Underrated?

I think theres 3 things to examine

1) The Hype: Chinatown wasn't a hyped up movie or anything, people didn't go into it expecting anything. The Two Jakes came out 14 years later, so people expect a lot more 14 years after seeing the original movie. To this day I don't know many sequels to a classic movie which have good ratings which have come after 10+ years (take a look at Godfather 3, great movie but people still disappointed)

2) The movie: people wanted the movie to give us the same thing that Chinatown gave us, something intriguing, mysterious and ends up being shocking and depressing... and this movie was a bit different, and in a sense very similar to Godfather 3 as the main characters are past their prime and are trying to redeem their faults from the past... in Chinatown Jake was snooping around and investigating, whereas in The Two Jakes hes a lot more passive.... its a catch-22... if the movie was closer plot-wise to Chinatown, well then it wouldn't be anything special, it would just be more of the same

3) Confusing: finally, the plot wasn't as clear cut as Chinatown, a lot of characters were introduced which seemed to have a history and it kept you wondering what went on between Chinatown and The Two Jakes... but I think above all else that the film is just a bit intense the first time you watch it, I think a second viewing would probably help fix this problem

also... theres a possibility many of the people who reviewed this movie did not know that this movie was a sequel to Chinatown, and watched this one before they watched Chinatown, which obviously would ruin the experience... I myself did not know there was a sequel to Chinatown (watched it last year) until almost a year later

I finally got around to seeing this, I had always avioded it because I had heard such bad things, but I really loved it.

I will say that if I hadn't just watched Chinatown a few days earlier, a lot of it would have been lost on me, so perhaps that is a reason people don't like this thing. You really have to love the Gittes character, and have an appreciation for wanting to see the development of the character. Although, there is a case being worked on, and a mystery to solve, the whole thing is really just a character study, and you really have to be invested in them to get this, and if you are, like I was, it is hard for me to understand how you can't love it. It's a great piece of eye candy (in the old fashion sense), the script is smart, the dialogue is great. It's a smart movie, a really great story about getting older and the decisions you make in life wrapped up in this mystery that connects the two films well. This was a real treat, I'm glad I finally gave it a chance. I'm with you.

I too think this film is good. Although I like the original better I still think this one is in the same league.

Well the only problem I had was that I immediately suspected that Kitty is Katherine.

SW Prequels - the story about how Anakin was a short-tempered, annoying, repulsive prick

"The last sentence Jake said was immortal".

I thought it was overly melodramatic and redundant. "I think you´ll have to work real hard on that one" was the perfect place to leave that particular issue rot.



"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan