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Jackie Brown is said to be Quentin Tarantino's most mature and sensible feature, with gore and violence turned down, in favour of a more character-driven story. Because I was so used to see Tarantino go nuts with the blood and feet shots, I was intrigued by Jackie Brown and what it potentially had to offer. Needless to say, I was quite disappointed.
I love Quentin Tarantino. He is a big reason why I'm into film at this level. Pulp Fiction impacted me with an unexplainable feeling that drove me to watch his other films. I have loved almost every other of his films I have seen so far, with only Kill Bill Vol. 2 being below 9/10 for me (still a high 7). Jackie Brown was next in line on my watch list of his films so I was naturally excited to check it out. Tarantino's direction is always fantastic, however it is his scripts that always get me to love his films. The unique dialogue, the complex characters, the geography he sets out for his stories, everything always sits well with me. The script was easily the weakest aspect of Jackie Brown for me. It was just so bloated and pretty confusing in some parts. There was not much in it that kept me absorbed into this world, and it lacked many of the finest aspects that I love about Tarantino's other scripts. It didn't have the intrigue of Reservoir Dogs, the personalities of Pulp Fiction, the brutality of Kill Bill or Basterds or the romance of Django Unchained or, well, True Romance. I have no problem with Tarantino trying something new with this script, however it just didn't pull me in. It was decently entertaining, particularly towards the end, however it was plagued with bad pacing, uninteresting geography and characters who just really lacked something compared to QT's other work.
The performances are really where I believe the film's qualities. Pam Grier is our lead, a consistently good performance that I feel didn't quite steal the scenes in which I wanted it to. However the stand-outs among the supporting cast are Samuel L. Jackson (naturally, and this time sporting long hair) and the late great Robert Forster with an Oscar-nominated performance.
Jackson was almost on the level of Jules Winnfield, this was one of my favourite performances I have ever seen from him. Forster's nomination was well-deserved, giving an incredibly mature performance which really stole scenes, despite other characters being louder and more flamboyant. Robert De Niro, Michael Keaton and Bridget Fonda are all good as you would expect them to be, but not as memorable as the main three.
While far from a bad film, Jackie Brown was quite the missed opportunity in my opinion. What could have been an emotional and melancholic crime story brought down to earth by compelling characters turned out to be a bloated and overlong film with no visceral filmmaking to drag you into the story's world. Jackie Brown is also a film which I’m not inclined to ever re-visiting, which really hurts the film as Tarantino's other work is endlessly rewatchable. A mildly enjoyable film, but a real missed step by my favourite writer/director.
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