What happens when you mix the works of two artists known for creating interesting, well-developed characters? Well, if the two happen to be novelist Elmore Leonard and writer/director Quentin Tarantino, you can certainly expect an interesting time at the cinema, and that holds true for "Jackie Brown." Based on Leonard's 1993 crime novel, "Rum Punch," Tarantino has changed the title, the name Jackie Burke to Jackie Brown, and made her an African American woman. Nonetheless, he's kept the many interesting personas and the twisting plot where the characters attempt to double cross those who are trying to do the same back to them.
Much like Barry Sonnenfeld's adaption of Leonard's novel, "Get Shorty" and most of Tarantino's body of work, the emphasis is on a strong story that's inhabited by interestingly diverse characters and the dialogue they speak. Unlike any of those movies, however, this one takes a while to get rolling. While the characters are very interesting, the plot is very slow to develop, and it's only because of the characters and the performers that inhabit them that it initially holds our interest.
Most of that can be attributed to Samuel L. Jackson, who teams up with Tarantino for the second time after his Oscar nominated performance in "Pulp Fiction." We've always believed Jackson to be one of the greatest living actors in the business, and this film adds yet another feather to his distinguished career. Some will obviously look for comparisons between his character Jules in "Pulp," and Ordell in this one, since both are profanity spewing, involved-in-crime killers. On the surface they're similar, but Jackson provides enough subtle nuances to each character that they come off as completely different individuals despite their similarities. It doesn't hurt that Tarantino has given Jackson the best lines in the film, and it's the character's charisma that makes you want to watch him despite his less than scrupulous behavior.
Tarantino also makes a casting coupe by putting Pam Grier in the title role. Known for her early career performances in the 1970's "blaxploitation" films, such as "Black Mama, White Mama" and "Scream, Blacula, Scream!" and later in "Foxy Brown," she's yet another comeback kid in the Tarantino camp (last time it was John Travolta). Grier had made something of a return to fame in "Original Gangstas," the 1996 parody of those 1970's films, and Tarantino -- who has a knack for "retro" things & performers -- had made it clear he was one of her big admirers. Once again playing the tough, single lady, she's clearly one of this film's highlights. In this movie she may have found a role that might just resurrect her career and get her out of the "B" movies in which she's recently appeared.
Equally successful is Robert Forster whose bail bondsman character, Max Cherry, changes his ways once he meets Jackie. Having played various supporting character roles for nearly three decades, he delivers a sympathetic, yet seedy character. Less successful and extremely disappointing is Tarantino's use of the great Robert De Niro. Reduced to playing a dimwitted caricature of the more subdued characters he every so often plays, this has to be one of the worst uses of this award winning talent. Except for one violent, somewhat pivotal scene, Tarantino could have left out his character altogether.
Faring a little better, but still not great, is Bridget Fonda as an annoying, drugged up surfer girl. Her character serves its purpose during the course of the story (to be an annoyance to Ordell and Louis), but Fonda isn't given much leeway in portraying her. Michael Keaton is likeable as always, but doesn't play a character that's much different from many he's played in the past. Still, and as always, his quirky performance is fun to watch.
While it sounds like the movie's a mixed bag, it fortunately gets much better as the plot progresses. For that's when the double cross elements begin to appear and most of the fun begins. It's also the time when Tarantino gets back in step with what made "Pulp Fiction" so interesting and that's his use of nonlinear storytelling. Audiences and critics loved his last film for suddenly going backwards in time and arriving at a point midway through where we had just been.
While he doesn't make as big a jump here, several smaller jumps are nearly as effective, and we get to witness a pivotal scene several times from different character's perspectives that reveals more information every time we see it. Combined with the accelerated and newly entertaining plot, that cinematic device helps lift the film from it's rather mediocre beginning. Finishing with a fun flourish, the effect one leaves with is that the overall film is better than its individual parts.
Still, it's not as good as "Pulp Fiction" or "Get Shorty," both of which were more clever and had great performances from nearly all of the cast. While this is in no ways a bad film, one only wishes that it didn't wait until the second half to really take off, and that some of the major talent involved wasn't vastly misused and/or underused. It's almost as if Quentin decided to tone everything down a notch, so as not to compete with his earlier, hyped up features. Yet the strong characterizations of the leads, Tarantino's attention to smart, witty dialogue, and the stepped up last half of the film make the feature worthwhile. We give "Jackie Brown" a 7 out of 10.
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