It's very good--too bad it's a bit overwhelmed by the director's other films of the era.

Rating: 8/10 (13 February 2011)

There are already a ton of reviews for this film, so I'll try to be brief. This is the last film directed by Quentin Tarantino that have to see (as of 2/11), as I've seen all the other films he helmed. This is surprising, actually, as I love most of his films and I really love blacksploitation movies--and this film would seem to combine the two. That's because the film Pam Grier--a lady who made a name for herself in the early to mid-1970s blackspoitation genre. However, after seeing the film it really seemed like a Taratino film from start to finish and, aside from the presence of Grier, had nothing to do with blacksploitation. Now to me, this was a bit of a disappointment--as I really wanted to see the over-the-top crazy action for which Grier was famous in the 1970s--in such films as "Coffey" and "Foxy Brown". This film, while violent, is much more refined than these earlier films...and I would have loved to have seen more of this sort of action.
Grier plays the title character--a lady who uses her job as a flight attendant to bring in money to the country to Samuel L. Jackson--who plays a guy who deals in illegal guns. When the authorities catch her, she has the choice to either play their game or go to prison--but she decides on a third course of action no one else anticipated.
In addition to Grier and Jackson, there are a lot of other interesting characters in the film. To me, the most interesting is the laconic guy played by Robert Forster--a bailbondsman who is instantly taken with Jackie. He's older but handsome--and I appreciate that the whole interracial aspect of their relationship is never really discussed or exploited--they are just two people. Also of some interest is the violent guy played by Robert DiNero (imagine that!) and the rather annoying (deliberately so) character played by Bridget Fonda (in a nice change of pace).
Overall, it's a good film but also one that can easily get overlooked because some of the director's other films before and after were so memorable (and simply better). Following "Reservoir Dogs", "Pulp Fiction" and preceding "Kill Bill" was tough and by comparison "Jackie Brown" is an inferior film--though one its own it's a very good film--one that is still well worth seeing provided you like violent films. To me, it lacks the style and uniqueness of these other films...but it's still quite good.
By way, there are alternate spellings for blacksploitation--also commonly written as 'blaxsploitation'. So don't write to me about the correct spelling. Enjoy.