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Rating: Null/10 (16 August 1999)

Right off the bat I'm making one prediction about this film, and that is that a lot of hard core Tarantino fans are going to be disappointed with Jackie Brown. Why you may well ask, well simple, it's not very Tarantino like. That is to say that Jackie Brown is much more of an understated film in terms of violence, language and pop references than any of his previous work, and because of this restraint it may be somewhat of a shock to the system for those expecting another Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction or even True Romance.
That is not to say that this is a bad film in any way, it is in fact a very good crime thriller, very well adapted (from the Elmore Leonard novel 'Rum Punch') and directed by Tarantino, and contains some very good lead performances, especially Jackson and Grier. In fact if any film shows that Tarantino isn't just a flash in the pan, and is in fact a very good director in his own right even stripped of his usual violence and dialogue trademarks then this is it.
Unfortunately, and it has to be said, Jackie Brown could have benefited greatly from touch more Tarantino-like visceral impact in a couple of it's key scenes, because as it stands what the film really lacks above all is a sense of impact, and without that the film never seems to hit it's peak, so all in all what the viewer is left with is a very good film, but also the feeling that with a couple of slight adjustments it could have been perhaps a really great one.
As for the acting Samuel L. Jackson and Pam Grier as already mentioned are both superb, while Robert Deniro, Bridget Fonda, Robert Forster, Michael Keaton, Michael Bowen and Chris Tucker all give good, solid performances. In fact in terms of acting I'd go so far as to say that no-one puts a single foot wrong.
Definitely recommended to anyone in search of a good, solid crime thriller, just don't expect the usual Tarantino and you shouldn't be disappointed.

One man's opinion. 8/10