JACKIE BROWN (1997)
4.5/5 stars
Date of Review: April 2nd, 2004
REVIEW BY JOHN ULMER (Copyright, 2004)
Where does a director go after making two colossal worldwide hits?
"Reservoir Dogs" (1992) and "Pulp Fiction" (1994) were two of the
greatest movies ever made, and they launched director Quentin
Tarantino into the realm of Mainstream Hollywood Director. Most of the
time, a director faced with this reality will sink into a slew of
really bad movies, but so far Tarantino has been either extremely
lucky or extremely talented - his third feature film, although lacking
in the brutality of its predecessors, contains just as much wit. Based
upon the Elmore Leonard novel "Rum Punch," it's packed with the clever
dialogue that Leonard is known for in his writing. It's also got a
good amount of style, too. It's not a typical Tarantino movie, but is
that necessarily a bad thing? In this particular instance, no.
Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) is a flight stewardess forced into running
jobs for Ordell (Samuel L. Jackson), a ruthless criminal who has no
respect for life - or death, for that matter. However, during one of
her smuggling efforts, a couple of FBI Agents (including Michael
Keaton) nab her and offer her a deal: If she helps them get Ordell,
she will be let free from custody. The Feds do not know who Ordell is,
but they know he exists, and that is where Jackie comes in. She
reluctantly agrees to participate in their sting operation, but all is
not what it seems. And when $500,000 dollars disappears from his
retirement fund, Ordell stops, thinks, and arrives upon the conclusion
that we all anticipate with glee: Jackie Brown did it.
His partner in crime, Louis (the wonderful Robert De Niro), also
decides to double-cross Ordell, with the help of a sexy blonde ditz
named Melanie (Bridget Fonda), The movie's twisting plot line and
intersecting storylines is very reminiscent of "Pulp Fiction," and De
Niro's underrated performance is a real stand-out. The movie's quite
well made and enjoyable.
Don't misinterpret what I'm saying. This is no "Reservoir Dogs," nor
does it want to be. It's not in the same vein as Tarantino's other
movies, at least not at a superficial level. However, it is extremely
entertaining, helped along by a great cast and a terrific script. The
only difference here is that Tarantino did not come up with everything
by himself. He adapted the screenplay from another source, something
he usually doesn't do. But there's also a little-known fact that Roger
Avary co-wrote some of "Dogs" and "Fiction" with Tarantino, as well as
sparked the idea for some of his films. Here, Quentin adapts Leonard's
novel and does justice. People who say it isn't as good as his other
movies because it's recycled obviously don't know what they're talking
about.
Tarantino started out as a video store clerk, and is the movie buff's
filmmaker. Not only does Tarantino share a deep passion for films, but
he also knows what most of the real movie enthusiasts want. He has yet
to disappoint me with any of his directorial efforts. His own life
story would make an interesting movie, and indeed it did with "True
Romance," partially based on Tarantino's own self-image of himself. (A
geek working at a comic book store falls in love and goes off of an
adventure into a new realm -- in Tarantino's own case, it was
filmmaking. For Clarence, from "True Romance," it was drugs and
murder.)
Tarantino has a flair for raw energy in all of his films, and "Jackie
Brown" is no exception. The movie is bursting at its edges, packed
with wild antics and the occasional fierce brutality. The movie was
criticized by Tarantino's die-hard fans for being too different from
his other films. However, the mistake of many directors is to repeat
the same formulas over and over again. One must at least give
Tarantino credit for trying new things in each of his films. If
anything, the only thing that Tarantino likes to insert into all his
films is a large source of energy. And is that a bad thing?
- John Ulmer
http://www.wiredonmovies.com
e-mail: johnulmer2003@msn.com
========== X-RAMR-ID: 37481 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1268751 X-RT-TitleID: 1080863 X-RT-SourceID: 1382 X-RT-AuthorID: 6769 X-RT-RatingText: 4.5/5
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews