Review #545: Shaft (2000).
Cast
Samuel L. Jackson (John Shaft), Vanessa Williams (Carmen Vasquez), Jeffrey Wright (Peoples Hernandez), Christian Bale (Walter Wade, Jr), Richard Roundtree (Uncle John), Busta Rhymes (Rasaan), Toni Collette (Diane Palmieri), Pat Hingle (Dennis Bradford), Dan Hedaya (Jack Roselli), Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Jimmy Groves), Josef Sommer (Curt Flemming), and Lynne Thigpen (Carla Howard) Directed by John Singleton.
Review
Shaft is strangely not a remake of the notable 1971 film, instead a sequel (The 1990's/2000's/2010's were a hotbed for remakes of films, in fact, there's a RoboCop remake in theaters right now, remakes of films 20-80 years old are common), and hey, the original star from the '71 film (Roundtree) even makes an appearance. For those who don't know, Shaft was a franchise in the 1970's (originally based off the novel of the same name by Ernest Tidyman), consisting of three films: Shaft (1971), Shaft's Big Score, and Shaft in Africa, along with a television series. So after all that history (or whatever), how is the film itself? It has its moments of good action, and Jackson does a wonderful job. But what makes the movie stand out is its (unintentional) hilarity that I sometimes received from the movie. Some of the scenes were effective, but they were also hilarious because of how over the top it could get, the way that the characters react to the action made me laugh. It's funny how Christian Bale went from this film to Batman in only 5 years, just shows that anyone can be Batman (Isn't that right, Daredevil-I mean Ben Affleck?), given the circumstances. The movie has a good deal of style and the right amount of charm (I do like the scenes with Jackson and Roundtree, from...nephew to uncle. I guess Shaft had a brother who named his son in honor of John) to make for a fun film.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
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