that Annibal is in the area.
• Carlos throws a grenade into a Paris café. The explosion breaks a gas line which blows up the entire building.
• Annibal shoots a French agent who then falls off the roof onto powerlines which go up in a blaze of sparks, making it really clear to Annibal that he killed the guy .
• Carlos sends the Japanese terrorist to kill his ex-girlfriend for turning informer. Agnieska is shot in the head as she's leaving a building with her DST guards, then a nearby car bomb blows everyone up.
• No One Gets Left Behind : Annibal has to abandon Amos to die in an airport restroom, rather than compromise the operation. When Annibal is shot in the climax he urges Shaw to leave him and go after Carlos, but Shaw carries him to safety instead, saying Carlos is as good as dead anyway.
• Nothing Up My Sleeve : Shaw plans to kill Carlos during the hostage exchange at Vienna airport, using a mechanical device that launches a derringer into his hand. But as Shaw reaches out to Carlos, the CIA station chief shouts for him to stop—Carlos instinctively levels his submachine gun at Shaw, so he doesn't dare move. The station chief, unaware of Shaw's intentions, says, "You don't want to have your picture taken shaking his hand."
• Not Right in the Bed : Since Annibal will have to interact and likely sleep with Agnieska, the CIA has to actually work to avert this trope. So Carla, an ex-girlfriend of Carlos who is now under Israeli protection, instructs Annibal in Carlos' domineering sexual technique. However Annibal's wife Maura becomes suspicious when he starts using what he's learnt in their lovemaking.
• "Not So Different" Remark : Annibal: (to Shaw) YOU WANT TO KNOW WHO CARLOS IS? YOU TAKE A GOOD LOOK IN THE FUCKING MIRROR!
• Not What It Looks Like : Annibal gets snatched off the street in Jerusalem — turns out the Arab men who grabbed him are working for Mossad, and they've mistaken him for Carlos planning his next terrorist act.
• Amos when he's handed Annibal's dogtags and US Navy ID card.
• Annibal when told he's going to Libya. This is just a few years after the first Gulf of Sidra incident, so for a US naval officer in The '80s it would be like walking into Mordor .
• "WHO DID YOU MEET WITH?" "The French Secret Service. The DST."
• Annibal in Heathrow when he's asked for a countersign that he doesn't know.
• Annibal pretends to leave the Big Fancy House that Carlos has, meets with Shaw where he'll be photographed by the KGB, then returns to the house and hides in the woods outside. Unfortunately, the KGB turn up in force before he has a chance to slip away.
• Shaw empties his gun into the man he thinks is Carlos…and then a second Carlos appears and he realises he might have made a terrible mistake.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business : Annibal shouts down his wife when she accuses him of infidelity, and beats up another father at baseball practise.
• The Only One : Justified as a Doppelgänger to a famous terrorist, who also happens to be an officer of your own country, is not exactly common. Shaw: The governments of most of the countries of the Free World have been trying to get Carlos for the past ten years. And they have come up with absolutely nothing. Because there's really only one way to get him. Which is to say there is exactly one person in the whole world, who can get him.
• Overt Operative : Shaw is recognised by Carlos in Paris; unfortunately Carlos is disguised so Shaw doesn't recognise him until it's too late. Shaw: We are both very well known in this business.
• Papa Bear : When Shaw threatens to let Carlos know where his family is, Annibal threatens to kill him , and slaps aside the pistol that Shaw draws regardless of the danger.
• Pull the Thread : While in the safehouse in Libya, Annibal notices an unfiltered cigarette in the rubbish bin — Agnieska only smokes filtered cigarettes. On being confronted Agnieska says that she went to the café to buy food and bummed a cigarette off someone there. To her relief 'Carlos' appears to buy this...but he then realises that the nearest café is two blocks away and she would have finished and thrown away the cigarette before then.
• Refused the Call : When Shaw first approaches Annibal, he's more interested in suing the Israeli government than going on some looney James Bond mission. Shaw proceeds to push every button he can find on Annibal until he finds the one that works.
• Revenge Before Reason : Shaw is obsessed with catching Carlos after his humiliation in Paris. However after accidentally shooting Annibal he comes to his senses and helps him to safety instead of pursuing Carlos when urged to.
• Rogue Agent : Shaw is reminded that the CIA is not in the assassination business any more, but is willing to kill Carlos in Vienna regardless.
• Roofhopping : Annibal escapes from the Libyan safehouse by leaping to a balcony on the opposite side of the street and fleeing across the rooftops. When he gets down to the ground however, he finds the DST haven't given up the chase.
• Shaw tries to goad the straight-laced Annibal into this trope.
• There's a Record Needle Scratch on a gramophone player just as the KGB are about to kick down Carlos' door. Everyone freezes until they hear Carlos continue talking inside.
• Sex God : Played With . Carla comments that Carlos was very skilled in bed, but he's an egomaniac who only pleasures women for his own ego. He was also physically and emotionally manipulative even during sex, and she basically describes his " appeal " as a Fetishized Abuser . She clearly resents having enjoyed sex with him as much as she did.
• Sexual Karma : Since Annibal will have to sleep with Carlos's girlfriend while pretending to be him , he has to learn to have sex like Carlos did in order not to make the girlfriend suspicious . So he has Carla, an ex-girlfriend of Carlos, instruct him on it, and she makes it clear Carlos is a skilled lover , but also a domineering and aggressive one who's into Erotic Asphyxiation . By contrast, Annibal is Happily Married and has a healthy and vanilla relationship with his wife Maura (and loathes to have to cheat on her for the mission). When he has sex with her using the aggressive sexual technique Carla taught him, she doesn't enjoy it and tells him to stop as he's hurting her, with the implication only "bad" girls enjoys "bad" sex .
• Sexy Discretion Shot : Annibal's and Carla's "sex training" cuts away just as he starts going down on her.
• Sherlock Scan : Carlos is able to find anything that doesn't belong simply by looking around a room, and Annibal learns how too (e.g. the leftover ash from another man's cigarette in the garbage).
• Shooting Gallery : Annibal takes part in an exercise that tests both his memory and shooting skills. He walks through a graveyard and when his trainer calls out a name, he turns towards the gravestone engraved with that name, behind which is hiding another man armed with a paintball gun shooting back at him.
• Shoulders-Up Nudity : When Annibal strips down at Carla's request, the camera stays just above his waistline.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss : An Invoked Trope . Carla tells Annibal to take off his clothes so she can teach him how Carlos makes love. Carla: [looking down] You're smaller than him . Annibal: [awkward laugh] Really... Carla: [slap] That's what he would have done if I had said something like that. Without a moment's hesitation. What's wrong with you? No eres ni hombre! [She goes to slap him again — Annibal hits first knocking Carla across the room.] Annibal: Look I--I'm sorry, I-- Carla: Shut up! Come to me, come on...kiss where you hit. [Annibal tries to kiss her lips — she turns her face away] Kiss where the blood is. Spread it on my lips so I taste it...
• Slasher Smile : Carlos grins at Shaw from the café balcony before throwing a grenade into the crowd below.
• Something Only They Would Say : Annibal proves his identity to Shaw when he says "awfully warm for this time of year", to which Annibal replies "but not as sticky as two summers ago". These are the two halves of a code phrase that was part of an assignment from long ago that his handler mentioned in conversation.
• Spies In a Van : DST and KGB surveillance teams are shown operating from vans, though the KGB men outside the East Berlin safehouse are crammed into a Lada.
• Spot the Imposter : While passing through Heathrow Airport, Annibal is approached by a Japanese terrorist who knows Carlos. Annibal makes the mistake of posing as Carlos instead of himself, but realizes too late he's been given a codephrase to which he doesn't know the countersign. Afterwards Shaw mentions a similar incident where he killed a contact who didn't have the countersign, and later uses this story to tell the difference between Annibal and Carlos in the climax.
• Spy's Suspicious Spouse : Justified; her husband really is cheating on her. She assumes his altered behavior is due to stress from working on a submarine (Annibal's cover story for being out of contact for so long).
• Suddenly Shouting Carlos: You want to go? Let's go. (tying shoes) I want to be interrogated. (throws bra in mook's face) I demand— (picks up SMG hidden under clothes and opens fire) TO BE INTERROGATEEEED!
• Superpowered Evil Side : Before he goes into Libya, Amos gives Annibal some advice. "When you look in the mirror, I don't want you to find Annibal Ramirez: find Carlos. Cause if you find Carlos that's what everyone else will find too. And if you find Carlos and anything goes wrong, he's the only one who can get you out of it, because he's the best at what he does."
• Throw Down the Bomblet : While being chased on foot by DST agents driving a car, Annibal drops a live grenade onto the pavement and lets them drive over it.
• Training from Hell : The training is designed to push Annibal to his limit both physically and psychologically — not only to teach Annibal how to survive when he doesn't have the massive support structure of the US Navy behind him, but to force him out of his comfort zone and into the mindset of a wanted terrorist.
• Training Montage : Though the improvement takes a while.
• Trust Password : "But not as sticky as two summers ago."
• Tuxedo and Martini : When turning down the assignment, Annibal suggests to Shaw that James Bond would be a more appropriate recruit. In the next scene, Annibal and his wife go to a Navy ball and run into Shaw wearing a tux.
• Uriah Gambit : The Plan is to frame Carlos as a paid informant for the CIA, so he will be killed by the KGB.
• Wax On, Wax Off : Played with; Annibal is given exercises to improve his memory, driving, situational analysis and shooting skills, but the plan itself is only explained to him once he's reached a certain level of proficiency. Meanwhile he's fed porridge (and nothing else) until he's sick of it and losing weight. He has Amos blowing cigar smoke in his face , and Shaw trying to run him over with remote-controlled snowmobiles. Turns out the purpose is to Teach Him Anger ; not only his own but that of his target — Carlos grew up eating the same porridge and tells everyone he meets how much he hated it and the smell of his father's cigars. He was also underfed as a child and clumsy at sports, feelings that Annibal can now empathise with .
• As the commandos are climbing the walls, their boss turns up at the gate as if for a routine visit. As he leaves his car and goes over to the gatehouse, a commando shoots the guard with a silenced pistol and the KGB boss continues inside without breaking stride .
• A KGB commando raps on the window. As the terrorists inside grab their guns and turn to the window to fire, other commandos hiding by the door shoot them In the Back .
• On being confronted by the KGB who order him to get dressed and come with them for interrogation, Carlos does so while contemptuously throwing ladies underwear in their faces...then grabbing a submachine gun hidden under the clothes.
• Annibal spends most of the Chase Scene in a blood-splattered white shirt after he Boom Headshots a man at point-blank range.
• Carlos later shoots a minion he believes is an informer, with the exit wound appearing on a white undershirt.
• Woman Scorned : Carla is helping the Israelis kill Carlos because her former lover set her up to be killed by carrying a bomb onto an airplane .
• You Can Never Leave : Having put so much work into Annibal, Shaw is not going to let him walk away from the mission. He's even willing to use Annibal's family as The Bait to lure Carlos if that's what it takes.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame : Shaw: The French made it perfect for us. The KGB now think you're Carlos. They took the bait! Annibal: You fucking maniac . Jack, I-killed-four-men! (as Jack looks away) HEY, I DON'T LIKE KILLING OUR FUCKING ALLIES, ALL RIGHT? Amos: Policemen wind up killing other policemen. It happens. I'd rather have you here feeling guilty about them than to know that there's some meeting in Paris with them all sitting around feeling guilty about you. Shaw: You did what you had to do, and it worked. Carlos himself couldn't have done any better.
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The Assignment (1997)

Directed by christian duguay.

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The Assignment is a 1997 spy thriller film directed by Christian Duguay and starring Aidan Quinn in two roles, Donald Sutherland, and Ben Kingsley. The film, written by Dan Gordon and Sabi H. Shabtai, is set mostly in the late 1980s and deals with a CIA plan to use Quinn's character to masquerade as the Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal.

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