Review of Jackie Brown (1997) by Shane S — 08 Aug 2011

I kept hearing many different things about this film. For starters, one of the things I heard was that this was Tarantino's "most mature" piece, mainly due to how dramatic everything plays out. Yeah, there's an air of craziness and insanity going around the big set pieces and throughout a few of the characters (mainly because Tarantino wants to pay homage to blaxploitation, especially films like "Jackie Brown" where the female is the hero), but unlike "Pulp Fiction" and its deliberately hilarious homages to film noir and Kurosawa, "Jackie Brown" is of a tenser caliber, playing its quirks in order to stress the banality of the characters' lives or to develop them even further.

And another thing: this film is supposed to be Tarantino's weakest. After all, it's the one that people tend to ignore. I mean, you have the severely overrated indie darling "Reservoir Dogs," the god-tier "Pulp Fiction," the experimental and homage-heavy "Kill Bill" series, the exploitation fetishism of "Death Proof," and the delightfully skewered take on war in "Inglourious Basterds." And what do we remember? "Derp, a black girl acts like Foxy Brown and kills Samuel L. Jackson." Also, it's not as funny as his past works. It's not as quirky. It feels more like the work of an older Tarantino looking back upon his work and trying to correct it. It feels as if he's gotten...lame all of a sudden.

However, all of that crap makes this film quite possibly his best. It's more relaxed with its still-beautiful cinematography, replacing all of the fancy trick shots (you still have a trunk shot, though) with gorgeous drives through the city of Los Angeles and all of its surrounding neighborhoods. Instead of long rambling monologues about trying to find your own sense of self-honor or wondering what hamburgers in Europe are called, you get what seems to be more naturalistic dialogue. Not saying that "Pulp"'s dialogue was far from naturalistic - it took stereotypes and simply made them more human than anybody prior to the film's release - but this film tones down on the pop culture jokes drastically. The characters state their minds because Tarantino wants them to. He's not trying to recreate some stupid little black comedy that most people tend to misinterpret just because "look at Samuel L. Jackson swear like a sailor on a killing spree." He's merely adapting an Elmore Leonard novel. And how he made the store worth it. Then again, anybody can adapt an Elmore Leonard novel. Just ask Steven Soderbergh.

Plot: Arms dealer Ordell (Jackson) re-teams up with a robber friend of his, Louis (Robert De Niro), to smuggle some money in the USA just to sell some gangs their AK-47s. How do they undertake a risky operation? Simple: make other people smuggle the money for them, in take for some benefits. However, Beaumont (Chris Tucker) is caught. Ordell, fearing that the guy's going to break down and lead the cops to him, kills Beaumont, which leads the cops to Jackie Brown (Pam Grier). After much pressure from the cops and from wary bondsman Max Cherry (Robert Forster), Jackie decides to take the case in her own hands. Making Ordell believe that the cops are trying to mess with him...and making the cops believe that Ordell's really scared of them, Jackie decides to get a little something out of this IRL trolling operation.

So, do I recommend this for kids? Nope, not really. Sure, the sex scene in this film is noticeably less graphic than the one in "Hot Shots! Part Deux" (nothing's shown on camera - and it's only for like ten seconds), but as with any Tarantino film, language is pretty abundant here. For you Kirk Cameron types, this isn't the film for you. This film is too carnal, sinful, and REALISTIC for your tastes. But then again, if your kid can withstand language and not quote Ordell at school, then you can show him or her this. Then again, would the kid understand the whole mixed-morality idea of the story? Well, if he or she can understand "Sunset Blvd.," then you might as well give this a shot. You're not going to see Bruce Willis' penis here.

So far, this might be the best thing I've seen in 2011. I'd recommend it to anybody, not just those who want to watch a Tarantino film.