Jackie Brown [MA]

Jackie Brown is the sultry and sassy flight attendant busy smuggling cash into America for local gunrunner Ordell Robbie on the side. Busy, until she’s picked up by a couple of AFT agents who bust her at the airport. Knowing that her life’s in danger with Ordell having offed an employee in a similar position, Jackie plots an elaborate scheme to elude the cops, the crims, and the ruthless Ordell so she can escape to a better life with half a million dollars in cash. 

Not one of Tarantino’s finest it has to be said. Admittedly I’d imagine that this was made with a bit of a budget and although there are various moments that shine with classic Tarantino antics and trademarks, Jackie Brown sits as just another two-timing/three-timing who’s-playing-who crime story. Loaded with action, badass motherfuckers, and some snappy dialogue as it may be, I don’t think this is a Tarantino flick that’ll make it into the collection: and I do love Quentin Tarantino. 

Jackie Brown is the sultry and sassy flight attendant busy smuggling cash into America for local gunrunner Ordell Robbie on the side. Busy, until she’s picked up by a couple of AFT agents who bust her at the airport. Knowing that her life’s in danger with Ordell having offed an employee in a similar position, Jackie plots an elaborate scheme to elude the cops, the crims, and the ruthless Ordell so she can escape to a better life with half a million dollars in cash. 

I think what really let me down with this film was its lack of really witty and sharp dialogue and writing, which is what established Quentin Tarantino as the cinematic badass and cinephile that he’s come to revered as. The man’s a genius and a true lover of films, there can be no doubt of this, and whilst Jackie Brown still crackles with the occasional appetisers of what everyone loves about Tarantino, it’s not a film that stands out amidst the others that make up its genre. What I mean is that there is nothing really special about this movie that makes it any different from Ocean's Eleven or even No Country For Old Men. A few snippets of that classic and timeless Tarantino wit do creep into the mix within various conversations and even in the casting of Pam Grier as Jackie Brown, which could be seen as a subtle allusion to Reservoir Dogs. 

I think the major downfall is that I couldn’t feel the love in this movie. It didn’t affect me emotionally, didn’t make me feel anything. I’m not saying that it’s a bad movie because it isn’t, it’s actually shot very well: divided into chapters as is classic Tarantino, repetitions of camera angles as well as time frames from different points of view, the occasional weird twist that seems to have just been blurted out unintentionally, but it’s not a remarkable movie. It’s nothing stand-out or special. And believe me it does pain me to say that. 

Starring Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Chris Tucker, Michael Bowen, and Robert De Niro, Jackie Brown is a reasonably entertaining movie packed with plot misdirection, drama, romance, suspense, comedy, and action. But it’s not anything special and as much as I love Quentin Tarantino, I don’t think this movie will be one that I’ll be hankering to watch again any time soon.