No sequel was ever going to be Chinatown. The ending line literally says it all. “Jack, it’s Chinatown.”
That being said, The Two Jakes, scripted by Robert Towne and starring/directed by Jack Nicholson, isn’t a bad film. It’s just not the haunting post-Vietnam post-Nixon gut punch of perfection that is Chinatown. One can see the vision, though blurred, of a post-war Los Angeles that JJ Gittes (Nicholson) is trying to navigate, dealing with ghosts of his past. Noah Cross and Evelyn Mulray are still around every corner of the sun-soaked Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley that fills his dirty work of compromised positions of husbands and wives (remember, until 1968, there was no such thing as a “no-fault divorce”).
It is only fitting that Jake, whose simple case of catching a husband in a mid-tryst would swirl out of control, bringing ghosts present he thought long dead. That Jake Berman (Harvey Keitel), a real estate broker in the Valley, is hiding more than a simple shooting. Jake just can’t let things go as he finds that there is more to this case than the “heat of passion” killing of the man who was sleeping with Berman’s wife, Kitty (Meg Tilly). As Jake begins to connect the dots and uncover secrets kept, those ghosts may be more alive than he once realized.
The Two Jakes has been unfairly maligned over the last thirty-five years. At face value, one finds a follow-up that isn’t great but isn’t terrible. It’s a good film with an interesting central mystery at its core that brings Chinatown into the mix in an interesting way. It can never be said that Robert Towne didn’t attempt provocative changes to the formula for a sequel. Though once one sees Towne’s shell game, it’s quite obvious, unlike Chinatown’s gut-punch reveal (though fifty years of jokes have ruined it for many).
One had hoped that Nicholson’s Gittes may have been some sort of shell of a man after, as it’s implied in the film, a stint in WW2 and the events of the previous film. Which is part of the issue that it feels like Gittes isn’t Gittes from the 1974 film, or a version of him a decade older (the film takes place 10 years later). It feels like Nicholson’s performance was compromised by his double duties as star and director. One wishes maybe someone like Bob Rafelson had taken the directorial chair, which would have allowed Nicholson to just concentrate on the Gittes character.
The cast, headlined by Keitel, Tilly, Madeleine Stowe, Ruben Blades, David Keith, Richard Farnsworth, and Eli Wallach, all do fine work as well. The always reliable Keitel, playing a co-lead of sorts, is fine; it just seems like the final reveals don’t ring as true as you want them to. Tilly unfortunately adds up to nothing, trying to do a sort of impression of Faye Dunaway’s superb work from the prior film. It’s Stowe that steals the show as a femme fatale red herring of a character that one wishes had been given a proper ending. The same for Farnsworth, who has the best scene of the film and one of the few where Nicholson seems to be engaged.
The film does not seem as sharp and dark as the previous film, with Nicholson taking over as director. It lacks the narrative and visual style that Chinatown was imbued with. Though the sun-drenched cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond (taking over from John Alonzo) captures Los Angeles at its brightest, it also captures its noir-ish nighttime, dangerous beauty. Many modern films passing themselves off as neo-noir could take notes from the visual style in contrasting light and dark of the film.
The Two Jakes, when taken away from Chinatown, is a nice compact neo noir, but unfortunately, Towne’s script doesn’t allow for that because its roots are so embedded in the first film. Though far too many have been too harsh on the film, which at least attempts to stand slightly askew from its predecessor. That alone merits some reconsideration for an entertaining and interesting sequel.
The Transfer
The all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative is an excellent upgrade. The respect Kino Lorber’s 4K transfers have shown for all their recent releases is staggering. The Vilmos Zsigmond-shot film literally looks like it was filmed yesterday. The transfer is sharp, clean, without any hints of scratches or blemishes on the negative. The color reproduction and contrast levels, because of the Dolby Vision encoding, are both deeper in their details, giving us a darker, luminous, and far more textured and beautiful image. There isn’t a scratch, blemish, or issue with the picture. It is free of any sort of digital artifacting or DNR to remove grain. The Two Jakes, in its 4K UHD iteration, is near a perfect transfer as you can get.
The Extras
They include the following;
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
NEW Audio Commentary by Mystery Writer and Filmmaker Max Allan Collins with Film Historian and Host of Cereal at Midnight Podcast Heath Holland
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
NEW Audio Commentary by Mystery Writer and Filmmaker Max Allan Collins with Film Historian and Host of Cereal at Midnight Podcast Heath Holland
Flying High with Jack: NEW Interview with Actor David Keith
Time Changes Things – Editing The Two Jakes: NEW Interview with Editor Anne Goursaud
Jack on Jake: Jack Nicholson Interview
Theatrical Trailer
The all-new Audio Commentary by Mystery Writer and Filmmaker Max Allan Collins with Film Historian and Host of Cereal at Midnight Podcast Heath Holland opens with their credentials before Collins says that The Two Jakes is a top ten detective film for him. Some of the details include how producer Robert Evans was initially cast as the second Jake when Robert Towne was the director in the 1985 version of the film; the history of “no-fault divorce” and how that relates to the story; the various actors that returned and those that did not; the lack of Jerry Goldsmith’s score; the voice over narration that was added at the last minute – including a great story about a legendary director giving the thumbs up to it; the back story that is implied in the film that ties it to the original Chinatown; the attempts that Collins and his editor about doing an novelization of this film and the preposed sequel to The Two Jakes; the prequel streaming that David Fincher and Robert Towne worked on and got as far as screenplays; the preposed third film and what it was to be about which leads to a larger discussion of the themes of the first and the sequel; the editing of the film that caused story issues – Nicholson was required to cut 10 minutes from the film; a larger discussion of the various locations they used throughout Los Angeles; a larger discussion of the casting of 1985 film and who was eventually cast in the 1990 version; a larger discussion of the long-sorted production history that started in 1985 – including some great anecdotes about what kept this production; a larger discussion of the differences between the 1985 and 1990 screenplays by Towne; the ending that Robert Towne wrote versus the one that Jack Nicholson wrote; and much more. Collins and Holland provide a truly informative and deeply researched track.
Flying High with Jack: Interview with Actor David Keith (9:07) – the all-new interview with the actor opens with Keith’s adoration of Nicholson, calling him his favorite actor, inspiring him to go into acting. Keith goes on to discuss how he got the role in the film – not through his agent; the role that he played, and the stunt work involved; a great anecdote about his first day on the set; Nicholson as a director; working with Tom Waits on the film; and more.
Time Changes Things – Editing The Two Jakes: Interview with Editor Anne Goursaud (18:37) – the all-new interview with Goursaud begins with Nicholson asking her to give notes on Towne’s screenplay for The Two Jakes. Goursaud goes on to discuss the different parties that wanted to direct and how Nicholson finally said he would direct the film himself; what makes Nicholson a great director; cutting during production – and the work required to get the first cut in by the first week after production had ended; the volume of footage and how that impacted editing; the scenes that required more care when it came to the edit; and more.
Jack on Jake: Jack Nicholson Interview (18:21) – in this archival interview with Nicholson opens with his thought that he would become a director until Easy Rider made him a star, and the reason why he hasn’t directed as many movies as he wished. Nicholson goes on to discuss the intended trilogy and what they were about; the unresolved nature of the film and how it was to lead into the third film; the development of the script – the lack of a final script, and the major issues that he felt were and what he spent time working on; the reason why he eventually chose to direct the film; the casting of the film both returning actors and new actors; the production and working with the various cast and crew – including working with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond; a great anecdote about the cast and crew and his directorial style; his approach to directing a period piece; and much more.
Rounding out the special features are trailers for The Two Jakes (3:09); Chinatown (3:25); After Dark, My Sweet (2:17); Twilight (2:27); The Underneath (2:07); The Hot Spot (1:49); The Usual Suspects (2:28); The Border (1:48);
The Final Thought
Kino continues to release the very best and interesting films into their collection. Armed with a beautiful transfer and extras, The Two Jakes in 4K should delight fans new and old alike. Recommended!!
The Two Jakes is the Jack Nicholson-directed and starring sequel to Chinatown. New to 4K UHD from Kino Lorber.
The Film
No sequel was ever going to be Chinatown. The ending line literally says it all. “Jack, it’s Chinatown.”
That being said, The Two Jakes, scripted by Robert Towne and starring/directed by Jack Nicholson, isn’t a bad film. It’s just not the haunting post-Vietnam post-Nixon gut punch of perfection that is Chinatown. One can see the vision, though blurred, of a post-war Los Angeles that JJ Gittes (Nicholson) is trying to navigate, dealing with ghosts of his past. Noah Cross and Evelyn Mulray are still around every corner of the sun-soaked Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley that fills his dirty work of compromised positions of husbands and wives (remember, until 1968, there was no such thing as a “no-fault divorce”).
It is only fitting that Jake, whose simple case of catching a husband in a mid-tryst would swirl out of control, bringing ghosts present he thought long dead. That Jake Berman (Harvey Keitel), a real estate broker in the Valley, is hiding more than a simple shooting. Jake just can’t let things go as he finds that there is more to this case than the “heat of passion” killing of the man who was sleeping with Berman’s wife, Kitty (Meg Tilly). As Jake begins to connect the dots and uncover secrets kept, those ghosts may be more alive than he once realized.
The Two Jakes has been unfairly maligned over the last thirty-five years. At face value, one finds a follow-up that isn’t great but isn’t terrible. It’s a good film with an interesting central mystery at its core that brings Chinatown into the mix in an interesting way. It can never be said that Robert Towne didn’t attempt provocative changes to the formula for a sequel. Though once one sees Towne’s shell game, it’s quite obvious, unlike Chinatown’s gut-punch reveal (though fifty years of jokes have ruined it for many).
One had hoped that Nicholson’s Gittes may have been some sort of shell of a man after, as it’s implied in the film, a stint in WW2 and the events of the previous film. Which is part of the issue that it feels like Gittes isn’t Gittes from the 1974 film, or a version of him a decade older (the film takes place 10 years later). It feels like Nicholson’s performance was compromised by his double duties as star and director. One wishes maybe someone like Bob Rafelson had taken the directorial chair, which would have allowed Nicholson to just concentrate on the Gittes character.
The cast, headlined by Keitel, Tilly, Madeleine Stowe, Ruben Blades, David Keith, Richard Farnsworth, and Eli Wallach, all do fine work as well. The always reliable Keitel, playing a co-lead of sorts, is fine; it just seems like the final reveals don’t ring as true as you want them to. Tilly unfortunately adds up to nothing, trying to do a sort of impression of Faye Dunaway’s superb work from the prior film. It’s Stowe that steals the show as a femme fatale red herring of a character that one wishes had been given a proper ending. The same for Farnsworth, who has the best scene of the film and one of the few where Nicholson seems to be engaged.
The film does not seem as sharp and dark as the previous film, with Nicholson taking over as director. It lacks the narrative and visual style that Chinatown was imbued with. Though the sun-drenched cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond (taking over from John Alonzo) captures Los Angeles at its brightest, it also captures its noir-ish nighttime, dangerous beauty. Many modern films passing themselves off as neo-noir could take notes from the visual style in contrasting light and dark of the film.
The Two Jakes, when taken away from Chinatown, is a nice compact neo noir, but unfortunately, Towne’s script doesn’t allow for that because its roots are so embedded in the first film. Though far too many have been too harsh on the film, which at least attempts to stand slightly askew from its predecessor. That alone merits some reconsideration for an entertaining and interesting sequel.
The Transfer
The all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative is an excellent upgrade. The respect Kino Lorber’s 4K transfers have shown for all their recent releases is staggering. The Vilmos Zsigmond-shot film literally looks like it was filmed yesterday. The transfer is sharp, clean, without any hints of scratches or blemishes on the negative. The color reproduction and contrast levels, because of the Dolby Vision encoding, are both deeper in their details, giving us a darker, luminous, and far more textured and beautiful image. There isn’t a scratch, blemish, or issue with the picture. It is free of any sort of digital artifacting or DNR to remove grain. The Two Jakes, in its 4K UHD iteration, is near a perfect transfer as you can get.
The Extras
They include the following;
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
The all-new Audio Commentary by Mystery Writer and Filmmaker Max Allan Collins with Film Historian and Host of Cereal at Midnight Podcast Heath Holland opens with their credentials before Collins says that The Two Jakes is a top ten detective film for him. Some of the details include how producer Robert Evans was initially cast as the second Jake when Robert Towne was the director in the 1985 version of the film; the history of “no-fault divorce” and how that relates to the story; the various actors that returned and those that did not; the lack of Jerry Goldsmith’s score; the voice over narration that was added at the last minute – including a great story about a legendary director giving the thumbs up to it; the back story that is implied in the film that ties it to the original Chinatown; the attempts that Collins and his editor about doing an novelization of this film and the preposed sequel to The Two Jakes; the prequel streaming that David Fincher and Robert Towne worked on and got as far as screenplays; the preposed third film and what it was to be about which leads to a larger discussion of the themes of the first and the sequel; the editing of the film that caused story issues – Nicholson was required to cut 10 minutes from the film; a larger discussion of the various locations they used throughout Los Angeles; a larger discussion of the casting of 1985 film and who was eventually cast in the 1990 version; a larger discussion of the long-sorted production history that started in 1985 – including some great anecdotes about what kept this production; a larger discussion of the differences between the 1985 and 1990 screenplays by Towne; the ending that Robert Towne wrote versus the one that Jack Nicholson wrote; and much more. Collins and Holland provide a truly informative and deeply researched track.
Flying High with Jack: Interview with Actor David Keith (9:07) – the all-new interview with the actor opens with Keith’s adoration of Nicholson, calling him his favorite actor, inspiring him to go into acting. Keith goes on to discuss how he got the role in the film – not through his agent; the role that he played, and the stunt work involved; a great anecdote about his first day on the set; Nicholson as a director; working with Tom Waits on the film; and more.
Time Changes Things – Editing The Two Jakes: Interview with Editor Anne Goursaud (18:37) – the all-new interview with Goursaud begins with Nicholson asking her to give notes on Towne’s screenplay for The Two Jakes. Goursaud goes on to discuss the different parties that wanted to direct and how Nicholson finally said he would direct the film himself; what makes Nicholson a great director; cutting during production – and the work required to get the first cut in by the first week after production had ended; the volume of footage and how that impacted editing; the scenes that required more care when it came to the edit; and more.
Jack on Jake: Jack Nicholson Interview (18:21) – in this archival interview with Nicholson opens with his thought that he would become a director until Easy Rider made him a star, and the reason why he hasn’t directed as many movies as he wished. Nicholson goes on to discuss the intended trilogy and what they were about; the unresolved nature of the film and how it was to lead into the third film; the development of the script – the lack of a final script, and the major issues that he felt were and what he spent time working on; the reason why he eventually chose to direct the film; the casting of the film both returning actors and new actors; the production and working with the various cast and crew – including working with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond; a great anecdote about the cast and crew and his directorial style; his approach to directing a period piece; and much more.
Rounding out the special features are trailers for The Two Jakes (3:09); Chinatown (3:25); After Dark, My Sweet (2:17); Twilight (2:27); The Underneath (2:07); The Hot Spot (1:49); The Usual Suspects (2:28); The Border (1:48);
The Final Thought
Kino continues to release the very best and interesting films into their collection. Armed with a beautiful transfer and extras, The Two Jakes in 4K should delight fans new and old alike. Recommended!!
Kino Lorber’s 4K UHD Edition of The Two Jakes is out now.
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