Tarantino at His Best and Worst

Rating: 7/10 (8 September 2019)

"Jackie Brown" shows Quentin Tarantino at his very best - and his very worst. Like all of Tarantino's work "Jackie Brown" has razor sharp dialogue and unique characters driven by excellent performances from the entire cast. Pam Grier and Michael Keaton in particular create sympathetic, three demensional people that are among Tarantino's most realistic creations. As always Tarantino's music choices animate each and every scene, even if what's happening on screen is less interesting than the soundtrack.
But there's a reason that "Jackie Brown" has a reputation of being one of Tarantino's weakest movies. Although it does highlight what's great about Tarantino, it suffers from his biggest flaw as a director: excess. Excessive characters, excessive language (more specifically, excessive racial slurs), and an excessive running time make "Jackie Brown" a less than entertaining experience. There's absolutely no reason for "Jackie Brown" to be over two and a half hours long - a running time that's largely the result of unnecessary filler and drawn out conversations. "Pulp Fiction" is longer than it needs to be, yet the characters are so original and entertaining that you don't care they talk too much. The characters in "Jackie Brown" are well-written, but they just aren't interesting enough to justify endless, long-winded conversations about nothing of importance. What worked in "Pulp Fiction" doesn't work in "Jackie Brown." Fortunately Tarantino learned from this and switched styles with "Kill Bill" 1 & 2, which remain two of my favorite films of the past 20 years.
The central plot, which involves a flight attendant attempting to outsmart men on both sides of the law, is novel but simply not executed well. Unlike Tarantino's other plot driven films like "Kill Bill" or "Django Unchained" there's no emotional investment in the overall story. After the first forty-five minutes the movie loses you as a viewer until the sensational third act - which thankfully is well worth the long wait.
All in all "Jackie Brown" showcases what's great about Tarantino - and what's not so great about Tarantino. There's more good than bad: the acting, directing, and writing is just good enough to overcome poor pacing and an uninteresting plot. 7/10.