Nocturnal 
Catherine Zeta-Jones has gone full action hero for her new thriller Kill Jackie – and critics reckon the only thing missing from this Killing Eve-alike is literally everything that made Killing Eve good.
The eight-part series dropped this week, with Zeta-Jones playing Jackie Price, a globe-trotting art dealer with a murky past as a drug smuggler who suddenly finds herself the target of a crew of hitmen called the Seven Demons. Rather than run, she decides to hunt them down one by one.
It’s generated serious buzz, with “Catherine Zeta-Jones” pulling in more than 20,000 searches on Google Trends UK as people rush to find out whether it’s actually any good. According to the reviews, the answer is: not really.
‘Dead on arrival’
The Guardian didn’t hold back, branding it “preposterous nonsense” that swaps credible writing for “gunfights, car chases and ear-bitings” once the plot gets too complicated to bother with.
The Hollywood Reporter was similarly brutal, calling it “dead on arrival” and adding: “Shallowly conceived and haphazardly constructed, Kill Jackie is a thriller fatally short on thrills.”
Variety described it as simply “a convoluted thriller”, though it did note Kill Jackie arrives at a moment when crime black comedies are having a bit of a moment on the small screen, pointing to shows like The Gentlemen, Black Doves and MobLand as recent company.
Not everyone was entirely damning. TheWrap found something to enjoy in Zeta-Jones’ performance, highlighting one line from the show – delivered to Jackie by an assassin who can’t help but be charmed by his target – “Christ, you’ve got an attractive personality.”
Welsh accent and a gender-swapped lead
The series is based on Nick Harkaway’s novel The Price You Pay, written under the pseudonym Aidan Truhen, in which the lead character was originally a man called Jack. Zeta-Jones told Radio Times the decision to flip the role to a woman is what drew her in.
“I was looking for something where I could kind of let loose a bit,” she explained, adding that making Jackie Welsh “made it so much more real and fun – it freed me up.”
It’s reportedly the first time the Swansea-born star has used her native Welsh accent on screen, and parts of the series were filmed back home in Swansea, alongside locations across northern Spain including Bilbao and the Pyrenees.
The supporting cast includes Daniel Ings as Jackie’s lawyer Sam, Sidse Babett Knudsen as rival hitwoman Karenina, Raff Law as assassin Sean Harper, Enzo Cilenti as Don Markel, and Darci Shaw as Jackie’s relative Gwen.
Where things stand now
All eight episodes are available to watch now. There’s some confusion over exactly where – the Hollywood Reporter lists it as an AMC+ series, while the Mirror, Radio Times and WalesOnline all report it landed on Prime Video, so it’s worth checking your streaming service of choice before diving in.
Whatever platform it’s on, the reviews suggest Kill Jackie is one for fans of Zeta-Jones first and thriller plots a distant second.
