A tad underrated

Rating: 8/10 (6 May 2015)

Jackie Brown is the kind of movie I could easily watch several times and one I find superior to Tarantino's debut Reservoir Dogs, in terms of replay value if nothing else. The story is complex (though not as complicatedly told as Tarantino's Pulp Fiction) and the characters actually feel like characters.
The main characters are: Jackie Brown, a middle-aged woman who works for Ordell Robbie, an arms dealer; Melanie and Louis, his 'helpers' and last, but not least, Max who becomes Jackie's bail bondsman. Jackie is caught for smuggling money for Ordell. She has to decide whether to help the cops and risk being killed by Ordell or spend time in jail – an unpromising situation for a middle-aged, black woman, as Jackie is well aware of. She is bailed out through Ordell by Max, who falls in love with her. She then thinks of a plan to fool Ordell, his friends and the cops and still walk away with the money, but she needs Max's help.
One of the reasons why I consider Jackie Brown to be better than Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs is because of the way a sub-theme regarding women is handled throughout the story. While on the surface the movie appears to be a straightforward heist flick, underneath lies a theme regarding women and the men in their lives who desperately want to maintain the upper hand, the position of dominant power. And I'm not talking' female empowerment à la Kill Bill It isn't a coincidence that the strongest female character in the movie is also the one the movie is named after. Jackie Brown, played by Pam Grier, seems to be the dupe and plaything of the FBI and others, but she eventually outsmarts them all. On the other hand, males like Ordell and Louis try to keep their cool and stay on top of things, but to no avail. Take the opening scene for instance. Melanie tells Louis that Ordell merely repeats things he heard about guns. This means that Ordell wants to desperately sound like an expert on his craft and thus maintain an air of superiority. Jackson's performance, while not anything new for him, reflects this well, coming across as someone who desires to be The Boss in every way, but has difficulty in doing so. This can also be seen in the disrespectful and futile way he tries to boss Melanie around. Futile, not only because Melanie outsmarts Ordell, but also tries to betray him, despite perhaps our immediate assumption that she would be incapable of this because of her looks. Louis stays mostly silent, because he's got little to say, eventually preferring to just get high. Towards the end of the film, Louis and Melanie, with what they believe is a bag full of money, walk out of the shopping mall with Louis forgetting where he parked his car. This causes Melanie to belittle him. Louis does the only thing he can think of in a desperate attempt to save his frightened, little ego and shoots Melanie.
Males failing to maintain control can also be seen in other things, little things. Ordell tells others several times that the police try to scare suspects with longer than usual prison sentences, basically telling them to man up. However, when Jackie Brown tells Ordell she told the police how she's working for him despite the fact they basically already knew this (Jackie asks the police "Besides, why else would an ATF man be after him?"), Ordell freaks out, negating his own 'masculine' Way of Life.
One would be right by saying that this is basically a 'female empowerment' film, but the great thing is that it isn't obviously so. There's no needless moral overtones or a moment when the Big Message is spelled out for us, which would of course suck all the fun out it. Now, one is able to both enjoy the film and the 'female empowerment' angle, without feeling like they're being 'taught something'.
Overall, Jackie Brown isn't as playful with storytelling and fun as Pulp Fiction, but it is better and more maturely written than Reservoir Dogs. It's a shame this movie had such unfairly high expectations after Pulp Fiction, because I think it cost this film and Tarantino someBrownie points. Pun intended, I regret nothing