Shaft

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Anakin R Sep 16, 2018 Eventhoguh there were repots of on-set clashes between writer and director and between director and star, this reboot of the Shaft films is excellent and should have been a franchise. Director/co-writer John Singleton ("Boyz n the Hood" "Snowfall") and writer Richard Price ("The Wire" "The Color of Money") don't go the remake route and instead tell a new story about NYC police detective Samuel L. Jackson, Det. John Shaft, who's the nephew of Richard Roundtree, who plays retired detective Uncle John Shaft, which makes this more of a reboot or sequel of sorts, much like the new Star Trek series is kind of a remake, but also a continuation of the original series. Roundtree only makes a cameo, but it's fun moment. The main story revolves around the excellent Christian Bale as a Donald Trump Jr. type of smarmy spoiled rich kid who uses his wealth to dodge a racially motivated beating/murder he perpetrated before fleeting the country. Shaft and Bale have a fun game of cat and mouse when Bale returns to the states, each trying to take the other down. Singleton's intersecting of racism as a key plot point makes this film more than just a straightforward action film and also connects it to it's blaxploitation roots, in which films like "Black Caesar" or "Black Sampson" were low budget genre pictures heavy on sex and violence, but always included a fair amount of social justice underpinning their storylines. Another major strength of this film is it's amazing cast. Besides Jackson and Bale as two strong leads, you also have Jeffrey Wright memorably playing sleazy drug dealer Peoples Hernandez, Vanessa Williams, Busta Rhymes, Dan Hedaya, Toni Collette, Phillip Bosco, Pat Hingle, Lee Tergesen, Mekhi Phifer, Catherine Kellner, Elizabeth Banks, and besides Roundtree you also have the original film's director Gordon Parks and the original film's composer Isaac Hayes ("Can you dig it?") in bit parts. Another major asset of the film is it's excellent use of New York City locations, recalling gritty action films of the 70s such as "The French Connection" or "Across 100th Street," choosing to show the seedier side of the city that never sleeps rather than the cleaned-up touristy version. Overall, the 2000 Shaft is well worth watching and one that should be better recognized. FUN FACT! The F-word is used 165 times! See more

Poe S Jun 3, 2017 Another movie on the eternal subject of American cinema - race problems, which are always, of course, solve in favor of blacks. On a serious note, this film is very close to trash cinema in its worst manifestation. Christian Bale is brilliant, as always. See more

Draco R Feb 1, 2017 It's good movie to watch

Ron G Jul 16, 2007 3/6/2017: Meh. An average movie at best. A good cast though.

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Shaft

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