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Overall Rating
 Awesome: 50%
Worth A Look: 23.61%
Average: 15.28%
Pretty Bad: 10.42%
Total Crap: 0.69%
8 reviews, 96 user ratings
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| Jackie Brown |
by Filmink Magazine (owes us money)
"An intelligent, gritty crime drama with a big heart."

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After a period in limbo, the master behind Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction blasts his way back into features with the superb Jackie Brown. But this time things are different.Adapting Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch, Tarantino has lost his taste for blood and realised that he has a heartbeat.
Flight attendant Jackie Brown (Grier) runs money across the border for ruthless gun dealer Ordell Robbie (Jackson). Caught with a bag full of hot cash, Jackie soon finds herself jammed up between a determined ATF agent (Keaton), and Ordell and his doped out partners (De Niro and Fonda). As she tries to get out from under a bad situation, her only ally is tough but sensitive bail bondsman Max Cherry (Forster).
Jackie Brown is a dazzling mix of the established and the excitingly new for the director. While many of Tarantino's trademarks are in full effect, the film is marked by a willingness to explore new ground and to create a more mature, earthy piece. There are no crazy, butt fucking rednecks in Jackie Brown; these characters are vividly real and fully developed, provided with a rare depth. Avoiding the more stylised nature of Pulp Fiction, Tarantino places his characters in the real world, with all of its ambiguities and uncertainties.
The most surprising element of Jackie Brown, however, is its sensitivity. At the heart of the story is the profoundly moving relationship between Jackie and Max Cherry. Dropping his tough guy front, Tarantino shows two beautifully damaged people coming together and proves himself a delightfully jaded romantic in the process.
After being pilloried as a disciple of the new violence, Tarantino staunches the blood flow in Jackie Brown. Though people get hit, their brains aren't sprayed all over the screen, and it's obvious that he wants to draw you in rather than shock you. But many of the symptoms of Tarantino's peculiar genius are still in evidence: funky, street language; dark humour; an obsession with pop culture; great music; and a truly inspired knack for casting.
Like Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown mixes clapped out seventies icons, Hollywood stars and indie legends to dynamic effect. All these actors are on fire, thriving on the juice of their dialogue and the energy of their characters. And Grier and Forster are revelations in their career rejuvenating roles.
Jackie Brown is an intelligent, gritty crime drama with a big heart that finally puts Quentin Tarantino back in the director's chair of a major movie.Though not as reckless as his first two films, this is a masterpiece of a different nature: mature, moving and complex. Jackie Brown is another modern classic from a modern master. ---Erin Free
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link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=95&reviewer=14 originally posted: 08/26/98 14:00:57
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USA 25-Dec-1997 (R) DVD: 10-Aug-2004
UK N/A
Australia 05-Mar-1998
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