it has been three long years since quentin tarantino stunned the cinema world by claiming the cannes film festival's palme d'or , a $100 million-plus box office gross , and an oscar nomination ? all for his sophomore outing , pulp fiction . 
since then , the talented film maker has been virtually invisible , surfacing briefly as a co-director of the wildly uneven four rooms and the screenwriter of the gory vampire-fest , from dusk till dawn . 
in between , he has moonlighted as an " actor " with several decidedly unmemorable performances . 
now , with much fanfare and anticipation , tarantino has returned with his third directorial effort , jackie brown . 
and , while this motion picture , adapted from elmore leonard's novel , rum punch , offers solid entertainment , those expecting another bravura outing from tarantino will leave theaters disappointed . 
for the most part , jackie brown is a pretty ordinary crime movie . 
the story , which starts out slowly , develops into a twisty affair , with double-crosses and triple-crosses . 
and the movie is littered with occasional tarantino trademarks : witty dialogue , unexpected gunfire , '70s pop tunes , and close-ups of womens' bare feet . 
yet , for all of that , the production is something of a letdown . 
the sheer , in-your-face exuberance that marked reservoir dogs and especially pulp fiction is absent . 
the mostly-straightforward chronology of jackie brown doesn't match up favorably to the non-linear style of tarantino's previous efforts ? an approach that added tension and edginess to the narratives . 
and there aren't nearly as many deliciously offbeat conversations this time around . 
there's a samuel l . jackson monologue about guns , a jackson/chris tucker argument regarding the merits of hiding in a car trunk , and a jackson/robert de niro exchange that recalls some of the jackson/travolta material from pulp fiction , but that's about it . 
jackie brown's lone " innovation " is its presentation of a crucial sequence from three different perspectives . 
this isn't exactly an original technique ? it has been done numerous times before , most famously in akira kurosawa's rashomon and most recently in edward zwick's courage under fire . 
however , while in those two movies ( and others ) , there was a legitimate plot reason for the multiple points-of- view , tarantino's sole purpose for using it appears to be because it's unconventional . 
had the scenes in question been shown from only one of the three vantages , nothing would have been lost . 
as a result , this aspect of the film is little more than a curiosity . 
for the second picture in a row , tarantino is attempting to revive the career of a '70s icon . 
this time around , instead of john travolta , it's blaxploitation queen pam grier ( foxy brown has become jackie brown ) . 
in one of many nods to the most famous segment of grier's career , tarantino uses a '70s song to accompany her first appearance during the opening credits . 
there are also several instances during jackie brown when the director offers a sly wink towards certain conventions of the blaxploitation genre ( although grier never does any butt-kicking ) . 
grier is jackie brown , a flight attendant who gets caught transporting drugs and money into the united states . 
she's working for gun dealer ordell robbie ( samuel l . jackson ) , but she keeps her mouth shut under questioning , despite pressure from ray nicolet ( michael keaton ) , a federal official . 
no longer sure whether or not he can trust jackie , ordell arranges for a bail bondsman , max cherry ( robert forster , tv's " banyon " ) to post the necessary $10 , 000 , then plans to shoot jackie if she proves disloyal . 
jackie passes ordell's test , however , and soon the two of them are plotting a way to smuggle $500 , 000 of ordell's money into the united states without tipping off the feds . 
soon , just about everyone is after that money , including jackie , max , ray , ordell's perpetually oversexed and drugged-out girlfriend , melanie ( bridget fonda ) , and his right-hand man , louis ( robert de niro ) . 
unsurprisingly , the most memorable performance is turned in by samuel l . jackson , but ordell isn't nearly as invigorating or compelling a character as jules from pulp fiction . 
in addition to looking fantastic , pam grier is also quite good , although hers is not an oscar- caliber performance ( although she might get a nomination ) . 
robert forster and michael keaton are solid in their tough-guys-who-rarely- smile roles . 
bridget fonda is around for three discernible reasons : to look sexy in a bikini , to provide a little twisted comedy , and to satisfy tarantino's foot fetish . 
robert de niro is criminally underused in a part that could have been played equally well by any grungy- looking , middle-aged actor . 
the film , which clocks in at several minutes over the two-and-a- half hour mark , is probably too long for the material , but the plot is convoluted enough to keep us guessing throughout ( although the payoff is a letdown ) . 
tarantino keeps things moving along nicely , with a heavier dose of humor and less violence than in pulp fiction , but , on the whole , this movie seems more like the work of one of his wannabes than something from the director himself . 
when it comes to recent caper films ( like the grifters and bound ) , jackie brown is a second-tier effort . 
it's an entertaining diversion , but not a masterpiece , and certainly not an oscar contender .