New York police detective John Shaft arrests Walter Wade Jr. for a racially motivated slaying. But the only eyewitness disappears, and Wade jumps bail for Switzerland. Two years later Wade returns to face trial, confident his money and influence will get him acquitted -- especially since he's paid a drug kingpin to kill the witness.
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Overall: Pretty bad movie and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I was very bored and it is just not a good movie. Definitely skip it.Good: Samuel Jackson and Christian Bale do good jobs with what they have throughout the movie. Some other minor characters did a good job also. I really liked the music and thought it blended well with the more 80's cop side of the movie.Bad: The movie feels pointless due to the 'shock' ending twist which makes me feel as if I had wasted my time watching it. It is good to see him punished but I would have preferred for him to see the inside of a cell. The characters are just sheer unlikeable or you don't care or they have no real motivations. It also don't feel like it knows what it is. One side you've got the goofy 80's cop show feel with groovy music and cheesy dialogue while on the other side you've got the uber serious story featuring themes of race and discrimination. Not to say that serious comedies can't work but if that was the intention it was done abysmally. The action scenes were horrific and just bored me throughout them, especially the final climax. The movie tried to cram in too many characters when a protagonist, antagonist and 1-2 cop buddies would have sufficed. Also unless I missed the scene in which he rejoins the police force then I refuse to let it slide that he broke the law numerous times and got away with it.Best Part: The opening 20 minutes were they catch Bale made me interested in the story and were they could take it but that interest was short lived.MVP: Samuel Jackson as John Shaft3/10
****SPOILERS****Remake of the original 1971 blockbuster "Shaft" that has it's star Richard Roundtree in it in a more or less cameo role as Uncle John Shaft that has the new & improved a**-kicker John Shaft II played by tough as nails and take no prisoners or BS from no one Samuel L. Jackson, who has since threatened to flee the country if Donald Trump gets elected president, getting himself involved with a spoiled rich kid Walter Wade Jr, Christian Bale, son of a top NYC real-estate developer who together with his father's money and political influence had escaped justice. That in that the only witness to his murder of Trey Howard, Mekhi Phifer, bartender Diane Palmieri, Toni Colette, was paid off by Wade Jr to shut up and get out of town until the heat's off him. With the case against Wade Jr. thrown out of court he skips his bail of $200,000 bail-just peanuts to him-and flees to Switzerland on a two year skiing vacation.It's now two years later that for some reason-being homesick I guess-Wade Jr. came back home to face the music and is re-arrested and allowed bail again that causes an outraged Shaft to quit the police department and track down on his own the missing Diane Palmieri to testify against him. While this is all going on Wade Jr. gets Dominican drug lord Peoples Hernandez, Jeffrey Wright, whom in met while in police custody to also track down Diane and whack her before Shaft can locate her. The rest of the movie has a slew of car chases as well as shoot outs with a body count that makes Shaft's mission to have Wade Jr. brought to justice for one murder look puny in comparison.***SPOILERS**** With all the shooting and killing in the movie you at some point forget the point what Shaft involvement in bringing Wade Jr to justice has to do with the movie. Shaft as well as his former police partner Officer Carman Vasquez, Vanessa Williams, knock off some two dozen bad guys including corrupt policemen Jack Roselli and Jimmy Groves,Dan Dedaya & Ruben Santiago-Hudson, by the time the film is finally over. The only saving grace in the movie is in the end when Wade Jr who looks like he going to get sprung for the third time is gunned down on the steps of the courthouse by the late and murdered Trey Howard's-remember him-mother Carla, Lynne Thigpen. It was Mrs. Howard who finally got the job done in bringing justice for her dead son Trey that no one in the movie, including Det. John Shaft, could!
Shaft (2000): Dir: John Singleton / Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Christian Bale, Toni Collette, Vanessa Williams, Jeffrey Wright: Mindless exercise in retaliation and violence. It is a remake of previous material starring Samuel L. Jackson as John Shaft whose methods of problem solving evolves around punching people out. Christian Bale plays a racist who murders a black male. Due to an error in the system Bale is released. Shaft quits the police force and decides to bring Bale in his own way. Plot is constantly sidetracked by a gangster named Peoples and an ending handle to the lowest degree. Directed by John Singleton who is much too respected for material such as this but at any rate, in lesser hands it would be a far worse film. Jackson is an effective lead who desires justice to the point of quitting his job. His methods of obtaining justice draws to question. Bale steals his scenes as a criminal gone free but resurfaces only to be arrested by Shaft again. It is interesting how he receives his just deserts. Toni Collette gives a decent performance as a suspect whom Shaft searches for. Vanessa Williams becomes more or less a potential romantic prop for Shaft. Jeffrey Wright plays a drug lord but again, the role is standard issue rubbish. There isn't much in this film that hasn't been done before, therefore this film should be shafted down a toilet. Score: 4 ½ / 10
You'd think Samuel L. Jackson starring in a remake of Shaft would be the coolest thing ever. Seeing as Jackson and the character are two badass mother-shut yo mouths. But the end result is disappointing.The plot revolves around Shaft, played by Jackson, seeking to take down the son of a wealthy and powerful man. The son is played by Christian Bale, and the reason Shaft is after him is because he murdered a black man out of racial hate. But he managed to escape prison time and fled to Switzerland. Shaft gets sick,of the injustice and hands in his badge, taking a vigilante approach. His only hope is finding the lone witness of the murder and convince her to take the stand.Here's the film's main problem. The actions he takes are not protected by the law. The cops are even helping him, and no consequences are paid. True, you want him to win, but you can't overlook he is breaking the law. The original Shaft was more of a lone wolf. Shaft here can't seem to do anything without help.The films villains are forgettable. As good as Bale is, he's hardly there and is out of the majority of the action. Jeffrey Wright as a Hispanic gangster emerges as the main villain and is utterly uninteresting. A great villain should make you like him, even if you hate him. I don't even remember the character's name.But I think the biggest downfall is casting Richard Roundtree in a reprisal of his original Shaft role and waste him. He's pretty much a cameo and the film ends with a promise of the original badass mother-shut yo mouth kicking some ass, but we don't get to see it.The one thing this film needed was to be cool. It's unfortunately not.Shaft 4/10
