The Two Jakes Movie Review from MoviePulse.net
Unquestionably inferior to its predecessor and shockingly mediocre, the Jack Nicholson directed The Two Jakes is the sequel to Roman Polanski's near-perfect film noir, Chinatown. With several familiar characters and a storyline that eventually ties into some of the twisted events of the first film, The Two Jakes still manages to be horribly bland and excruciatingly boring. Originally a third chapter to the Gittes story was intended, but The Two Jakes was so overwhelmingly disappointing that the franchise was stopped dead in its tracks.
It’s fifteen years since the events of Chinatown and Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is still haunted by his encounter with Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway). Jake Berman (Harvey Keitel) hires Gittes to protect him after he shoots his wife’s lover during a recording of evidence being conducted by Gittes in the adjacent room. More suspicious, perhaps wiser, and definitely fatter, Gittes struggles to get to the heart of the murder, which leads him headlong into a torrid affair with Lillian Bodine (Madeleine Stowe), the wife of the murdered man. During his investigation, the bitterer private eye runs into a plot to obtain mineral rights from property that might be rich in oil and a trail of deceit that could reunite him with Katherine Mulwray, Evelyn’s daughter.
Also written by Robert Towne, The Two Jakes has lost just about every aspect that made Chinatown sensational. It ultimately no longer resembles film noir. A courtroom drama blended with a complex murder mystery, this halfhearted follow-up leaves much to be desired in almost every department. Jake's office has grown bigger, and he now owns the entire building. But the adulterous scum, two-timers, double-dealers and lowlifes still frequent his profession, and show no signs of slowing down as he immediately picks up another equally dirty case. This time however, Gittes appears to fearlessly interfere with evidence and police matters, beyond the extent that he did in Chinatown. He is a much less likable character, and all of his smarmy, smart-mouthed, smooth-talking sarcasm has been replaced with sour vindictiveness.
The story is just as intricate as Chinatown, but the characters are so quickly and poorly developed that we don't care about them and quickly discontinue bothering with figuring out who’s who and what’s what. This murder mystery is so drawn out and lengthy that we actually don't attempt to solve the crimes before Gittes does. Striking deals with criminals and fist-fighting cops, Gittes has become an antihero we can't easily root for, Stowe is a frenzied, nearly psychotic widow, and Keitel is shrouded by mystery all the way through. As un-involving as the story is, its complexity only serves to annoy the viewer, who halfway through the film has given up trying to sort out the overabundance of characters and events that don't make much sense and don't amount to anything significant.
The Two Jakes adopts a monotone narration by Nicholson, which was thankfully absent from Chinatown. Lou Escobar (Perry Lopez) returns, as does Kahn the butler (James Hong), but it couldn't feel less like the fulfilling and disturbing noir Polanski flawlessly crafted 16 years earlier. With flashbacks and unnecessary reused lines of dialogue, including “I wouldn't extort my worst enemy - that's where I draw the line”, this snail-paced, convoluted excuse for both storytelling and filmmaking is a pathetic way for the revered Jake Gittes to fade away.
- Mike Massie, www.MoviePulse.net