BEFORE: About 15 years after making "Chinatown", Jack Nicholson reprised his role as J.J. Gittes in this sequel - interestingly enough, it seems like about the same amount of time passed in the fictional world - this one takes place in 1948, post-WWII L.A.
THE PLOT: The sequel to "Chinatown" finds Jake Gittes investigating adultery and murder... and the money that comes from oil.
AFTER: According to IMDB, the storyline of "Chinatown" was planned as a trilogy, and the third film was never made. The first film was about L.A.'s water supply, this one centered on oil and natural gas, and the 3rd film was going to be called "Cloverleaf", and would have focused on the formation of the L.A. freeway system. Reportedly some of those plot elements instead turned up in the film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". (I'm not sure this makes sense, considering that animated film was released 2 years before this one)
As before, a simple detective case involving infidelity turns into much more, and as Gittes keeps digging, more and more secrets are revealed, proving conspiracies and murder. Oh, and Gittes gets to sleep with a few more ladies - already I've spotted a common theme to the last few Nicholson movies - Kathleen Turner, Faye Dunaway, and Madeleine Stowe are all stunning leading ladies. I'm guessing that's not a coincidence.
And Gittes finds a connection to the land deal seen in "Chinatown" - I have to say that the connection was pretty obvious, I figured out its exact nature about an hour before it was revealed...pretty much hiding in plain sight.
Still, I liked this one a little more than "Chinatown", I think - which goes against the conventional wisdom that places "Chinatown" near the top of many notable "must-see" film lists. The sequel was a little more complex, though it still suffers from the boredom inherent in land deals, mineral rights, real-estate titles....see, I'm drifting off just thinking about it. We want to see sex, and murder, not drown in paperwork!
One question - if Gittes was so haunted by the fate of Mulray's daughter 15 years ago, how come he never once tried to track her down?
I did like how the got the same actor to reprise his role as Capt. Escobar, Jake's contact/tormentor on the police force (sort of the Inspector LeStrade role...) and also that one of the cops had the same last name as one of Jake's associates from "Chinatown" - so I guess that was supposed to be his son on the force?
Also starring Harvey Keitel (last seen in "Clockers"), Madeleine Stowe (last seen in "The General's Daughter"), Meg Tilly, David Keith (last seen in "The Rose"), Eli Wallach (last seen in "Nuts"), Ruben Blades (last seen in "Predator 2"), and Richard Farnsworth (last seen in "Papillon"). Oh, and character actor Tracy Walter (last seen in "Death to Smoochy") and an uncredited cameo by Tom Waits (last seen in "Coffee and Cigarettes") as a cop.
RATING: 6 out of 10 cigarette lighters
JACK-O-METER: 4 out of 10. Sort of felt like Jack was just going through the motions here - he also directed, so his stamp should have been all over this. But his character was older and mellower, and less prone to cursing and major freakouts.
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