| Shaft | | Cast : | Samuel L. Jackson, Vanessa L. Williams, Christian Bale | | Director : | John Singleton | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | June 16, 2000 | | DVD Released Date : | December 12, 2000 | | Language : | French (Dubbed), English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | December 16, 2004 | | Summary | Mindless Black Revenge Drama, Boring | Content
 | Racist cop John Shaft (again the over rated Sam Jackson) thinks that he can break all the rules and beat up innocent people, blow up the streets of New York and shoot anyone he wants to, well, this movie is a bit of something absurd. The direction is terrible, the action sequences are cliched and the "black brother" message doesn't really make sense because it falls flat by endorsing to kill all "honkeys". I would avoid this mess unless of course you are someone who feels that violence is necessary against innocent civilians.....
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| Rating | | | Date | December 13, 2004 | | Summary | Talkin' 'bout Shaft | Content
| Police detective John Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson) gives up his badge in order to pursue a personal vendetta against a young, wealthy white racist (Christian Bale) who murdered a young black man (Mekhi Phifer) before skipping bail and leaving the country. The racist forms an alliance with a drug dealer (Jeffrey Wright) who wants his own revenge against Shaft as well as access to a wealthier clientele. Throw in some crooked cops and it's no surprise that the neighborhood has turned into a war zone by the end of the film.
This is a B-movie by A-list talent. Director John Singleton, who also co-wrote the screenplay with the talented Richard Price, hews closely to the genre formula but elevates it with the aid of his top-notch cast. One significant departure comes at the end, where the traditional action hero delivers the coup de grace, preferably to the accompaniment of a suitably contemptuous one-liner. Singleton has something much more interesting and powerful in store. The scenes between Wright and Bale-the tension between them and the way their characters jockey for the dominant position-are excellent. Nobody working in film today could portray John Shaft better than Jackson. A lot of fun to watch.
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| Rating | | | Date | March 19, 2004 | | Summary | Singleton ruins yet another legend. somebody stop him....... | Content
| Samuel L. Jackson in Shaft could have been a great movie. He has the talent and skill to effectively play the role. Unfortunately, he is prevented from doing a giving a good performance because of the weak direction and script by Hack Extrodinare John Singleton. Someone please stop Mr. Singleton Before he directs again.
Singleton's terrible script and direction turns Shaft into a campy over-the top superhero movie instead of an intruigung murder mystery. Most of the characters come off like cartoonish stereotypes instead of real people the way they did in the 1971 original. Shaft fans know he is smart, smooth and clever; he's subtle about the way he does things. He's not a black batman wannabe as depicted in this film. Perhaps Mr. Singleton dreams of doing a Batman movie and thought he could apply those concepts here. He was sadly mistaken.
In the openeing scene he comes off as menacing and threatening, that he scares the witness even more and puts the white racist (Christian Bale) on the offensive by arresting him. A litle subtlety would have helped the story here and made the character more interesting. In the subplot our menacing shaft threatens a neighborhood drug dealer (Geoffrey Rush) and arrests him on some trumped up charges. While in jail the two consipire to find a witness who can finger Bale's character for the murder he committed. Sounds a lot like Batman Returns doesn't it? Just so he can have something to do, Shaft goes on a macho search to find the witness who can help his case. Personally, I think Singleton wanted to have a ton of frames of Sam Jackson looking cool in Armani leather. This goes on until the last act the movie which turns into a great big comic book action sequence chock full of shootings and mayhem. To conclude the story, the scene where Bale's character is coming to court to finally stand trial for his crimes is ripped straight from Mario Van Peebles ending scene of New Jack City.
Singleton wastes yet another opportunity and fails to utilize his cast of talented actors who do their best with his terrible script. Sadly, Gordon Parks, the man who wrote and directed the original Shaft was on set and Singleton did take the opportunity not pick his brain for ideas or even ask him what he was thinking when he set up certain scenes. This film would have been better if Singleton would have done thatn andjust STUDIED the films of this genere and understood the subtle nuances that make them work before starting this project. Then when he understood what made those films work he could then apply those approaches to his work. John Singleton needs to go back to film school. He still has a lot to learn about the craft of moviemaking. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 15, 2004 | | Summary | VERY GOOD REMAKE OF THE 1971 CLASSIC | Content
| SHAFT'S SAME-NAMED NEPHEW [SAMUEL L. JACKSON] GOES AFTER A DOMINICAN DRUG LORD AND A RACIST SERIAL KILLER. VERY GOOD REMAKE. IT HAS PLENTY OF GOOD ACTION, AN INTERESTING STORY, AND IT HAS GOOD CHARACTERS. THIS IS ACTUALLY NO BETTER OR WORSE THAN THE ORIGINAL. RICHARD ROUNDTREE [WHO PLAYED THE ORIGINAL SHAFT] AND GORDON PARKS, JR. BOTH MAKE APPEARANCES IN THIS MOVIE. |
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