I have known about this movie for a long time, how it was considered one of Jack Nicholson's greatest movies, and how the same can be said about its director, Roman Polanski. I knew that eventually, I would find the time to watch it and that's what happened last night.
The first thing I should write is that the movie was well-made, but I was expecting something even greater. Maybe I was hyped and with too high expectations after knowing all the praise this movie received. I do think it was good but thinking it can be considered a classic would be too much in my opinion.
In the movie, Jack Nicholson plays a private investigator that is hired by a woman to basically spy on her husband because she thinks he is cheating on her. That looks like a very straight forward task for a private investigator right? Except that in this case, nothing is what it seems and by accepting this job he went straight to the deepest rabbit hole involving local corruption, lies, and dark secrets.
This private detective will have to deal with very dangerous people if he wants to remain alive and discover what is really happening in this place. These aren't lowlife gangsters but rather well-financed organized mafia with tentacles reaching into all sorts of organizations. The detective is clearly out of his depth in this story.
The plot is dark but not really disturbing, it is dark because the criminals have so much power that it is almost impossible to do anything about it, much less if the only person trying to expose anything is a single private detective.
If you enjoy movies about detectives and the film noir genre, then it would be a good choice to watch this flick. The movie doesn't have explosive moments but it slowly unravels the intricate corruption exposing how deep can the human soul rot in the search for power.
The best
- Jack Nicholson gave a great performance in this film.
- It has a tragic and well-written plot with human evil as the central point.
The worst
- For extremely sensitive people this film might be too bitter.
More information: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/
Review: AAA
In numbers: 7.5/10