The Two Jakes (1990)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Conner R

  
  For an unnecessary sequel, The Two Jakes is pretty amazing. It really kept the style of the first film and really built on the characters in the first. You could clearly see how much Jack Nicholson cared about the film and his devotion to Polanski’s filming style. However, this is… More
  For an unnecessary sequel, The Two Jakes is pretty amazing. It really kept the style of the first film and really built on the characters in the first. You could clearly see how much Jack Nicholson cared about the film and his devotion to Polanski’s filming style. However, this is very much a late 40s approach to Film Noir. You have the start of the baby booming age and the rise of suburbia. It’s a very interesting look at the dying genre and is in no way a cheap knock off of the original. Even the lighting and film quality looks the same, which is probably my favorite aspect of the film making from Chinatown. Jack Nicholson really makes a great return as Jake Gittes. He is even more apathetic and cynical than before. You can see the 10 years between films both physically and mentally. He’s still one of the best screen characters of American Cinema and you can’t help but fall in love with him all over again. I liked how he still was being haunted by Mulray and never quite got over the events that happened in Chinatown. The plot was actually just as clever as the first film and certainly holds it’s own. It doesn’t exactly play like a sequel because there was completely new case with different good guys and bad guys. A lot of scenes run similar to the original, but they’re mostly small little homages that occur pretty flawlessly. You can tell this was a nostalgia project, but it’s one of the best. It reminds me a lot of The Color Of Money, in no way does it compete with the original, but it is incredibly fun none the less.

• Pierluigi P

  
  Jack Nicholson revives the Jake Gittes myth in this minor but decent follow up to the legendary Chinatown. it keeps the twists and intricate schemes of the first. but the romantic, unnerving and disturbing touch is lost.

• Michael G

  
  An incredibly disappointing sequel to Chinatown.

• Mike T

  
  I tried my best to keep Chinatown out of mind while watching this film, but it doesn't even hold up on its own, let alone as a sequel to one of the greatest films ever made. Fundamentally, it's a convoluted and emotionally devoid script with brief flashes of something… More
  I tried my best to keep Chinatown out of mind while watching this film, but it doesn't even hold up on its own, let alone as a sequel to one of the greatest films ever made. Fundamentally, it's a convoluted and emotionally devoid script with brief flashes of something stronger. Although it's a nicely photographed picture, Nicholson fails to accomplish any particular mood or tone from a directorial standpoint. The acting is a mixed bag of strong, mediocre and poor. Overall, I just found this to be an uncompelling movie.

• C.R. L

  
  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… More
  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.

• Christopher B

  
  Suffered from being compared to Chinatown, this is a great piece of noir filmmaking. A great ensemble cast and an excellent story help make the continuing adventures of Jake Gittes really entertaining.

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