Kino Lorber
The Two Jakes is a sequel made 16 years after the classic film, Chinatown ,without the services of Roman Polanski, the director or Robert Evans, the executive producer of the original. Screenwriter Robert Towne was tapped to direct originally but the dreaded “creative differences” reared their ugly head, and Jack Nicholson himself took on directorial duties.
The film has an amazing set up: the first thirty minutes feel calculated to make even the most jaded fan of twisting LA private eye movies sit up and take notice with an older, wiser, Jake caught in a murder investigation when his client (also named Jake, and played by Harvey Keitel) unexpectedly kills his business partner during a routine matrimonial sting.
Towne was deeply proud of this second script and you can see all the elements where a writer would fall in love with it.
Unfortunately, despite very good direction from Nicholson, no one is there to pare it down and punch it up and it falls apart at just about the time the new story’s connections to Chinatown become apparent.
Whereas Chinatown was focused, disciplined, and assured The Two Jakes doesn’t know what it wants to be and deeply suffers from comparison. This comparison is exacerbated by the baffling choice to connect the story explicitly to the original film. If any genre would have allowed for a fresh story with no literal connection to the original it should have been this.
The best part of the second film, and the biggest reflection that this is Jack’s movie instead of an ensemble work, is the emphasis on the actor’s duel between him and Harvey Keitel. Keitel’s laid back, quirky, menace pairs brilliantly with the later Jack’s wolfish charisma.
Unfortunately, by the end it becomes clear that there’s nothing really at stake story wise, and the film doesn’t so much come to an end as stop spinning its wheels.
Extras include commentary, featurettes, and trailer.
Despite Chinatown‘s well deserved accolades, The Two Jakes is unfortunately not recommended.
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