Very Good, but not Great

Pros

Fantastic melange of nostalgia, feel-good, period-piece, proto-noir, detective, horror, drama and suspense movies - one wishes more movie makers would riff like this instead of making the type of hidebound, genre-tight movies that utterly fail to spark the imagination of the viewer.

Shines with intelligence, beauty and craftsmanship of the highest order - the film-makers really poured their hearts and souls into making this movie and it can't but help rub off on the viewer.

Tucker, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - outside of latter-day Bollywood I can think of very few movies in which the cinematography is so unrelentingly beautiful, joyful and uplifting.

Cons

Has no comment to make on the human condition which distinguishes the truly great films from the merely very good - it's a very nice plot about corruption, incest and so on, but in truth the glory of the movie is that it resembles a beautifully cut suit or a 1930s Dusenberg not because it is particularly deep or meaningful.

A crime noir has never looked this good...
Finally; a crime noir that works. After watching quite a few lackluster film noirs I decided to revisit `Chinatown' to see if it still held up as the greatest film noir of all time and, quite honestly, it does. Polanski gets everything right with this one, creating a film that is stunning, captivating, dark and brooding while always maintaining a level of hope that helps glue the audience to their seats (even if that hope is crushed in the devastating finale). There are few films that have been able to capture this aura, the most recent being `L.A. Confidential'.

The crime noir is something difficult to master, but Polanski masters is effortlessly.

`Chinatown' revolves around private detective Jake Gittes who is hired by a woman claiming to be a jilted wife to follow her husband and see if he is indeed having an affair. When the husband turns up dead and she winds up not actually being the man's wife things start to get complicated. The man's real wife, Evelyn, shows up asking what business Jake had with her husband, and as Jake digs deeper into her husband's murder he uncovers the dirty secrets lurking around every corner. As `Chinatown' spirals to a close and more is revealed it shifts from a pacifiable crime noir into a certifiable classic.

The script is brilliantly crafted, allowing the audience to sink into the grit of the situation with ease, building slowing on its foundation until the dramatic and explosive conclusion. Much must be accredited to Polanski who just pulls from all angles and draws the audience in with each and every frame. The murky, gritty feel to the film elevates the material and makes the audience feel a part of the action, and Polanski's resulting vision is one of beautiful demise.

A great facet of this film is the marvelous performances by the entire cast, most notably Jack Nicholson. Nicholson is a brilliant actor, I think we all can agree there, but there are times when he falls into self mimicry and winds up just parodying himself in his films. `Chinatown' is one of those times when he steps away from his public persona and just delivers a well rounded and fantastically crafted character. J.J. `Jake' Gittes is one of Jack's greatest cinematic accomplishments and certainly one of his greatest performances. Jack is given some ample help though, in the form of Faye Dunaway and John Huston, both of whom bring so much to this film. Dunaway is dynamite here, really stakeing her claim as Nicholson's equal, and as the film draws to a close and her character is finally fleshed out to the full she emotes so much genuine emotion she helps that transition work. Huston is delicious here, seriously. His performance is what the movies is all about. I'm really shocked he was passed over of the Oscar nomination when in all actuality I would have handed him the win. He has the perfect mixture of parental protection and selfish indulgence to make his character not only believable but engrossing.

`Chinatown' is filled to the brim with enough of everything to keep the audience glued in anticipation. The script is marvelous, tightly woven and intricate, always keeping you guessing and wanting more. The acting is superb, truly elevating each and every scene and the mood set is pitch-perfect, and it never wanes. Polanski should be lauded for this masterpiece. It's a shame it was released the same year as Coppola's `The Godfather, Part II' for both films are brilliant, perfect even, but there is no topping the magnificence that is Coppola.

Great, although painful, movie
It took me a while to get this movie. I ordered a "like new" version and it was filled with scratches and was unwatchable. It took a little finagling to get a better copy, but it ended up working out. I would've ended up giving it 5 stars had the disc be in "like new" condition.

I really like this movie, although "the nose" scene (so I don't ruin in for anyone who hasn't seen it, but specific enough for the people who have seen it to understand) was incredibly disturbing, the performances of Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway were riveting. It is one of the most heart-wrenching and suspenseful movies I have ever seen.

I would suggest this movie. It might be too much for the average viewer to take, but moreover, it is a movie to watch.

One of the greatest films of all time, and one of Nicholson's best too
This is a film you absolutely need to see at least twice. The first time through you'll be gasping for air, trying to keep up with the twists and turns in the plot. The second time through, you can sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. Those willing to view it again and again will find more and more to love in this amazingly dense but satisfying film. Jack Nicholson is perfect in the lead role, and the rest of the cast is equally at home in roles that flesh out this well woven tale. The look and feel of this film is fantastic.

Great film-noir atmosphere
Great noir films must have a certain dark, brooding atmosphere and Chinatown has this atmosphere in spades. This film starts as a relatively simple detective story about a philandering husband but slowly the layers of the onion are peeled back and the web of intrigue becomes more complex and seedy. Ultimately, you can see that the story is headed for a train wreck, it is simply a question of how it will unfold. Jack Nicholson plays the shady detective who is digging for the truth about a murder and shady land dealings during a drought in 1930s Los Angeles. In the end, it is hard to feel very sympathetic for any of the characters, most are driven by lust or greed or demons that they cannot purge. There are literally hundreds of reviews of this film, there is no need for me to repeat plot summaries other than to say that I wholeheartedly support the most positive reviews. This film is really a throwback to the great noir era of the 40s. Jack Nicholson would have been great alongside Barbara Stanwyck and any of the other femme fatales of the noir era. This film is in fact better than many of the earlier noir films in some ways in that more complex (and offensive) plot lines (e.g. incest) can be explored to really make the characters miserable and pathetic. If you like any of the noir greats (like Double Indemnity), you'll love Chinatown. Highly recommended.