MovieChat Forums > The Two Jakes (1990) Discussion > Basically old guys in nice suits, no hea...

Basically old guys in nice suits, no heat like the first one

posted 9 years ago by Binkconn
2 replies | jump to latest

Sure, we get a nice history lesson about oil and the Valley, and Madeline Stowe bends over and pouts numerous times, but the urgency and romance that made Chinatown so special just doesn't emerge. Yes, Jake Gittes is older and wiser to the whole L.A. game, but that just makes the film more tired and pedestrian than it should be. I guess Nicholson was too novice a director to pull off the mastery that Polanski brought in the first one, but the flaccid plot concerning Keitel's Cancer and the younger Mulwray just doesn't match Jake facing off with Noah Cross and the tragic fate of Catherine Mulwray.

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 8 years ago

Agreed. But man, Madeleine Stowe was hot.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

[–] I_Guard_Tanelorn 8 years ago

Yup. It's actually a fine movie. It just doesn't have that spark that makes some movies special.

"I said no camels, that's five camels, can't you count?"