Pedestrian writing, fantastic acting and directing

Rating: 8/10 (24 June 2009)

I think Jackie Brown has two interrelated problems: it has a pedestrian plot and it's from a director who, especially in 1997, was known for his unconventional plots. Jackie Brown has a snazzier intro and better written characters than you might expect from a typical Hollywood suspense flick, but while a few of the twists are directed in a more bold and confident style, it's hardly surprising that in a movie like this there are double-crosses, people playing both sides, and unexpected problems coming up for people's carefully planned schemes. Ultimately, Jackie Brown's story is a pretty generic "scramble for the cash", nothing to get very excited about. In some ways the plot is actually handled more poorly than your in your typical summer blockbuster with its by-the-books suspense building. Justifiably, most people were disappointed with the core plot of Jackie Brown, and I think that's why it's so widely considered an inferior film to Tarantino's other work.
That said, it's hardly a bad movie. The music is exciting, the acting is spectacular (especially Jackson and Forster) and the directing is clever and engaging. The script isn't exactly bad, it's just an average Hollywood script from a guy who, three years earlier, had delivered a script that was revolutionary.