The Two Jakes 1990 123movies

Watch: The Two Jakes 1990 123movies, Full Movie Online – After the war, L.A. private eye Jake Gittes is hired by realtor Jake Berman. He proves the infidelity of Berman’s wife Kitty and sets up a way for her to be caught in the act. At the rendezvous, Berman shoots the co-respondent who turns out to be his business partner. Gittes finds himself in the middle of a complicated web, under pressure from all sides for a wire recording of the fatal encounter. He then realises that the land the partners were developing was once an orange grove connected with a case that he has never quite gotten over..
Plot: This sequel to the classic Chinatown finds private detective Jake Gittes still haunted by the events of the first film. Hired by a man to investigate his wife’s infidelities, Jake once again finds himself involved in a complicated plot involving murder, oil, and even some ghosts from his past.
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Ratings:

	6.1/10 Votes: 14,274
	67% | RottenTomatoes
	56/100 | MetaCritic
	N/A Votes: 186 Popularity: 9.778 | TMDB

Reviews:

I kept looking out for Anne Bancroft, or – indeed anyone who could inject a little class into this really rather dreary vehicle for Jack Nicholson. Reprising his “Gittes” role from “Chinatown” (1974) he finds himself embroiled in a murder mystery that leaves him unsure who he can trust as he tries to get to the truth and stay alive! Yes, that’s the gist – hardly novel, is it? What could have helped it would have been better writing and a more compelling contribution from the star. As it is, he is going through the motions – accompanied by a pretty lacklustre voice-over narrative – as the well-travelled noir-esque plot gradually unfolds – and I do mean “gradually”! Nicholson directed this plodder too, and perhaps that also explains why this is such a dud. Nobody was taking an objective view of what we were seeing, the pace at which the story was developing and the sheer predictability of it all. He has assembled a sturdy cast – Harvey Keitel and Eli Wallach amongst them, but they have precious little to work with beyond the stereotypical roles we would expect – there is virtually no character depth or development here at all! Simply, it is nobody’s finest work and a very pale imitation of the first outing for this grizzly PI. It does look good, but I reckon it’s only just about fine for the television on a wet winter’s evening.

**It’s good, it doesn’t seem as bad as many says, but it’s also far from the quality of the original movie.**

I loved _Chinatown_ and was very curious to see this film, notoriously less famous and less recognized. I was curious to see to what extent this would be a consequence of the widespread ill-fame that hangs, more or less justifiably, over the sequels of good films. What I can now say, after having seen it, is that I can understand why it has fallen into a certain oblivion: in fact, it is not a very interesting film, and it is very far from having the quality that we found in _Chinatown_, even if he tries to do it and manages to have a certain merit. Honestly, there are far worse sequels out there, and this movie still has its value.

This time, the director’s chair fell into Jack Nicholson’s hands. The actor was committed to this project in a very deep and personal way from the beginning, and if this film came to fruition, it is entirely his credit: he was the one who unlocked the necessary funding and ended up agreeing to direct the film when no other director wanted it, and when it was already impossible for Roman Polanski, for legal reasons, to travel to the USA in order to do so. He believed in the project, even eleven years after the initial film, and that is always commendable. The film tries everything it can, but it was very poorly received by critics and the box office was extremely adverse to it.

The script is, in part, the source of the problem, with a creative, engaging and original story that, however, has several strange twists and moments where we don’t understand the attitudes of the characters. It all starts when detective J.J. Gittes is hired by a rich man, Jake Berman, to keep an eye on his wife and catch her in adultery. However, at the moment, Berman kills his wife’s lover. It turns out that the lover is the partner with whom he had a real estate company, and the act of adultery was then virtually the only situation in which Californian law allowed for forgiving a murder. Gittes is thus convinced that he has been used and that Berman has instructed his wife to seduce his partner in order to kill him and, by law, take his share of the company. Gittes decides to investigate the matter further and discovers that the real estate’s land may be more valuable and that it was owned by someone he had sworn, in the past, to protect.

The film brings together a cast of heavyweights. In addition to a powerful and committed performance by Jack Nicholson, in the lead role, the film also has an excellent collaboration by Harvey Keitel. Also, Meg Tilly and Madeleine Stowe, the two main actresses, are excellent and leave us a mature and very well done work. However, the rest of the actors do not stand out and almost do not appear.

Technically, the film seeks to closely follow the style and look of “Chinatown”, recreating in a way the neo-noir style that this film has acquired. It doesn’t do it so happily, there’s the notion that this is a copy, and the cinematography works in a less happy and less elaborate way, with less present play of light and a sepia color that doesn’t look exquisite and pretty, rather faded. The film was happy in the way it recreated the mannerisms, attire and sets of 1948, and the choice of automobiles was particularly successful. There are several sound and visual effects that work well, but it’s all brought down by clumsy editing and the clumsy way in which the story is told, and the scenes are put together.

Haunted By The Past
In “The Two Jakes” (just as in “Chinatown”), private investigator Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) finds himself in a tight spot after having been misled by one of his clients. The deception in “Chinatown” related to a client’s identity whereas in this case, it’s hidden motives that lead to big problems for Jake. The subsequent investigations in both movies soon mushroom into something far larger than originally anticipated and eventually uncover serious corruption involving California’s valuable resources.

The similarities between the two plots are not untypical of what’s normally seen where a successful movie is followed by a sequel, but in order to establish its own value convincingly, a sequel needs to provide something different or better than the original. In this case, something different is attempted as, due to the passage of time since the original film, Jake has evolved significantly as a character and his preoccupation with past events fills him with sadness and regret as well as a profound sense of loss.

The events in “The Two Jakes” take place in Los Angeles in 1948. Eleven years have elapsed since Evelyn Mulwray was shot in Chinatown and Jake is now considerably more prosperous. His business has expanded and been relocated to an impressive new building and despite the often sleazy nature of his work, he’s gained a certain degree of respectability as well as some extra weight.

A property developer, who’s convinced that his wife is having an affair, approaches Jake with what appears to be a routine job to gather evidence against her. Jake supplies the recording equipment and cameras to record what transpires when he and his client, Jake Berman (Harvey Keitel) go to the motel where Mrs Berman (Meg Tilly) is expected to be with her lover.

On the night when their plan is put into action, Berman breaks into the motel room and on finding his wife with another man, simply shoots him dead. Jake is shocked to discover that the dead man is Berman’s business partner and his wife, Lillian Bodine (Madeleine Stowe) thinks that what transpired was a planned murder. Furthermore, Lillian’s attorney Chuck Newty (Frederic Forrest) tells Jake that it appears that he was an accessory to murder and that unless he can prove that Berman planned to kill his partner, he will see to it that Jake is sued and financially ruined in the process.

Mysteriously, the recording made at the motel included a couple of mentions of Katherine Mulwray’s name and Jake decides to find out their significance as well as pursuing his investigation into what lay behind the killing of Mark Bodine (John Hackett). He discovers that Berman and Bodine were involved in selling houses in a subdivision of the San Fernando Valley and that, in the event of Bodine’s death, Berman and his wife would inherit the whole business. As it seemed possible that there may be oil deposits on the land, the business could, in fact, be more valuable than first realised and in that case, whoever held the mineral rights could potentially become very rich. Jake pursues the various strands of his investigation with limited success until he eventually finds the answers to all his questions from someone who, like him, is haunted by the past.

An important prerequisite for fully understanding and enjoying “The Two Jakes” is an ability to recall the complicated plot of “Chinatown” and the names of its various characters. As this sequel was released 16 years after the original film, it’s obvious that a high proportion of cinema-goers at that time would not have been able to appreciate it sufficiently to enjoy it themselves or to recommend it to their friends and consequently it’s also not surprising that it wasn’t a box office success.

In a very empathetic performance which is both measured and subtle, Jack Nicholson conveys just how jaded, world weary and cynical Jake has become since his experiences in Chinatown and also how deeply he’s haunted by the past. The remainder of the cast also contribute strong performances with Keitel, Stowe and Tilly being particularly good.

“The Two Jakes” falls short of the brilliance of its classic predecessor but there’s still much to commend it. Its story of adultery, greed, blackmail and murder is intriguing throughout and extremely well written. The inclusion of Peggy Lee’s song “Don’t Smoke In Bed”, some eye-catching art deco surroundings and Vilmos Zsigmond’s stunning cinematography also contribute immensely to the wonderful atmosphere of the piece which seems to evoke late-1940s L.A. so convincingly. The only caveat, however, is to make sure to see “Chinatown” before watching this movie.

Other Information:

Original Language en
Runtime 2 hr 17 min (137 min)
Budget 19000000
Revenue 10005969
Status Released
Rated R
Genre Crime, Drama, Mystery
Director Jack Nicholson
Writer Robert Towne
Actors Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, Meg Tilly
Country United States
Awards N/A
Production Company N/A
Website N/A

Technical Information:

Sound Mix Dolby Stereo (35 mm prints), 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints), Dolby (Westrex Recording System)
Aspect Ratio 1.85 : 1
Camera Panavision Cameras and Lenses
Laboratory Technicolor, Hollywood (CA), USA (color)
Film Length N/A
Negative Format 35 mm
Cinematographic Process Super 35
Printed Film Format 35 mm (spherical), 70 mm (blow-up)