Product: The Two Jakes [VHS] (1990)
Rating: 4.0
Not in the same league as Chinatown, but still very worthwhile entertainment.
This review is for the 1999 Paramount DVD.The "Two Jakes" is a sequel to "Chinatown", a highly acclaimed film that was made 16 years earlier. Jack Nicholson returns as Jake Gittes, a Los Angeles private investigator whose specialty is tracking the activities of suspected unfaithful spouses. Early in this movie, he coaches a client named Jake Berman (Harvey Keitel) on how to confront his unfaithful wife when caught in bed with another man while being recorded on a dictaphone as evidence for an inevitable divorce trial. When the showdown finally happens in a local motel, Berman shoots and kills the man sleeping with his wife. The shooting came as a complete surprise to Gittes, but soon after, he realizes that there was a lot more behind the love triangle than he ever imagined, since the man sleeping with Berman's wife was also Berman's business partner. There are also other some other significant details about their business relationship that Gittes digs into that turns this act of passion into a possible conspiracy of first degree murder for significant financial gain.Any sequel of a great movie brings higher expectations and it becomes obvious midway into the picture that "The Two Jakes" is not in the same league as "Chinatown". Jack Nicholson directed this film and does a satisfactory job. As the main character, compared to his Chinatown role, he looses a little bit of an edge since he's now significantly older, noticeably overweight, and balding. The supporting characters are very good, but lack the finesse of the Chinatown cast. I also think the movie was about 15 minutes too long since some of the scenes seemed to drag. But in spite of these critical comments, the movie is still visually appealing with the great late 1940's settings and a basic plot that stimulates an intriguing mystery involving a possible murder conspiracy motivated by shady business practices. Overall it's a very, very good, movie, but not a great one for me.The color transfer is excellent overall, but was not as pristine as one would expect for a film made in 1990. I was a bit surprised to see tiny spec or two of deterioration once in while in the presentation. The colors and sharpness were superb and the stereo audio was excellent. There were no bonuses with the DVD.Movie: B+DVD Quality: A-