JACKIE BROWN 1997
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1998 Timothy Voon
2 :-) for a self disciplined Tarantino exercise
Cast: Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro, Chris Tucker Director: Quentin Tarantino Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, based on the book RUM PUNCH by Elmore Leonard
I walked into the cinema with a strangely familiar, sick feeling in my stomach; my head spining the words, ‘Oh God not another Tarantino film.' PULP FICTION actually nauseated me with it's bloody lack of respect for life, and the dread feeling that I was about to be hit with another bout of movie onset vertigo re: Jackie Brown, airline hostess, money laundering, smart pussycat in high heels, and……
I was pleasantly proven wrong!
We have none of that usual excessive Tarantino, violent sick shit of bullets spraying flesh, blood, parting heads from body, riddling torso, an absolute lack of self-control permeating the likes of hits like PULP and RESERVOIR DOGS. None of that Quentinessential nonsense hindering this film, although some scenes do come perilously close. Instead I found a likeable mix of down town funky 60-70's tunes (Tarantino always has a good ear) matching the heartbeat of the movie. Also a cleverly thought out plot and stylish look of direction not too dissimilar to PULP, but without the high body count. Style and Look is the word, and Quentin's eyes captures the soul of his character's, each have distinctive personalities and motivations, and the dialogue is as sharp as Quentin can get it.
So Ms Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) is a gal in strife, an independent woman in her 40's who has to out talk, out smart the likes of a murderous, gun dealer Ordell (Samuel L. Jackson), his hardened criminal henchman (Robert De Niro) and the feds (Michael Keaton and pal). Up for grabs is half a million and Jackie Brown is out to secure it.
Pam Grier is wonderful as the beauty with brains and a cool disposition that matches her leggy heels and panty hose. She has the Look. Samuel L. Jackson merely reprises the street wise, foul mouthed pretentious intelligentsia that shocked and humoured everybody in PULP FICTION. He excels in these stereo type roles. His co-partner in crime, the always reliable Robert De Niro, is unfortunately miscast as a rather lifeless, boring sidekick, a role which should perhaps have gone to someone equally lifeless and boring. I haven't seen Bridget Fonda give such a good performance, since IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU. She glows on screen like a bride or pregnant mother, but her character is that of a slut – oddly charming.
An overall well performed, disciplined Tarantino exercise into movie making, which is moderately entertaining.
Timothy Voon e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Tim+Voon http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~bouclier/week/movies.html
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