08/23/09 - Jackie Brown

Jackie Brown (1997, 154 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119396/

I pick up the last major piece of the Quentin Tarantino directed movies with Jackie Brown. I've wanted to see it for a while and I figured with the recent release of Inglourious Basterds and my rewatching of Grindhouse that now was as good a time as any.

Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) is caught up in a complicated plot surrounding a weapons dealer named Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson). On one side are the cops: Mark Dargus (Michael Bowen) and Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton). On the other side is bail bondsman Max Cherry (Robert Forster). And finally on Ordell's side are his accomplices Louis Gara (Robert De Niro) and Melanie Ralston (Bridget Fonda).

One thing that surprised me about the movie when I first saw the trailer was the cast. It just didn't fit my mind as a typical Tarantino cast. Though what I mean by that is impossible to describe really, I just don't think of people like Keaton and De Niro as part of the Tarantino-universe if that makes sense. Obviously, though, people like Jackson and Pam Grier very much belong there. Everyone carries their weight in the acting department. Grier does a fantastic job in the lead role and De Niro is also worth mention as the weird accomplice to Jackson. Forster also takes command of his role and does a lot of acting with just his face and eyes, really conveying emotion with his character.

This is Tarantino's venture into making a modern-era blaxploitation movie. While I'll have to admit that many of the elements that are ever present in blaxploitation movies are not present in Jackie Brown, I think the main reason for that is that Tarantino focuses on making a good, twisting story as opposed to corny action and cheesy dialogue. So, like in Death Proof, he pays homage to his inspiration but provides his own unique twist in the "genre". So how exactly does it work out here? Pretty well for the most part. The story is involving and kept me on my toes. A movie with this much back-stabbing and underhanded dealing is always interesting to me so I was thoroughly entertained. However, there was a portion of about twenty minutes near the end that seemed to drag on and on. But right after this part, it picked up again and kept going until the conclusion.

As the movie is supposed to be blaxploitation centered, the soundtrack is very much filled with old blaxploitation classics. Unfortunately for me, most of these were lost on me since I just haven't seen all these movies. However, the vibe of such an old blaxploitation movie was very much there so in this department Tarantino excelled and succeeded completely without question. Though no one scene was as memorable as the Chuck Berry dance scene in Pulp Fiction or the ear cutting to "Stuck in the Middle with You" in Reservoir Dogs, the entire soundtrack as a whole is amazing and appropriate in nearly every scene. Cutting to different music for each character as they traveled to the mall was a cool touch that I liked.

Overall, I gave this film a 7/10. One bad thing with the movie is that there's no memorable character in this movie. Tarantino movies are synonymous with great and unforgettable characters but Jackie Brown fails to deliver one. Jackie Brown herself is pretty good, but just doesn't have the "coolness" of someone like Jules or Stuntman Mike or the incredible acting performance of the recent Col. Hans Landa. But looking at the movie as a whole, the plot is very tense and makes this movie very much worth the watch.

[Note: Due to a voting update, I have changed the rating of Jackie Brown to a 6/10.]