Jack Nicholson Tried to Outdo Polanski by Directing His 1974 Cult Movie’s Sequel Himself (And Failed)

Summary:

• Roman Polanski’s 1974 movie with Jack Nicholson in the leading role was quick to obtain the status of a cult film and a cultural phenomenon while the film itself holds a solid 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes to this day.
• Inspired by the original film’s success, Jack Nicholson directed a sequel where he reprised his famous role, but the second movie didn’t show itself as well as it was expected to.
• Despite mixed reviews and a score of only 63%, the movie still showcases Nicholson’s powerful performance and a significant evolution of his character.

Roman Polanski’s neo-noir film Chinatown starring Jack Nicholson was a huge deal back in 1974 when the film received numerous accolades from critics and earned 11 Oscar nominations winning one for Best Original Screenplay.

As the movie’s solid score of 98% remains on Rotten Tomatoes half a century after its release, a temptation to repeat its success with a sequel has always been there — and Jack Nicholson was the one who eventually succumbed to this temptation, though not as successfully as he would’ve wanted to.

Chinatown follows Jake 'J.J.' Gittes, a private investigator portrayed by Nicholson who embarks on tracking a chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water after the latter’s wife hired Gittes to find out if her husband wasn’t loyal to her.

As the investigator dives deeper into the life details of everyone involved, he starts seeing that things are quite different from what they initially seemed to be.

Jack Nicholson eventually came up with the sequel The Two Jakes himself in 1990, taking up both roles of the director and the leading actor. Reprising his role of Jake Gittes, Nicholson sets the second film’s plot a decade later after tragic events of the first movie.

This time the investigator is hired by realtor Jake Berman who suspects his wife of infidelity. At this point the sequel’s plot twists are even harsher as Berman is quick enough to commit a murder of his business partner — and then Gittes gets entangled into a series of mysterious events some of which have to do with his old case.

Though Jack Nicholson’s sequel pretends to borrow the same aesthetic and gloomy atmosphere, it’s still quite far from Chinatown’s deep meaning with all the metaphors and allusions used in it. However, even if The Two Jakes may seem inferior to the original movie, it still can’t be called entirely bad.

Despite the fact that the sequel didn’t live up to everyone’s expectations (which was initially almost unfeasible given Chinatown’s cult status as one of the best thrillers of all time), it nonetheless demonstrated Nicholson’s character’s evolution since his first investigation.

The film eventually ended up with 63% on Rotten Tomatoes — which isn’t that bad considering that following the iconic movie’s path could have resulted in something way worse.