{"id":1236714573,"date":"2026-10-01T16:00:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T23:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/?p=1236714573"},"modified":"2026-10-01T16:01:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T23:01:00","slug":"kill-jackie-review-catherine-zeta-jones-amc-plus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-reviews\/kill-jackie-review-catherine-zeta-jones-amc-plus-1236714573\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Kill Jackie’ Review: Catherine Zeta-Jones Leads AMC+’s Drab Misfire of a Thriller"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\tSeveral times in the first episode of AMC+\u2019s Kill Jackie<\/em>, the question comes up of whether its protagonist (Catherine Zeta-Jones) might be a bit bored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tJackie\u2019s friend suggests her \u201cchronic feelings of ennui\u201d might be blamed on the \u201cmental and emotional disturbances that plague our modern society.\u201d Jackie herself likens her career as an art dealer to a \u201cmagic trick,\u201d but then muses that the problem with mastering tricks is that \u201cthey stop being magic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tHaving watched all eight hour-long episodes, I\u2019m ready to posit another explanation: Maybe Jackie\u2019s feeling blah because there simply isn\u2019t anything about her world worth getting excited over. Shallowly conceived and haphazardly constructed, Kill Jackie<\/em> is a thriller fatally short on thrills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tOne imagines it must have all sounded very zippy on paper, else it’s hard to imagine why creators Tom Butterworth and Conor Keane would have chosen to adapt Nick Harkaway’s novel The Price You Pay<\/em> into a series. The elements of a juicy potboiler are certainly all present and accounted for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tOur antiheroine Jackie is not just an art dealer, but one who\u2019s operated so consistently at such an elite level that not even eight-figure sales to billionaires quicken her pulse anymore \u2014 or maybe it\u2019s just that this private-jet-setting life can’t match the rush of her old life as the dealer behind the world\u2019s finest cocaine. But before she can decide what to do about this restlessness, the choice is made for her. An unseen someone has hired the Seven Demons, an elite band of assassins, to kill her, for reasons that are initially unclear but that Jackie reasonably assumes must be connected to her past. Jackie reacts by deciding to hunt down the killers before they can get to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe quest takes Jackie \u2014 generally sporting a shiny outfit and a bold lip \u2014 all over northern Spain, from the turquoise coasts of Bilbao to the majestic peaks of the Pyrenees. It brings her up against all manner of colorfully sadistic killers, from a snakeskin-boot-wearing gunman known only as The Cuban (Sebastian Armesto) to a parkour-loving hipster (Tadashi Ito\u2019s Li Dong). In addition to the standard-issue stabbings and shootouts and car chases, there\u2019s death by vegetable peeler and liquid nitrogen, talk of testicle-eating, and an offer of medically administered multiple orgasms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tBut the orgasms never come. The cannibalism and the flaying are only discussed, not seen. The action we do get is insipid and perfunctory. The assassins that look so snazzy on first impression turn out to have all the depth of unlicensed Spirit Halloween costumes. The supposedly glamorous trappings \u2014 a beaded wedding gown, a snazzy car, verdant hills \u2014 are rendered in the cheap, dull look endemic to mediocre streaming series, robbing us of even the pleasures of a pretty picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tZeta-Jones makes an uninspiring lead, overshooting the character\u2019s unruffled cool so she lands closer to affectless. It does not help that her range of facial expressions is unforgivingly narrow, rarely extending beyond mild surprise, mild disappointment or mild amusement. Her voice, at least, has more feeling \u2014 it runs the gamut from moderately playful to moderately angry to moderately sad \u2014 and it\u2019s genuinely lovely to hear Zeta-Jones\u2019 natural Welsh accent for once. But there\u2019s only so much she can do with a clich\u00e9d backstory and sub-car-commercial lines like \u201cDo you know what\u2019s really sexy \u2014 I\u2019m talking weak at the knees, take-me-against-the-bread-bin sexy? Export taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tSome of her costars fare slightly better. \u00d3scar Jaenada brings a welcome gravitas to Zigor, a revenge-minded ex-Demon who allies with Jackie. Christine Adams is playing yet another half-baked Demon, but she imbues The Doc with just enough wryness to suggest an actual personality under her dominatrix-by-way-of-Thom-Browne outfits. And Daniel Ings is the ensemble\u2019s single greatest asset as Sam, a normie tax attorney who has no idea how he\u2019s wound up in this mess to begin with. Never one to hold back as his characters spiral into emotional extremes, he\u2019s the show\u2019s sweaty, ranty, wild-eyed comic bright spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tBut none of these fleeting highlights are enough to justify a show that otherwise gives the viewer precious little to hang onto. Kill Jackie<\/em> makes occasional half-hearted stabs at deepening its title character. A pair of younger sidekicks, Jackie’s loyal assistant Charlie (Hattie Hook) and a surly stranger named Gwen (Darci Shaw), seem designed to bring out her softer side, but both relationships are drawn with strokes too quick and broad to generate the emotion they ought to. Flirty (separate) interactions with Sam and The Doc might be intended to inject some sexiness into the proceedings, but a dearth of chemistry makes the prospect of a hookup seem more confusing than enticing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tMeanwhile, the things we\u2019re told comprise Jackie\u2019s formidable skill set are actually mostly delegated to a shadowy organization known as Poltergeist. The Iceland-based outfit handles Jackie\u2019s banking, finds her unfindable targets, supplies her with every gadget and weapon she could possibly need \u2014 leaving Jackie with basically nothing to do but wait around looking scared and\/or cool. One starts to wonder, after the umpteenth time a Poltergeist agent shows up to just hand her a briefcase with whatever impossible-to-get item she requires, why we aren\u2019t simply watching a show about that<\/em> team instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAs it is, there\u2019s no there<\/em> there. Certainly there’s nothing to recommend this over countless other shows across countless other networks. If you want to watch a badass lady shoot her way across Europe, you might try Amazon’s (unfortunately canceled) Ride or Die<\/a><\/em> or Netflix’s (finally returning) Black Doves<\/a><\/em>. If you\u2019re into the idea of a world populated by gimmicky costumed assassins, John Wick<\/em> has roughly 10,000 sequels<\/a> and spinoffs<\/a> and knockoffs<\/a>; I can’t promise those are all great either, but they’re mostly no worse than this mediocrity. If you\u2019re a Daniel Ings superfan, you\u2019ll be better served by HBO\u2019s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms<\/a><\/em> or Netflix\u2019s The Gentlemen<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIf you\u2019re dying to watch Zeta-Jones act in her Welsh accent \u2014 well, okay, you\u2019ve got me there. You should watch Kill Jackie<\/em>. Everyone else should feel free to save themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A European art dealer goes on the run from seven ruthless assassins, whose assignment to take her out may or may not be connected to her checkered past as a high-flying drug dealer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1223455,"featured_media":1236693153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"override_post_title":"","override_post_excerpt":"","authors":[],"contributors":[],"styled_by":[],"_image_credit":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","pmc_selected_wwd_video_media":"","pmc_top_video_source":"","pmc_top_video_duration":"","wwd_top_video_source":"","wwd_top_video_duration":"","pmc_selected_featured_media":"","pmc_selected_video_media":"","pmc_selected_variety_video_media":"","variety_top_video_source":"","variety_top_video_duration":"","pmc_featured_media_has_alt_text":true,"_pmc_featured_animated_media_id":0,"_pmc_featured_video_override_data":"","_pmc_featured_video_override_url":"","_pmc_featured_video_response_data":"","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{},"pmc_list_item_description":"","primary_category":"","primary_vertical":"","_mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"","_pmc_opengraph_title":"","_pmc_opengraph_description":"","categories":65854,"subcategories":65858,"thr-review-summary-credits":"Airdate:<\/strong> Friday, Oct. 1 (AMC+)
Cast:<\/strong> Catherine Zeta-Jones, Daniel Ings, \u00d3scar Jaenada, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Darci Shaw, Raff Law, Christine Adams, Julian Rhind-Tutt
Creator:<\/strong> Tom Butterworth and Connor Keane, based on The Price You Pay<\/em> by Nick Harkaway","thr-full-credit":"","thr-review-mpaa-rating":"","thr-review-running-time":"","_synopsis":"Dead on arrival.","_air_date":"00-00-00","pmc-imdb-id":"","pmc-review-type":"other-reviews","pmc-review-rating":"","pmc-review-rating-out-of":"","pmc-review-snippet":"","pmc-review-title":"Kill Jackie","pmc-review-canonical-link":"","pmc-theatrical-release-date":0,"pmc-director":"","pmc-review-image_attachment_id":0,"thr_post_headlines":"A European art dealer goes on the run from seven ruthless assassins, whose assignment to take her out may or may not be connected to her checkered past as a high-flying drug dealer.","_variety-sub-heading":"","mt_seo_title":"'Kill Jackie' Review: Catherine Zeta-Jones in AMC+ Assassin Thriller","mt_seo_description":"Catherine Zeta-Jones stars in 'Kill Jackie,' AMC+'s thriller about an art dealer with a dark past who is pursued by a band of assassins.","mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"off","_pmc_canonical_override":"","instant_articles_should_submit_post":false,"_pmc_newsletter_bna_selected_alerts":[],"_pmc_newsletter_bna_subject_override":"","_pmc_newsletter_bna_alert_configs":[],"_pmc_newsletter_bna_send_override":false,"_sailthru_selected_alerts":[],"_sailthru_send_override":false,"_sailthru_alert_subject":"","_sailthru_breaking_news_meta_data":[],"experimental_features_inline_styles":"","linked_video_id":"","pmc_hubs_hide_header":false,"override_apple_news_title":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-10-01T23:00:59Z","apple_news_api_id":"dd7b6a7c-7a43-458b-9e02-f0cc87ae85a0","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-10-01T23:01:00Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A3XtqfHpDRYueAvDMh66FoA","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_pitched":false,"_pitched_by":"","_pitched_timestamp":"","_pitched_by_name":"","_pmc_automated_related_links":{"settings":{"module_name":"Related","hide_box":0},"data":[{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true},{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true}]},"overlay_text_placement":[],"overlay_text_one":[],"overlay_text_two":[],"pmc-gallery":[],"kicker_meta_block_field":[],"_pmc_kicker":[],"pmc_multiple_products_title":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_photo-ideas-or-requirements":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[65854,65858],"tags":[953,96276,96281],"post_format":[],"_post-options":[],"pmc_ads_suppression":[],"hashtags":[],"ep_custom_result":[],"editorial":[],"coauthors":[74181],"class_list":["post-1236714573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv","category-tv-reviews","tag-catherine-zeta-jones","tag-daniel-ings","tag-kill-jackie"],"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-reviews\/kill-jackie-review-catherine-zeta-jones-amc-plus-1236714573\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"‘Kill Jackie’ Review: Catherine Zeta-Jones Leads AMC+’s Drab Misfire of a Thriller","url":"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-reviews\/kill-jackie-review-catherine-zeta-jones-amc-plus-1236714573\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-reviews\/kill-jackie-review-catherine-zeta-jones-amc-plus-1236714573\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Catherine-Zeta-Jones-as-Jackie-Price-_-Unai-Mateo-Fremantle-and-Steel-Springs-Pictures-2026-1-1.jpg?w=200&h=200&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Catherine-Zeta-Jones-as-Jackie-Price-_-Unai-Mateo-Fremantle-and-Steel-Springs-Pictures-2026-1-1.jpg"},"articleSection":"TV Reviews","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Angie Han"}],"creator":["Angie Han"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Hollywood Reporter","logo":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/thr-site-icon.png"},"keywords":["catherine zeta-jones","daniel ings","kill jackie"],"dateCreated":"2026-10-01T23:00:56Z","datePublished":"2026-10-01T23:00:56Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T23:01:00Z","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{}},"rendered":"