Amazon.com video review:
Set more than a decade after the story in Chinatown, this 1990
sequel
brings Jack Nicholson back to the screen as L.A. private detective Jake
Gittes.
Older, fatter, worn, and frustrated, the Jake of 1948 is still haunted by
the
tragic events of the earlier film. While investigating a case involving
adultery and questionable land dealings by an L.A. tycoon (Harvey Keitel as
the
other Jake), Gittes unexpectedly confronts a few old ghosts and discovers
that the resource of choice in Southern California--one for which people
die--is no longer water but oil. The film had a notorious production
history,
with Nicholson taking over the project from writer-director Robert Towne,
and
the dense plot can be difficult to follow. But if The Two Jakes
doesn't measure up to the legendary status of its stylish predecessor, the
film does satisfy on its own terms and brings the events of
Chinatown
to a moving conclusion. Terrific work by Keitel and supporting players Meg
Tilly, Madeleine Stowe, Eli Wallach, and Ruben Blades. --Tom Keogh
