Director: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, Robert DeNiro
Synopsis: When Jackie Brown, an air hostess who smuggles money for a Californian weapons dealer, gets picked up by police and ATF she sees an opportunity to get the authorities off her back, take the weapons dealer out of the picture and wind up with his retirement fund in one deft play. All that remains is how well she can play everyone involved.
Review: This marks a slightly different turn for the mighty chin in that it’s the only film to date that he didn’t write from scratch. Instead it’s sourced from the Elmore Leonard book ‘Rum Punch’. It still rings pretty true for a Tarantino outing however, mostly because Leonard has been a huge influence on the directors work. Like other films in the Tarantino canon it’s reminiscent of an old-school genre that doesn’t see much screen time these days. In this case blaxplotation cinema of the 70s, complete with one of the original stars Pam Grier.
Jackie Brown is a solid crime drama packed with fascinating characters and speckled with witty dialog. The lead character of Jackie Brown is downright delightful to watch. She’s got a great attitude regardless of who she’s dealing with and the way she plays each person differently is endless fun. Samuel L. Jackson is also on form played Ordell, the weapon runner who is happy to brag to anyone who’d listen about how successful and cool he is. The other stand-out role is Robert Forster as Max Cherry, who manages to out-cool Jackson. His relationships with Jackie Brown is one of the high points of the film and their performances gives it a solid dynamic that carries the film.
Along with the cool cast are the usual Tarantino tropes (what we will now call ‘Tropatinos’) are in place. The soundtrack is smooth and makes the movie extra cool, and Tarantino is still running with the gimmick of music only being played by a character in the scene. This gives the viewers more insight into the characters, especially Jackie, Max and Ordell as we get their musical tastes instead of a backing track. Tarantino has started experimenting with cinematography more in this film and it often works really well. Scenes played out almost entirely in dark rooms stand out as being amongst the best in the film.
There’s no denying that it’s a great film yet it doesn’t quite have the same sizzle as Tarantino’s other offerings. Part of the reason seems to be that Tarantino isn’t working of his own material this time around and this does appear to restrict his style somewhat. The direction can be a little stale at times as though he isn’t sure where to put the camera. In a way it feels like he over-thought some aspects of the movie instead of shooting from the hip.
Score: EIGHT outta TEN
