Most of Hollywood sequels are made because of greed, but some might happen because of their creators’ nostalgia and desire to relive past glory. This might explain sequels of the films made long after the audience’s sentiments and tastes have changed. Chinatown, 1974 period thriller celebrated as one of the most successful films of New Hollywood, received such treatment with The Two Jakes, 1990 film directed by Jack Nicholson.
Nicholson appears in the main role, playing Los Angeles private detective Jake Gittes. The plot is set in 1948, roughly eleven years after those depicted in the first film. Gittes is still specialised in handling divorce cases, but many things have changed in the meantime – he served in Second World War, got medals and became something of a respectable member of society, with thriving practice allowing him to afford country club membership, glamorous fiancee, new shiny office and staff. His newest client is Julius “Jake” Berman (played by Harvey Keitel) who is provided with with enough information to catch his wife Katherine “Kitty” Berman (played by Meg Tilly) with another man; Gittes and his men are to provide photographs and audio recordings for proceedings. Things, however, don’t go according to plan; Berman, in what appears to instant flash of insanity, kills man with revolver. This puts Gittes in serious trouble, which becomes even more serious when it revealed that the murdered man happened to be Mark Bodine, Berman’s business partner; terms of their partnership suggest that Berman had the clear financial motive for his act. Gittes tries to clear his name and begins investigation that reveals various shady real estate deals and potentially sinister role of oil tycoon Earl Rawley (played by Richard Farnsworth). Gittes, however, makes another discovery that connects the case with tragic events that occurred in Chinatown eleven years ago and that continue to haunt him.
The Two Jakes had long and troubled production. It started in mid 1980s as ambitious project which was to be directed by original screenwriter Robert Towne, but it all but collapsed when Towne fell out with legendary producer Robert Evans. Nicholson in the end rescued the project by taking the directorial chair. He does solid job, although he could hardly compete with Roman Polanski who, shortly after Chinatown, went into exile and thus became unavailable. Some of the resources at his disposal were, however, well-spent. Legendary cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond provides the film with bright colours that, although difficult to reconcile with “noirish” identity, seem quite fitting for atmosphere of sunny and optimistic post-WW2 Los Angeles which is experiencing economic boom. Soundtrack by Van Dyke Pars, composer who briefly appears in the role of prosecutor, is however significantly inferior to Jerry Goldsmith’s work in the first film. The cast is mostly good – Nicholson is solid, but somewhat inferior to Harvey Keitel, who plays complex character whose true intentions and motives aren’t clear until the very end. The rest of the cast is very diverse, but not used that well – some of the roles appear to be glorified cameos or nothing but fan service to those who liked Chinatown (like in case of Perry Lopez and James Hong that repeat their roles).
Nicholson and Towne (who wrote the script) probably had good idea of trying to portray Gittes in different world, probably inspired by their own experiences in Hollywood that changed so much since 1970s. Gittes is portrayed as someone who apparently prospered, gained weight and has his job much easier, but he is still haunted by the past. This interesting character study, on the other hand, is built on the plot which seems weak, unconvincing, too complicated and, at times, not that very different from original Chinatown. The character of Kitty and her motivations isn’t written well and talents of Meg Tilly are wasted, making her vastly inferior to Faye Dunaway in the original film. Madeleine Stowe, one of the most beautiful actresses of her time, fares even worse in the role of Bodine’s hysterical widow and she also has to put up with terribly conceived love scene that is supposed to funny, but ends up being tasteless. It was difficult to expect that Two Jakes would reach high standards of Chinatown, but the film still represents a disappointment. On the other hand, it provides enough entertainment to be recommended to the less demanding film noir afficionados.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA
Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417 Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax 1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
