Kill Jackie Review: Catherine Zeta-Jones Stuns In AMC+'s Cinematic Revenge Thriller

AMC+'s newest series, Kill Jackie, stars Catherine Zeta-Jones as the titular Jackie Price, and delivers a twisting story that's always on the move, but shines despite its fast pace. With Zeta-Jones in the driver's seat as Jackie, a former drug smuggler turned art dealer who's looking for revenge when her life is put on the line, the series adapts Aidan Truhen's (the pseudonym of Sunday Times best-selling author Nick Harkaway) novel The Price You Pay. With an eight-episode run, the series is able to fit a ton of story into the short episode order, keeping viewers on their toes.

Kill Jackie finds its main character settled at its start, with Jackie living a luxurious life as an aft dealer after having cast off the demons of her past as a dangerous international drug smuggler. Though things do border on boring from time to time for Jackie, her life changes quickly upon the show's start. Jackie's peace is short-lived when an attempt on her life goes haywire, and she unearths a massive plot against her. Going against a team of the world's most strategic and scary hitmen, The Seven Demons, Jackie has to rely on instincts she thought she buried.

As the series moves through intense encounters with each of The Seven Demons, Jackie's work is cut out for her, but Kill Jackie makes it clear that actually killing Jackie Price isn't for the weak. With a wonderfully cast ensemble, a stellar performance by Zeta-Jones, and a clear road map that allows the show to twist and turn in on itself in unexpected ways, the thrilling revenge series has a cinematic quality that ensures viewers will keep watching to the very last moments. Kill Jackie has some hiccups, but for most of its run, it's wickedly smart, ambitious, and fun.

Kill Jackie Puts Catherine Zeta-Jones In The Driver's Seat & Lets Her Floor It

Catherine Zeta-Jones is the beating heart of Kill Jackie, and the show itself knows that well. While any adaptation of the Truhen novel would have to focus itself tightly on the central character, in the book's case a man named Jack Price, the way that Kill Jackie manages to do it is a genuine feat. From the first moments of the series, all eyes are on Zeta-Jones' Jackie, and it's rare that it makes much sense to look elsewhere. Embodying a character who's openly mysterious and, at the same time, grounded in who she is, Zeta-Jones puts on a masterclass.

Throughout the run of Kill Jackie, the titular Jackie has to be a little bit of everything. She's an art dealer with a ton of knowledge in her field who knows how to do business with even the most dastardly of clients. She's a woman with a mysterious past who doesn't reveal many details about what's happened to her despite it being clear that something led her to where she is. She's a Welsh woman who's not afraid to lean into her accent, she's a daughter with a messy relationship with her parents, she's a boss with secrets to hide.

No matter what Kill Jackie throws at Zeta-Jones, she manages to handle it with ease and looks phenomenal while doing it. A true tour de force, watching Zeta-Jones navigate through every twist, turn, and tragedy of Kill Jackie is a genuine joy. Zeta-Jones' feels like the perfect embodiment of her character, and seeing her lead the series is one of the show's many highlights.

Kill Jackie's Ensemble Cast Builds A Tremendous Mix Of Standout Characters

Although Zeta-Jones is doing a ton of the heavy lifting on Kill Jackie, the ensemble cast of the series is always pulling their weight, as well. With a massive cast that spans over the course of the show's eight-episode run, Kill Jackie's storylines call for characters to come out of the woodwork from every part of Jackie's life. This includes people from her present art dealer days and goes back through her childhood in Swansea, Wales, and requires actors to slot into every nook and cranny of the story with an intensity and direction that could've been tough to nail.

Instead, the ensemble cast of Kill Jackie makes it incredibly easy to fall into the story. With characters that round out Jackie's personal life, like her lawyer Sam (Daniel Ings) who travels along with her to take out The Seven Demons, to characters who are entirely against her that seem both professional and adversarial, everyone moving through the cast takes their job seriously and brings an authenticity to the story. With plot twists and reveals throughout the show's run, the cast of Kill Jackie does their best to stay grounded throughout a story that's constantly working to shake things up.

Kill Jackie's Minor Hiccups Are Barely A Blip In The Rich Revenge Series

As a whole, there are definitely a few moments throughout Kill Jackie that feel like they aren't pitch perfect. The show as a whole comes out wonderfully, but there are a few moments within the series that feel confusing or overly long. Adapting a novel into an eight-episode TV series is no easy feat, and deciding what to keep or cut was a slightly different conversation than it usually would be, as the focal point of the novel is a far cry form Zeta-Jones' Jackie Price. Even so, there are some moments where the cracks of the adaptation show through.

One of the biggest sticking points, ultimately, is that Kill Jackie should probably only be a one-season series, but it leaves the door open for more by the end of the series. Though viewers shouldn't necessarily want to see more of Kill Jackie, it's a show that practically demands another turn. If it were to get a second chance, I can't imagine it wouldn't be just as good, if not better, than its inaugural season.

Regardless of any blips in the fabric of the series or issues with its structure, the fact of the matter is that Kill Jackie is a captivating series that works with every minute it has. Zeta-Jones is electric as the show's main character, pushing the envelope in every scene with how much she's giving and how much she's holding back. Between Zeta-Jones and the electric ensemble cast, Kill Jackie does everything it can to build a grounded narrative, twist and contort itself into a fun, fast-paced mystery, and resolve its story with a path forward if it wants to continue.

All episodes of Kill Jackie will be available to stream on AMC+ on October 2.