Chinatown was mostly very good. It was a bit too slow-moving, but everything was very deliberate and intentional, and by extension always at least a little engaging. However, while the screenplay was mostly well-crafted, the ending just sucked, thanks Polanski.
Chinatown is one of the best detective movies available. The story keeps a lot of mystery until the finale but the ride is smooth and the twist in the final act is big. This isn't Jack Nicholson's best performance but it is memorable all the way. I suggest checking this out if you enjoy classic cinema.
This movie is amazing but fuck that ending. Roman "Pedophile" Polanski was rooting for the Father the entire time
I am ambivalent on this. On one hand, the plot is good, and the ending really well written. On the other, Polansky is too slow in carrying over the plot development (as in other of his movies), and Nicholson's acting not that much different than the character performed in One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest.
There's only one thing I don't get: why good meaningful movies get such bomb reviews in this website and crappy comercial movies get so hyped? This movie, for instance, why 7,9 score while spider man gets more than this?
Recently I have been watching Faye Dunaway's films, for no reason. I heard Chinatown is one of the best films she took part in so I was really looking forward to watching it. After two hours and ten minutes, I found myself looking at the screen and thinking, what is so special about this film? Why does it have stellar reviews across the board? Why is it one of the films I must watch before I die? I have no idea. It was average at most. Yes, the unexpected story line in the end regarding the father and the daughter was, interesting, but it had nothing to do with the main murder.
I really feel I missed something important to like this film. But I watched it carefully. I didn't drift away. I was wide awake, focused and not tired.
It is the two hours and ten minutes I will never get back in my life. I did not like it and I am not ashamed to say it.
Please change my view on this and tell me what I have missed.
A gripping film, with a unique, engaging plot and stylishly-aesthetic cinematography.
Ida Sessions: "Are you alone?"
J.J. Gittes: "Isn't everybody?"
Some people may not know, but I got a lot of things to do and those things are reviewing 8 Movies, three TV shows, and two video games, so basically that's why I'm a bit behind of the new releases. Then and now I have to take a little break or a day off from doing this because well I can be a bit tried of doing this, but I still have fun reviewing and I'm extremely proud to be talking about the great classics and new releases. Speaking of cult classics, 'Chinatown' was on top of my list to watch next, because I heard nothing but amazing things about this movie and after watching it I can agree that this movie was outstanding.
Jack Nicholson is now known as the single best actor of all time. He's up there with Daniel Day-Lewis, Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando, and Al Pacino, and in this movie he was magnificent. He played his character so well that I actually didn't fully hate him, because in the movie his character is kind of a A-hole but I didn't hate him, if a different director took the director chair and directed the movie differently then maybe I would have dislike him. Jack Nicholson did probably his 4th best performance that I've seen from him.
The movie is filled with lines that have stuck with me long after the movie was over and I got to give the writers credit for that. The music in this movie has that smooth jazzy beat to it and how it totally fitted the tone of the movie so well. The cinematography was beautiful and just perfection with it's open and normal shots.
For problems: I don't really have any problems to be honest. I didn't find a single thing that I dislike or bothered me. No wonder it's classic.
this movie is just perfect!
As coolly intense and exceptionally-staged as any detective story/film-noir of the 40's & 50's.
Like many of the good movies that I've seen recently, "Chinatown" seemed to have me a tad perplexed upon completion. I know that I had seen something quite unique but I wasn't sure exactly how to place it. More on that in a minute.
In case you've never heard of this movie, Chinatown is one of the few movies on Rottentomatoes.com to receive a perfect score (100% critical approval). The star is Jack Nicholson, who plays the head of a detective agency that seems to specialize in infedility. Nicholson plays a variation of the bad boy that he plays in so many movies. However, this time there is a twist - it seems that Jack's character has a bit of hero in him. This is a little odd to see because in so many of his movies Jack is on the other side of the law.
Anyway, as I said a minute ago my initial reaction to this movie was somewhat mixed. After some contemplation I believe that the reason for this was the pacing of the movie. We've become so used to there not being a break or a pause in movies, television, music, etc that I believe our minds have become trained to a dizzying pace of media. While Chinatown was a lot of fun to watch, the plot did take some time to develop and not everything was spelled out for the viewer.
One other trait that makes this movie a great one is that the viewer never really knows how deep the movie goes until it gets there. For example, in a movie about a bank heist you know that the whole movie is leading up to the big event. Chinatown starts with Nicholson accepting a case from a woman who fears that her husband is a cheat. As the movie progresses the viewer can't help but think that they've arrived at the heart of the movie only to be mistaken. It isn't until the last scene that everything makes sense, and that scene is rewarding because it isn't the typical Hollywood ending.
The only thing that was slightly unrewarding is the resolution to the movie. "Chinatown" is alluded to a few times in the movie but by no means was it a major theme. I thought it made the ending slightly awkward, as if maybe the director had pieced it together at the last minute.
follow me at https://IHateBadMovies.com and Ihatebadmovies on facebook
A very good detective movie with great acting and a solid story, but the ending is super disappointing and ruins it a bit.
Roman Polanski delivers an homage to the hard-boiled noir detective movies of the 1930s. The tribute is so effective and well-polished, I half expected Humphrey Bogart to emerge from shadows and spit a grim, gravel-voiced monologue at any moment. Instead, Jack Nicholson provides his own take on the same type of role: Jake Gittes, a tenacious private detective who worms his way around the edges of a seedy murder investigation. Roped into the matter as a simple patsy, he refuses to allow the resultant smear on his reputation and doggedly pushes through a haze of lies and misdirection, finding unpleasant answers whilst dodging bald threats and thuggish violence through a mix of sharp intuition and dumb luck.
Chinatown has earned a reputation for its screenplay, allegedly one of the finest ever written. I can’t argue. It’s a wonderfully efficient picture; every action produces a logical consequence, even if they don’t surface until much later. The smart, swerving plot keeps us guessing right to the finish, assisted by a motley cast of would-be (and already-been) crooks. Jake is a magnificent protagonist, and not just in the context of grizzled noir sleuths. Hardened and cynical from years on the job, he’s insatiable in his quest for the truth, not because he seeks justice but because he can’t help himself. He’s just gotta know. Watching Jake work is mesmerizing, particularly where it comes to his arsenal of clever little tricks. Kicking out a brake light so it’s easier to tail a lead; sticking a cheap pocket watch under the tire of a parked car to pinpoint the hour it’s moved; ad-libbing a phony back-story to justify his presence on private property... clearly, he’s been around the block a few times. His proficiencies both inform and delight. Seems like gritty, crime-focused films from this period were big on the nuts and bolts of the work - see Coppola’s The Conversation or Mann’s Thief - and I just can’t get enough of it. At least, not when it’s done right.
Chinatown does it right. It does most everything right, from the plot to the script to the casting to the historical context and underlying meaning. Enjoyable probably isn’t the right word to describe a tale that ends on such a dark series of notes, but I certainly enjoyed the ride. They don’t make ‘em like this any more. Hell, they didn’t make ‘em like this in 1974, either.
forget it jake, its chinatown
also gong-gong from EEAAO haha
Years without seeing it and I still think it's even better. Great performances, script and direction
Very good. It’s an intriguing story with great characters, solid acting and some challenging subtext. It’s very much a classic noir without any bells and whistles, but when the execution is this good, why would you add anything?
The cinematography in particular feels very far ahead of the curve, most of this looks like it could be released in the 90s without looking dated. I like the very consistent colour palette and precise, dramatic lighting, reminding me of films like L.A. Confidential.
My gripes with it are pretty minor. There’s an exposition recap that I thought was unnecessary, and maybe I would’ve liked to hear more of the score (which is surprisingly dissonant), but this is still a great film that deserves to be talked about more often nowadays. Very much deserving of its classic status IMO.
8/10
Embarrassed to say I watched this all the way through for the first time recently. Really good movie that feels like it could have been made in the last few years not in the early 70s.
A classy detective for a case no less classy.
cool detective movie. nicholson is really good this was the first time ive seen him as a lead actor. faye dunaway was really good too actually the firat time i saw her was in barfly, thisntime did not even realized that she is the leading actress anyway the movie was good.
Polanski's classics didn't age too well, but "Chinatown" is still a pleasure to watch. It stinks of the trademark bleakness and cynicism of the seventies while still evoking the smoky atmosphere of old noir films. It might be amongst his most conservative, but it goes along well with Robert Towne's captivating script, which continuously plays with the genre's conventions and cliches to lead both the characters and the viewer down the wrong track.
I had wanted to watch this since reading Story. It did not live up to the hype for me. I was never hooked.
Jack was great but the movie not really. I think I liked it more out of nostalgia then anything else. I only had time to watch it because of the quarantine.
almost at the end of the movie I'm still wondered why the movie title is "chinatown" but when I watched the ending it doesn't matter anymore, great noir movie by polanski with unforgettable intro musci by goldsmith, excellent acting especially that slapping "sister daughter scene" most people say the ending is bad, but just like they say "forget it, its chinatown" no happy ending needed
liked it at 2nd watching.
The very slow pacing story and a open ending that does NOT encourage one to think about the possibilities are a huge disappointment!
Shout by Neal MahoneyVIP 8BlockedParent2017-09-24T00:04:46Z
"Forget it Jake, It's Chinatown."
One of the best noir/detective movie with a great story and Jack Nicholson doing his thing.