hile I love Quentin Tarentino's work, that love is more in theory than in practice. Reservoir Dogs was inventive but very flawed and uneven. Pulp Fiction was a masterpiece. Jackie Brown, which I'm about to review, was standard issue hard boiled noir, not very believable, and could have been directed by anyone.  Fortunately for his legacy, after the endless sword play of Kill Bill Volume 1, KB2 was one of the best movies of the year, and KB1 is greatly improved after you've seen KB2 and see where it's all going.

So as things stand, his 2nd and 4th films are more or less brilliant, and his 1st and 3rd are hard-hitting crime movies, but with very different approaches. Reservoir Dogs is basically a 1-room play, and while it's often unpleasant and is imaginative only in the dialogue, it's got a lot of style. Jackie Brown is just another of the hard boiled Elmore Leonard crime movies, none of which feel fresh or vivid to me. They feel like reheated 50's detective capers, and that genre doesn't do too much for me, unless it's deconstructed and presented in an entirely new way, as Pulp Fiction was.

So I suppose that Jackie Brown, while not a bad movie, feels like a step backwards for Tarentino. Sort of reverse evolution, and that's why it basically leaves me cold.

Jackie Brown
Script/Story: 7
Acting/Casting: 6
Action: 4
Humor: 4
Eye Candy: 3
Fun Factor: 5
Replayability: 3
Overall: 5.5

Below follows my initial blog review.

September 6, 2003

I watched Jackie Brown tonight for the first time ever, and while I'm not up for a full on review, I did have a few observations. Malaya had the film on tape, and since she'd only seen it once herself, and didn't remember it very well, she wasn't adverse to seeing it again. I made a couple of shrimp quesadillas (low cheese, no black olive or sour cream on Malaya's half) and we ate them and watched the movie, with only minimal boredom on either of our parts.

It wasn't bad, and I guess it's good, but it was never exciting or captivating or especially interesting. The plot is smart and there are lots of twists and psychological double crosses and angles played, but I didn't feel like I was rooting for anyone, nor did I especially care who won or lost.  I often feel this way in that sort of overly-clever caper movie, where I guess the point is to root for the clever person who is trying to pull off some amazing scam, but I generally end up rooting for no one, and just watching to see how things turn out, rather than actually rooting for anyone.  The best caper movies make you interested in the characters, which leads you to rooting for someone who you want to come out on top.  Even if you hate the good guys and find the bad guys more interesting, at least you're rooting for someone, and feel like you have some stake in things.

In Jackie Brown, I didn't root for anyone and didn't find anyone especially interesting, so I was detached from the movie.  I felt much like that in The Usual Suspects and several other cleverly-plotted caper movies I can't think of specifically now. And even Pirates of the Caribbean, in a way.  I enjoyed most of the movies for the watching experience, but I was never really involved since I didn't root for anyone or really care how they turned out since the plot was so constantly switching around.

The inevitable comparison is to Pulp Fiction, which isn't a good comparison to make, since there may never be a movie better than Pulp Fiction, of the same genre.  I might enjoy a movie in the action or romance or mystery or some other genre more than I enjoyed Pulp Fiction, but in terms of movies that are clever and populated by criminals and full of intense dialogue, I don't think it will ever be bested.

So no, Jackie Brown isn't 1/10th the movie watching experience that Pulp Fiction was.  And of itself it's not bad, and it held my interest for two hours. But I can't see every watching it again.  I've seen Pulp Fiction at least a dozen times, and almost every scene in that movie crackles with energy, and does the amazing job of spawning at least a dozen extremely memorable dialogue exchanges and terms. Just a few off the top of my head; ones that Malaya and I use all the time in everyday conversation. Several are paraphrased since we change them around a bit to use them more easily.

• That is some fucked up repugnant shit!
• There will be consequences and repercussions.
• I'm going to get medieval on your ass!
• Motherfucker who said that never had to clean up itty bitty pieces of brain and skull on account of your dumb ass.
• That's pride fucking with you.  You got to fight through that shit.
• I need a felt tip pen.  A fucking magic marker!
• I'm a donkey on the edge!

Oh wait, that last one is from Shrek.  But my point remains the same.  Point? What point?  Oh yeah, it's that Pulp Fiction is godly and Jackie Brown is smart and sort of plot twisty, but not really enjoyable for anything other than to appreciate the quality of the acting and performances, as well as to wish for better dialogue and plot.

I don't think I care enough at this point to write a review of it, since I really have no more to say than what I just said.

All site content copyright "Flux" (Eric Bruce), 2002-2007.