Jackie Brown 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

Jackie Brown 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 24, 2025

Note: Lionsgate continues its more than occasionally head scratching "strategy" in terms of its 4K UHD releases. It is bringing out four new SteelBook 4K UHD editions of well remembered Quentin Tarantino films, with three of those films being new to 4K UHD, and which are also being offered in new standard packaging wide releases. The fourth film, Reservoir Dogs, has already had a wide 4K UHD release, and is joining its mates in new SteelBook packaging only. The SteelBooks are available on Lionsgate's new Lionsgate Limited site.

Jackie Brown has had several prior releases (and/or rereleases) in 1080 over the years, and I contributed my Jackie Brown Blu-ray review well over a decade ago when Lionsgate's first 1080 disc came out.

The above linked review will hopefully impart any plot information some may want, while also offering my assessment of that disc's technical merits and its array of supplements. I'll only add that the release of that film on Blu-ray gave me an opportunity for one of my all time favorite interviews done for the site, and some may find a bit of interest in this discussion with Robert Forster from several years ago which ensued. Mr. Forster was not only wonderfully funny and in full raconteur mode, he evidently took quite a shine to me because he kept "shushing" the PR liaison who was on the phone with us (as these press junket interviews often tend to be handled), telling him he'd move on to the next interviewer when he was good and ready, he was enjoying talking to me. It's a memory I'll always treasure.

Jackie Brown 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080 disc in this package.

Jackie Brown is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 1.85:1. I was actually a bit torn in utilizing screenshots from the 1080 version in this review, since the palette in the 4K UHD version receives some noticeable new vibrancy, but considering the 4K screenshots would be downscaled and in SDR, which always uncomfortably tweaks the color space, I opted for this probably less than ideal solution. One way or the other, this is a superb 4K UHD presentation that offers some notable improvements over what was at the time of its original release a generally excellent 1080 presentation. The new 4K scan of the original camera negative with HDR / Dolby Vision offers a clearer accounting of fine detail on everything from costumes to background sets, and in close-ups detail levels on faces is beautifully precise looking. But it's the palette which really struck my eyes as the most immediately perceptible change from the old 1080 version. Those bright blues that frequently accompany sightings of Jackie are even more impressive in this new presentation, but the palette in general has more nuance and luster than I've personally ever seen it before. Grain is also impressively tight looking for the most part, which reaffirms my belief that grain doesn't have to look splotchy and yellow in 4K UHD presentations. That said, there is indeed some brief splotchy yellowness in some of the repeated uses of opticals, as in the "scene setting" quasi-intertitles.

Jackie Brown 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I noticed no discernable differences between the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track on this disc and the one on the now ancient 1080 Blu-ray. Quentin Tarantino's love for great source cues is on full display here, and the film is stocked full of fantastic vintage soul and R&B numbers that play in counterpoint to the lives of Jackie, Ordell and Max. The music sounds absolutely fantastic, with a snap and vitality that gives this film a very vibrant sonic ambience, with full engagement of the surround channels. The occasional but often startling rattle of gunfire also is presented viscerally, with some impressive LFE. Surround channels are used very well, if not quite as hyperbolically as they were in Pulp Fiction. Dialogue is very clearly and cleanly presented and is always very well prioritized in the mix. Fidelity is spot on, with superb dynamic range. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

Jackie Brown 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 4K UHD disc sports no real supplements, only a Bookmarking feature. The 1080 disc in this package, which is indeed what I've jokingly referred to as a "remainder" 1080 (though it's probably of one of the rereleases), ports over the supplements mentioned in my long ago 1080 review:

• Breaking Down Jackie Brown (HD; 43:49) features the same critics' roundtable that was also featured in the supplements of the Pulp Fiction Blu-ray, Elivs Mitchell, Scott Foundas, Stephanie Zacharek, Tim Lucas and Andy Klein, offering their opinions on the film.


• Jackie Brown: How it Went Down (SD; 38:55) features interviews with Quentin Tarantino, Pam Grier, Robert Forster, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert De Niro, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, Elmore Leonard and some crew members.


• A Look Back at Jackie Brown (SD; 54:42) is an interview with Quentin Tarantino.


• "Chicks With Guns" Video (SD; 4:52) is the bizarre infomercial seen playing on television in the background in one sequence of Jackie Brown. This also features a Tarantino introduction.


• Siskel and Ebert "At the Movies" (SD; 4:46) features the pair reviewing Jackie Brown.


• Jackie Brown on MTV is split into two sections, "Promotional Contest" (SD; 1:03) and "MTV Live" (SD; 14:22).


• Marketing Gallery includes three trailers (SD; 3:50) and eight TV spots (SD; 3:56).


• Still Galleries


• Trivia Track


• Deleted and Alternate Scenes (SD; 15:29) with a Tarantino introduction.


• Soundtrack Chapters allows for direct access to any of the film's great source cues.


• Robert Forster Trailers (SD; 27:46) offers some great vintage trailers of Forster films.


• Pam Grier Trailers (SD; 36:21) is a similar compilation of Grier films, including some of her great blaxploitation titles.


• Pam Grier Radio Spots is a set of audio extras (with posters of appropriate films) promoting Grier's various films.

Note: Lionsgate sent its SteelBook release for purposes of this review, but it looks like this wide 4K UHD release sports a slipcover.

Jackie Brown 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you've seen Pulp Fiction but not Jackie Brown, you must prepare yourself for a completely different viewing experience. If Pulp Fiction slapped the viewer about the head and shoulders until they were stunned into obedient awe, Jackie Brown is like the slow, deliberate seduction of a Delfonics tune played late at night in a steamy Los Angeles apartment. This is a film much more about relatively more realistic characters, characters who are caught up in some desperate straits and are struggling to escape the grind of everyday life. Tarantino proved that he could do more than merely shock with this film, and Jackie Brown remains one of the more curiously satisfying films in Tarantino's oeuvre to this day. This new 4K UHD presentation looks fantastic and should reintroduce the film to both old and new fans. Highly recommended.