You'll either love Jackie Brown or hate it. It's strange but I feel both ways. In one respect I went into the theatre expecting more of Quentin Tarantino's drawn out dialogue that he's so known for, a lot of his trademark swearing, the typical cast of criminals and mobsters, a handfull of people getting shot, the retro-seventies music and scenery, and, of course, the humour. Well, I got it all, but not in typical Tarantino fashion.
Jackie Brown had dialogue, but instead of typical talk of cheeseburgers and comic books, there was character advancing dialogue about getting older and plot advancing dialogue about what's going down. Jackie Brown had swearing, in the typical fashion that Tarantino uses it in, but it wasn't as emphasized in this film. Jackie Brown had criminals, but not the typical ones. The film also had federal agents, bail bondsmen, ex-cons, and an entire assortment of minor characters, only two of them being shot! The soundtrack was great as usual, incorporating the seventies stuff into the background... and the scenes were an even mix of the art-nuveau buildings of the seventies and the functional malls and storefronts of the 80's. The most notable change was Tarantino's use of humor, which is much more subtle and personal than the dark humour he typically writes, which is why, I guess, it makes the film seem to go by so much slower.
This is not to say that Jackie Brown is a bad film. Far from it. Jackie Brown plays out as a solid story, an intriguing mix of character interaction and following-the-character shots bringing the film along. The visuals are again heavily influenced by films of the past, this time around notably the 70's Brian DePalma flicks, with interesting angles and the infrequent split shot.
Of course you can't forget the actors. Sam Jackson is his typically wonderful self, playing a weapons dealer who may either be really smart or incredibly dense... the ambiguity alluded to often in the film and played out magnificently. Robert DeNiro plays Jackson's ex-cellmate, an ex-con who's getting a little to old. This type of role is a first for DeNiro - quiet, reserved, shy and out-of-touch-with-the-times - he has no level head and there's no calculation going on in the pot-head's mind. Michael Keaton and some other guy (playing the role that Tarantino was probably supposed to play) are federal agents on the tail of Jackson's gun dealin' ass. And of course there's the Tarantino career revival - Robert Forester, playing a bail bondsman, and Pam Grier, an ex-con flight attendant working for Jackson, the feds and on her own agenda.
The last hour or Jackie Brown is acted out beautifully, the loyalties of all the characters in question, the ambiguity running rampant. Anything could happen, and the great thing about the film is Tarantino shows how everything played out in one of the greatest cinematic moments of the past decade. I think it's great that Q.T. has added a film to his list of credits that's perhaps not as earth shaking as his previous films but does hold it's own. He's finally proven himself to be much more than the pop-culture icon that he was made out to be after Pulp Fiction, he's proven himself one of the best script writers and directors in the biz.