Ian
(Flash Review)It clocks in at 2:17 and felt like 3:17. Attempting to be one of those films where the plot slowly unfolds and gets more intricate and interesting. Sadly, I couldn't have been more uninterested. Thankfully, Nicholson was the only interesting component as expected. He is one of the Jake's and is a private eye trying to catch a wife in the act of infidelity. Someone gets shot and the case unpeels more layers of a larger issue involving money and land and more people. The storyline was overly vague and NEVER engaged me so when important things happened, I was like…I guess that was supposed to be important. Story points happened so subtly that it was hard to detect them. And there was no memorable scene(s) in the whole film. I'm already having trouble picturing parts of the film. Not good. 3 points for Jack and 1 point for some occasionally good cinematography; hard to come by in 1990.
namashi_1
Film Legend Jack Nicholson Is In Top-Form As An Actor & Director in 'The Two Jakes', a sequel to the 1974 Masterpiece Chinatown. Nicholson Directs This Mystery Film, Splendidly & Delivers A Yet Another Remarkable Performance.'The Two Jakes' Synopsis: Private Eye Jake Gittes shall convict the client Jake Berman's wife of adultery. But instead of making her a scene like planned, Berman shoots her lover in affect - or was it murder? Gittes is surprised when he learns that the dead was Berman's companion, who now inherits his share of the company. 'The Two Jakes' gets better with each passing scene. The Final 40-45 Minutes, in particular, are fantastic. Robert Towne's Screenplay is mysterious & interesting, offering terrific shock-value. Nicholson's Direction is Splendid. Cinematography, Editing & Art Design, are palatable. Performance-Wise: Nicholson is an Emperor when it comes to Acting & he proves that FACT right Once Again with his Remarkable Performance in here. As Jake "J. J." Gittes, Nicholson once again nails it! Harvey Keitel is truly outstanding. Madeleine Stowe is competent. Meg Tilly is excellent. Eli Wallach is superb. Rubén Blades does a fair job. Richard Farnsworth stands out, as always. On the whole, 'The Two Jakes' is masterfully executed.
lopcar1993
This 1990 sequel to the critically acclaimed hit Chinatown has lost some of it's edge and precision over the years but it hasn't lost the heart or the powerful sense of intrigue and mystery that the first film had. But what The Two Jakes delivers is nothing short of smart and cool under the vibrant direction of star Jack Nicholson and the help of the impressive supporting cast that includes Ruben Blades, Harvey Keitel Richard Farnsworth, David Keith and Madeleine Stowe. But what really catches you about this movie is not the intriguing new story laid out for you It's the haunted past of the first film that keeps popping up once ever so often to drive this film and point out he fact that time doesn't heal old wounds.The Two Jakes has a highly original story blended with the dark and bleak reality of the events that occurred at the middle and end of Chinatown, while not as potent or as well acted as the '74 classic but it has it's moments where it soars above the original and there are moments where it doesn't even come close to succeeding the original. But this film does give you a good dose of mystery and intrigue even if it is at sometimes a little one sided.Jack Nicholson is great as ever as J.J. Gitties but being older has kind of taken the edge and some of the strength out of the character and made him less of a commanding power on the screen. But never the less Nicholson pulls it off amazingly. Harvey Keitel is fantastic as the other Jake, he brings the betrayal and corruption to the film and is perfectly suited for the role. Madeline Stowe really is a factor for why this film is not as great as it could have been, she is over acting so much in the film that her narcissistic character almost becomes a nuisances. Ruben Blades is slick as the mobster best friend to Harvey Keitel but he also is kind of over and under acting in some of the scenes he's in but nevertheless pulls it off without a hitch. All in all the cast is good here and makes this film a worthy sequel.The Two Jakes is not as,like I said earlier, near perfect or as gritty and dark as the Chinatown of old, but what it does have is a great and undeniable sense of what is right and what is wrong and how far too go when it comes to digging up the truth. Even when sometimes the truth is best to stay buried. The Two Jakes is not a case you need to jump on right now but it is one you need to look into when the time is right.
MisterWhiplash
To compare Chinatown and the Two Jakes, which would probably take more sufficiently a whole entire other article, one I wouldn't print here, it might be noteworthy on the surface to also make a co-comparison in terms of iconic films. The Godfather 2 and Chinatown both came out in 1974, and then both saw their respective next (and as we sit here likely final) installments come out in 1990. Both were hyped to one degree ore another, and neither one lived up to the majority of the expectations that were already steadfast in everybody's minds (and, to be fair, criticisms on both sides aren't entirely invalid). But probably even more-so for Two Jakes than Godfather 3, Jack Nicholson and Robert Towne did have a solid story to tell in continuing along the saga of Jake Gittes, whom Towne envisioned not simply in the context of his homage mold (Chandler/Hammett), but in a larger context than the novelistic noirs of old. This was the second part of a supposed trilogy, all based, according to Towne, on natural goods (first part water, second part earth, third, the part unproduced, would have been air and focused on pollution in the 50s).It's easy to say that the Two Jakes is nowhere near the status of Chinatown, but then again it's also hard to say that Jack Nicholson is really as great a director than Roman Polanski. He probably isn't, this in spite of the fact that this could arguably be the best of the three films he helmed (the others underrated Drive, He Said, and Going' South). The best service that he does to the material is to make something that is by itself enthralling as a movie unto itself, while tipping the hat to all of the various supporting characters that previously appeared (from Escobar to the snotty hall-of-records nerd) in Chinatown. Only when Nicholson starts to get obvious, like with the flashes back to brief bits from the original film, does it get a little much. What helps too to distinguish it is a slight change in pace with the structure of the story. Not so much in certain mechanics of the detective procedural, as Towne knows he can't mess with that too much.The chief difference, which probably split and continues to split many fans, is the use of voice-over. Polanski dropped it from his film, having the audience find things out as Gittes did. But for Nicholson, the narration is something else entirely. It's used a lot more like in proper detective fiction, not so much as to guide along the plot but to ruminate, almost like some sage of a weathered snoop, and even if it's used maybe once more than needed (which bit I can't quite point out) it's very effective in adding a mood to the piece, a tone that complements the convention of "we may be through with the past, but the past is not through with us." In this case, Gittes, as continued to be played by Nicholson with that awesome balance of cool thinking and wit, gets into a case with "another" Jake (Keitel, what's not to say about him), and infidelity in the mix. But there's a lot more in store, including an audio recording of a crime, and some details in it that stir up everybody's attention. Meanwhile, a woman named "Kitty", Jake Berman's wife, has something she's hiding from Gittes and... you get the idea.If The Two Jakes isn't always great art- and it's not to say there aren't some thrilling moments of pure cinema, like the opening shot or those scenes driving out in the fields of California (and speaking of nostalgia, orange groves), and the Green Parot club, not to mention a couple of other notable exceptions- it's excellent craftsmanship, where it's like a yarn from the late 40s with a couple of extra spikes of plot contrivance and luscious dames that give our Shamus a bit of a loop at times. It works on that level entirely, of still being playful throwback and serious crime drama, and while it doesn't break that many rules there are for those who want to give it a shot. As far as long-awaited sequels go, for me, it could've been a lot worse.
