Chinatown Review

Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown. That quote sums up the whole movie for me. It's a rollercoaster of emotion, experience, and horrifying violence to an unsatisfying end. Jack Nicholson, as always, gives a fantastic performance and the writing is spectacular. Dealing with some complicated material, the film captures you, confuses you, and makes you feel for the characters in the meantime. Personally, I think everyone besides Nicholson was pretty bad, but nonetheless they still captivated me. The whole story felt like a puzzle being put together right in front of my eyes. Nicholson's character was much smarter than I was, but seeing his process of solving the case was interesting and very appealing. His journey from start to finish was riveting and ultimately disheartening. Without giving away too much, Chinatown leaves you breathless. It takes your high hopes and dashes them across the steering wheel of a getaway car. The entire story is a build up to solving a case, but the resolution never comes. It leaves your jaw hanging and a sick feeling in your stomach. The emotions it causes you to feel really puts in perspective the times. It was very corrupt and hopeless for the people that wanted justice. If you controlled the police you controlled it all, and money was power. The movie is still relevant today and was highly respected in its time. Its the best writing I've seen, but it was hard for me to wrap my head around. This movie was too hard to categorize but it was definitely a mystery-thriller. I give it 4.5 out of 5 Jack Nicholson's eyebrows.