Tarantino at his best

Rating: 8/10 (7 November 2005)

This is one of the movies in my DVD collection that I haven't watched too many times but whenever I see it, I really enjoy it. It hasn't got the attention-grabbing scenes or famed dialogue of Tarantino's previous efforts, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, but I rate this film at least as highly as I do his others. The plot's good and keeps you interested and it's refreshing to see a movie whose main characters are middle-aged and trying to come to terms with getting older. The cast is pretty much flawless - Jackson is as reliable as ever, De Niro turns in one of his best performances of the last ten years, Grier is really good in the title role and, based on his work here, I've no idea how Forster didn't become a much bigger star back in the 70s. The soundtrack, as you would expect from Tarantino, is spot-on too. What also struck me about the film is how accomplished the technical side of it is, particularly the camera-work and editing. The late 90s was a good time for adaptations of Elmore Leonard's novels, with Get Shorty and Out of Sight being released in that period as well. However, as much as I like those two movies, I think Jackie Brown might be the best of the bunch.