A very well-done film noir. This murder mystery was intriguing and was always a few steps ahead of me. I didn't see the ending coming. This film will probably get better with each subsequent viewing.

Rarely is a film, rarely is a screenplay so flawless and excellent as it is in Roman Polanski's Chinatown. From the first shot, up to the ending. And my god, what an ending. Along with the Reunion from Shawshank, I can't remember a better, more fitting, touching, yet even disturbing film ending. Chinatown is one of the most wonderfully acted, ingeniously clever written and excellently directed films of all time. A classic for all ages: 10/10

*NO SPOILER YET* In case you're wondering why the incredibly high ratings, bear in mind this is a Polanski (all the cinema lovers, "intellectuals" and critics' favorite) starring now classic Jack Nicholson in a typical film noir that takes itself so very seriously it's almost telling you you have to love it or else you're not a true cinema purist.To be honest, Nicholson as the other actors put in a good performance. Dunaway is alright but not nearly brilliant, but anyways the point is even incredibly talented actors couldn't make mediocrity into greatness. The script is fine if you're a fanatic of crime films, but if you just so happen not to be particularly this is the slowest 2hrs10min you've seen in a long time. In a long time. The pacing is S-L-O-W, you couldn't quite call this piece exactly "stimulating". The very plot is completely ordinary - big powerful bad guy covers up his horrible crimes and wants more money more power, complicated story about L.A.'s water and who owns it (wow no fascinating) - and has no edge to it whatsoever for the genre. What is considered "superb structure" can just as easily feel like a ton of events that pile up and further sinks the film into a delirium of enduring boredom where instead of being uneventful, it is full of stuff happening, but all of which are dull and typical.What's more, there's nothing else about the film that helps lift the bland quality of the whole: dialog has no particular wit and also subscribes to the typical formula, the humor is corny, there's no real moral or actual greater point, the emotional dimension is fake and cold, the cinematography is flat and linear, and there isn't even that big old ending at the end that could've perhaps given legitimacy to the darn thing.*SPOILER* - the Dunaway mother/sister thing is ridiculous and unnecessary and brings no strength to the plot, the fact she dies in the end right in front of that poor traumatized kid is senseless and also with no worth, how it's strongly implied the grandfather wants to sexually abuse her too and grabs her and takes her away is just insanely unnecessary and anti-climactic. And the clues towards the end are technically ridiculous: so of all places he drowns the guy in his pool in his backyard (conveniently the only place with salt water in the whole entire perimeter), of course drops his glasses in there and in order to read that paper at the end he pulls out and wears the exact same pair...Lots of flaws there. You can like it and all, but the flaws are certainly there.

'Chinatown' is one of the best films of the 70s and without doubt one of the most memorable in the crime/detective genre. This is a first-rate picture all round with very few faults, if any. It's an intelligent mystery, complex yet relatively easy to follow, and has no difficulty in holding your attention from start to finish.Part of what makes 'Chinatown' so memorable is just how perfect it is in appearance. The cinematography is on another level to anything else I've seen from the 70s - each and every scene is crafted in such a stylish and elegant way. The script is also brilliant and gives us some classic lines, including of course the famous last line of the film, 'Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown'. 'Chinatown' is a film that lives up to its glowing reputation. It's difficult to fault this detective gem.