Product: The Two Jakes [VHS] (1990)
Rating: 4.0
Chinatown II (sort of)
Sequel to CHINATOWN, directed by Jack Nicholson. Instead of all about water, this time it's all about oil, with Catherine Muhlwray playing a central part (she was only a girl in CHINATOWN, the daughter of Faye Dunaway's character). The plot is even more convoluted (and confusing) this time, and the ending has little of the power or culminating force of the earlier picture.The time is 1948; Jake Gittes (Nicholson) is back from the war and doing business in other people's dirty laundry again. While wire-recording an adultress encounter in a hotel room, the husband barges in and kills the adulterer, who happens to be his business partner. Complications develop from this apparent crime of passion, some of it confusing. Nicholson voice-overs much of what's going on (a last minute decision on his part, and a mistake) a la Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) in DOUBLE INDEMNITY: trying to be film-noir-bland and sarcastic, he sounds only tired; it's also not very original or exciting or revealing.The movie isn't nearly as good as CHINATOWN (few are), but it's not a total washout either. It lacks the power and intelligence of CHINATOWN as it tries to duplicate scenes and characters from it. It could have been a lot worse. (One real puzzling thing is the amount of time it takes for Nicholson to figure out the identity of Catherine Mulwray - I knew right away and I imagine you will, too - but it takes Nicholson the whole picture to figure it out.)