Shaft (2000)
| Shaft (2000) |
| Cast: | Samuel L. Jackson | John Shaft |
| Vanessa L. Williams | Carmen | |
| Jeffrey Wright | Peoples Hernandez | |
| Christian Bale | Walter Wade, Jr. | |
| Busta Rhymes | Rasaan | |
| Dan Hedaya | Detective Jack Roselli | |
| Toni Collette | Diane Palmieri | |
| Richard Roundtree | Uncle John Shaft |
Review by Bret Walker
Can you f***ing dig it? John Singleton brings us a more violent and more sexy (but less sexed) John Shaft, who in reality is the nephew of the legend from the early '70s. In fact, Richard Roundtree plays the elder John Shaft in a mentor type role for his nephew. Samuel L. Jackson instills himself firmly as the baddest mother on the face of the planet with this revamped and extremely effective story. Shaft shines like a diamond and stinks like a sewer. In short, it is one of the finest action films of recent memory.
Shaft rides again as a New York City detective who puts a prominant man's son behind bars for the brutal and racially motivated murder of a young African-American man outside a club. But the murderer skips bail and leaves the country, leaving Shaft boiling and full of vengeful motivation.
Two years later, the murderer returns to the US and is immediately brought in by Shaft. But the belligerant killer swears he will never pay for his crime, and suddenly Shaft is left with the job of trying to locate the waitress whom he suspects is the only eye-witness to the crime. Things grow complicated when it becomes apparent that the waitress doesn't want to be found. Add to this the fact that the killer hires a street thug to find and kill the girl, and you have the recipe for one of the greatest on-screen gun battles in the history of action films.
John Shaft is sexy, outrageous, disfunctional and always irreverant. Jackson took no time at all in establishing himself in the role in the first five minutes. The film was thoroughly enjoyable in every regard: the action was tremendous, the acting was superb, the direction, the cinematography, the editing, all culminated in a nearly perfect action thriller. I was particularly swept up in the revamped score by Isaac Hayes, and found myself grinning from ear to ear throughout the entire film. Definitely not one for the kiddies, Shaft is however for the young at heart, and for those who remember the original films. You won't be disappointed if you check this one out in the theater, and I for one can't wait to get it on video.
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