Shaft (2000)

The greatest movie ever made..!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

In the world of unnecessary and often awful remakes, 2000's SHAFT shines through as a good example of what a remake should be: an updating of the previous story set successfully in modern times, with actors sufficient enough to equal the performances in the first film, and one with enough twists and turns to make it surprising and interesting. SHAFT does all of this, dispensing with the plot of the original movie to concentrate on an elaborate, labyrinthine tale of crazed, psychotic drug dealers, corrupt cops, and doughnut-chewing allies.The sheer verve and enthusiasm which goes into the speedily-paced story reminds me instantly of LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS and the energy rubs off on the viewer. Sure, the film is violent but the violence is deserved (aside from the opening murder) and the action is handled nicely and with plenty of style, including an excellent car stunt. The plot sits on the line between complex and muddled without going overboard on elaborate set-ups or contrived situations and the 'street level' atmosphere rubs off, creating a realistic movie you can really get into.In the title role, Samuel L. Jackson shines and comes off more than adequately. Although he can never hope to attain the iconic status of original star Richard Roundtree (incidentally making a welcome cameo appearance as 'Uncle Shaft' this time around), he's certainly better than need be for what is essentially a popcorn movie, and the cast that supports him is also great. In particular, kudos to Jeffrey Wright, who fits the role of his slimy drug dealer character so well that actor and character are indistinguishable (witness my surprise to see him out-of-character in a documentary, softly-spoken and 180 degrees from the character he portrays in the movie) and Christian Bale, reprising his American PSYCHO shtick as a cold-blooded bad guy you love to hate and doing very well with it. The female support is also strong, with Vanessa Williams proving her worth as a sassy female cop - a little underused however - and Australia's Toni Collette utterly believable as the harassed female witness. Busta Rhymes also joins LL Cool J as a rapper who is mildly amusing in the movies. Finally, the revamped Isaac Hayes music is back and as hummable as ever, rounding off what is a thoroughly involving slick action picture.

The hardest part about being a black cop is not getting shot by white cops when you pull your gun.The honkies in this action movie, however, know better than to mess with Shaft.When rich white boy Wade Jr. (Christian Bale) is accused of killing a black man (Mekhi Phifer), no nonsense detective John Shaft is assigned to the racially charged case. But the accused is allowed to flee the country when the only witness (Toni Collette) goes missing.Unrelenting, Shaft spends the next two years searching for her.When he finds her, Wade Jr. serendipitously returns Stateside with a sadistic drug lord (Jeffrey Wright) on his payroll.John Singleton's much-maligned reboot of Shaft isn't as blasphemes as perceived, with Sam Jackson serving as a worthy successor to Richard Roundtree.Besides, young African Americans need to be exposed to influential Black icons before the CIA assassinates them all.Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

NYC police detective John Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson) is confronted by a cocky racist Walter Wade, Jr. (Christian Bale) son of a rich and powerful real estate tycoon who is charged for a murder. He skips out on his bail. It's 2 years later. Walter Jr is back in town, and Shaft arrests him once again. However Walter gets bail once again. Now he's hunting down the waitress witness (Toni Collette). Shaft quits in frustration. Walter enlists the help of drug lord gangster Peoples Hernandez (Jeffrey Wright) to find the waitress.Samuel L Jackson as Shaft is exactly as everybody expects. Director John Singleton got that part right. He cast the perfect Shaft. However the story is a poor mess. There isn't any mystery or thrills. Christian Bale is ridiculously over the top evil but ultimately a weakling. He needs to be a super villain so that Shaft can oppose a worthy opponent. Then they have drug lord Peoples. If he's the super villain, then it should be him to start off the movie, not Christian Bale.I rather have a cleaner straight up fight against the drug lord, and forget about the racist white boy. As far as I'm concern, the dirtier and grittier and the more realistic, the better. If they truly need a white boy antagonist, let him be a drug dealing rich boy. The whole Christian Bale murderer storyline is a diversion from the truly fun parts.

Samuel L. Jackson is here in one of his best roles ever as the black no-nonsense NYC detective John Shaft who's mean, yet good-hearted and caring in his own strange and rough way; he's especially kind toward the scared bar waitress, played well by Toni Collette. He didn't mind being mean toward the Hispanic Peeples Hernandez, the part Jeffrey Wright played so convincingly. It was, to say the very least, extremely refreshing to see Vanessa Williams who portrayed Carmen Vasquez. Christian Bale, a very versatile actor, was the smart-aleck Walter Wade, Jr, for whom no sensible person could have any sympathy. Also, the unforgettable Richard Roundtree made a surprise, yet not-surprising, appearance as the "original" John Shaft, here John Shaft's uncle. Naturally, Isaac Hayes' musical contribution was a mind-sticker. And too, it is obvious that the director John Singleton made a great accomplishment. But while it was allegedly a serious drama, because of the filthy persiflage on the part of Jackson toward Wright and a few others, I was led to laugh, and did. They did for sure get carried away there. And yet, it was a story about a serious detective who hated injustice with a passion. Samuel L. Jackson, again, made you believe here that he was "the man who would risk his neck for fellow-man" for sure.