Shaft (2000) 1 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Richard Roundtree, Vanessa Williams, Jeffrey Wright, Christian Bale, Busta Rhymes, Dan Hedaya and Toni Collette. Music by David Arnold and Isaac Hayes. Story by John Singleton and Shane Salerno. Screenplay by Richard Price and Singleton and Salerno. Directed by Singleton.
The original "Shaft," when released in 1971, was big on attitude.
The movie worked because nothing like it had been seen before - and because of the charisma of Richard Roundtree, the then-epitome of cool as private eye John Shaft.
The film was helped along by a funky, driving score by Isaac Hayes as well as his Oscar-winning Shaft theme song.
Jump ahead nearly 30 years and we have Samuel L. Jackson as Shaft. The movie still has loads of attitude. But today's audiences are more sophisticated and demanding. Unfortunately this new "Shaft" offers very little else.
Jackson, like Roundtree before him, is a commanding presence. He is an actor who can dominate the screen. He also is one of those actors who can rise above weak material - most of the time - as he did earlier this year in "Rules of Engagement."
With young John Singleton directing, as well as having a hand in the script, you'd think this "Shaft" would be a rousing action thriller, a gritty homage to the original.
Think again. Singleton's "Shaft" is flabby and disjointed.
The plot is a muddled mess, motivation is preposterous and some of the characters are ridiculous, almost insulting.
Take Peoples, for example. He's the villainous drug dealer. As portrayed by Jeffrey Wright, he speaks with an accent that sounds as if he's doing a poor Desi Arnaz imitation. Any minute I expected to call for Lucy and ask her to `esplain' what she's doing.
He's not the only problem. The script by Singleton and Shane Salerno, with help from Richard Price ("The Color of Money," "Clockers") is unfocused.
The movie just jumps from one scene to another without any cohesion or thought. It's like Singleton just took what he filmed and glued it together.
Luckily Jackson is in most scenes. But he appears to have problems getting a handle on his Shaft. He can't decide if he's a tough mother ... (hey, we're talkin' about Shaft), or if he prefers to be a bit tongue-in-cheek.
His persona seems to change from scene to scene, and he doesn't seem to be getting any assistance from Singleton.
Unlike Roundtree's Shaft who became a P.I. because he felt the system was corrupt and discriminated against his people, Jackson's Shaft starts out as a police detective, and leaves the force in disgust when he feels the justice system has failed. He doesn't necessarily become a P.I., but more like a lone-wolf vigilante, with most of his former police partners helping him out.
And while Roundtree appears in the film, he is wasted. His only scenes involve him standing around and talking to his namesake nephew. He still looks good, but it would have been nice to see the original Man in action.
The plot deals with finding a witness to a 2-year-old murder. The killer, a spoiled rich young bigot, played by Christian Bale, seems a lightweight case for Shaft to handle. And some of the killer's actions make no sense whatsoever. How he and the thick-accented drug dealer come to work together is just too silly to believe.
Plus this is one of those movies in which the bad guys fire hundreds of rounds from automatic weapons and miss everything, while Shaft makes bulls-eyes with every shot.
The bad guys are so inept, they are like the gang that couldn't shoot straight. They are most unworthy adversaries.
Smartly, Singleton retained Hayes' original score without any updating. David Arnold did a fine job adapting the music and adding some touches of his own.
Overall, however, "Shaft" is a disappointment considering the talent in front of and behind the camera. This is a movie that had potential. Too bad it was wasted.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN . He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net Reviews by Bloom can be found on the Web at the Internet Movie Database at: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews