Everybody should see this.

Rating: 10/10 (4 May 2012)

This is possibly my favorite movie of all time. It's no doubt the greatest neo-noir ever, and it's one of the best movies ever made. I have seen something like 10 times by now, and I can't find a single bad thing about it. Even though I have seen it many times, I still don't get the Chinamen joke... I'm going to talk about this is 4 segments, the performances/characters, direction/mood/atmosphere, script and last words kinda thing.
The performances: Jack Nicholson plays the main character, J.J "Jake" Gittes. He's a private detective, who's very nosy, most of people hate him and he's a rising star. He's acts like he's somebody important, he wears nice clothes, he tries to be polite, but he still has a short temper, tells bad jokes, is quite rude and isn't that smart neither. You know private detectives in the past like Phillip Marlowe and Sam Spade. While those guys were smart and witty, Gittes is not. Don't get me wrong, he's street-smart, he's knows a lot of people and knows how to get out of trouble. But let's look at the barber scene. In this scene, a banker starts to criticism his work. Marlowe would probably talk his way out of this, but Gittes wants to fight the guy. That's kinda funny as well. While he probably has some anger issues, Nicholson is still so goddamn cool. Not Alain Delon cool, but you wouldn't fck with him. The character is written pretty seriously, but Nicholson brings some comedy in to his character, making him more human. Nicholson should have won an Oscar IMO, but I will talk about that more later...
Faye Dunaway plays the biggest supporting character, Evelyn Mulwray. She is the film's femme fatale. The sexy, upper-class dame who has a secret. In her case a very, very, very disturbing secret. Don't worry, I won't spoil it. She is pretty amazing as well. She acts a lot of the time cool and elegant, but Gitter makes her nervous and uncomfortable. She seems lost a lot of the time, but trying to act like she's not. It's not like the moments you see her your thinking she has a deep dark secret, but you start to suspect that at some point. Also John Huston plays her father. And isn't just me or does Polanski really think elderly people are that scary and creepy. I mean look at his work, Rosemary's Baby, old people come off scare in that, same with The Tenant... Anyways, he's so damn good in this. Who can't love the sound of his voice! And he comes off as a good guy at first and he's acts like he's the good guy all the way through.
Direction/mood/atmosphere. It's directed by Roman Polanski, one of my favorite directors ever. This is one of his darkest films and also one of his most atmospheric. The way he directs this is with a reasonable slow pace, a lot of classic film-noir mood and he keeps you guessing all the way through. He puts the camera behind Gittes, so what he sees, we see. Gittes never knows more than we do and we never know more than he does. Also there is a touch desperation and fatalism in this. You know that this sin't going to end well, it's just so dark movie. I think Polanski wanted to create that classic film-noir feel and shatter it with the films themes (which I'm don't want to say, because I would spoiling a lot). And BTW, he makes a cameo in this, he's the guy who cuts Gitte's nose open.
Script. This was written by Robert Town. IMO, this is the greatest screenplay ever. It's complex, but subtle, keeps you guessing and doesn't disappoint you and it has great characters. Really it has everything, a great script needs. And his dialog is so wonderful. I think Chinatown is one of the best mysteries ever. And it's very unconventional noir, because it's not as simple as something the Maltese Falcon (which I love). It's not a case of a missing statue, it has something to do with water and corruption. What other noir has dealt with water and corruption other than Chinatown? The greatest screenplay ever, IMO.
To sum it up or last words or what ever you want to call this. This is a movie about a mood and atmosphere. When you want to watch a cool movie, look no further. It my favorite movie, but it would probably be tied with Badlands (Malick, 1973). But I would say this is technically a better film.
10/10