A Tarantino Movie I almost forgot about

Rating: 6/10 (13 March 2013)

What make's Quentin Tarrentino films so popular? I don't really know. I have only seen Pulp Fiction and this film as well as a few others that he has been involved in but not particularly directed. The thing with the two Tarrentino movies that I have seen is that he likes to have static conversations between two characters that don't really go anywhere. This was the case in Pulp-Fiction, with the scene in the restaurant being quite dull. In Jackie Brown, it was mostly with the conversations between DeNiro and Fonda that fell into this category.
What sets this movie apart though is the way Tarrentino constructs a number of characters and brings them all together; this is what is similar between this movie, Pulp Fiction, and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. In Jackie Brown, we have Ormond (Samuel L. Jackson), the gun dealer and his friend Mel (Bridgette Fonda). Then there is Robert DeNiro, who plays Ormond's friend that has just got out of gaol and is bunking with Mel. Jackie Brown is an airline hostess that brings money back from Mexico to Ormond, and there is Max, her bailbondsman. Finally there are the two cops that are trying to catch Ormond.
At the beginning of the movie all of these characters are linked, so it is not that similar with Pulp Fiction and Lock Stock for the characters in those movie do not begin linked. The thing about this movie is the way each of the characters are trying to play each other to walk out with half a million dollars. Jackie Brown is facing gaol so she tells the cops everything, but because Ormond is likely to kill her, she tells him everything and arranges that he gets his money past all of the cops. Instead, Jackie and Max want the money for themselves so they plan to slip the money away under Ormond's and the police's nose. The police, even though tempted by the money, simply want to see Ormond in gaol.
Ormond is an interesting character because we are shown many sides to him. At first he seems cool and confident and in control. He bails out one of his associates and kills him because he might leak information to the police. He does the killings himself so that he knows that the job is done, and he commits the murders so that he will not be found out. When talking about guns and selling them, he appears very knowledgeable. Yet Mel reveals a completely different side to him. She claims that Ormond is stupid and only repeats what he hears. He has no idea about guns and only repeats what other people tell him. Even though he deals with his associate, it is too late as his associate has already told the cops everything they need to know.
Mel is a very unflattering character. I say this because all she does is smoke dope, watch television, and have sex. She has no sense of shame or responsibility nor does she respect other people. This is seen clearly when she constantly mouths off to DeNiro's character as they are walking out of the shopping centre. The thing that puts me off about this movie and about Mel in particular is she cheapens sex and cheapens women. She wonders around in shorts and a bikini, and sometimes doesn't even have shorts on. The guys she hangs around treat her as a slave, yet even though she resents it, she still welcomes it. The one thing about the character, and this comes from Ormond's mouth, is that she is consistent. He does not trust her, but he does trust her to be herself.
Jackie Brown is a movie about playing people against each other. It is a movie that develops characters, though sometimes over excessively which drags the movie out to its length. There are certain points in which character development can go to, and I feel that Jackie Brown takes it a bit too far. Even though, it is still the type of movie that I enjoy, though I do not praise Tarantino's directing skill because I don't think it is any different from most others.