Shaft (2000) Movie Review
New York City police detective John Shaft (nephew of the original 1970s detective) goes on a personal mission to make sure the son of a real estate tycoon is brought to justice after a racially-motivated murder.
Shaft is the man? Surely you jest.
This movie was a die-hard action fest. I usually like movies like this. And I did enjoy this one to a degree. The writers should have consulted a comedy writer and had him use his comic abilities to help them write a fast-paced action comedy. This film really had the plot and potential to be funny, but instead it was just brutal, violent action all the way. Samuel L. Jackson is indeed a great actor, and I am a proud fan of his work in RULES OF ENGAGEMENT and JURASSIC PARK, but here- while I felt he was the right person to portray Shaft, I also felt that this film should have never seen the light of day. The movie industry probably knew that summer audiences would crave a hard-core action fest like this, and knew that a remake (or sequel) of SHAFT would do it for sure. So, here we have it. A die-hard action film starring Samuel L. Jackson, Vanessa Williams, Christian Bale and Richard Roundtree. What to do with the print? Send it off to any movie studio stupid enough to buy an explosive action film such as this. SHAFT has what it takes to be a great, genre defying action movie, and it slipped away when the one thing about the plot did not click. That’s all it needed. And while SHAFT is still a great action movie, there is something about it that just does not stick. SHAFT: 4/5.
Surprisingly Good!
I was pleasantly surprised by this film. It deftly managed to avoid the pitfalls of other films in a similar genre such as Charlie’s Angels and Starsky and Hutch, in that it stuck to being a piece of tongue in cheek kitsch rather than becoming an out and out spoof of it’s subject matter. It really made me laugh out loud in parts, probably because unlike the other films mentioned the jokes weren’t spelled out to the audience but rather were played as completely straight scenes. Samuel L. Jackson’s cheesy pick-up lines were a particular high point in this regard. I can see where some of the other user comments are coming from in that this isn’t a great action film, and it could be viewed as containing some fairly questionable messages about the acceptability of police brutality. However, I really don’t think that providing a thrilling action movie or well observed social commentary was the director’s intent. Think of this film as a tongue and cheek love letter to the seventies and not as an attempt to do a serious remake of the original films, and you’ll get a lot of enjoyment from it. Great stuff.
Really great and Intricate story line. The Acting was Brilliant
The story line of Shaft, I felt, was really unique. Samuel Jackson was great but I give the credit to Walter Wade Jr. (played by Christian Bale) and Peoples Hernadez (played by Jeffrey Wright). Those two characters would have never met but due to circumstance they met and developed a relationship that was utterly intriguing.
I must say, Jeffrey Wright really blew me away. You couldn’t help but feel utterly appalled by his character “Peoples” and at the same time you become fascinated, almost mezmerized, by him that you hate yourself for being so intrigued.
I was surprised when watching him on the DVD interview to see he had absolutely no accent and is actually african-american (maybe only half), apparently John Singleton said he almost stole the movie and I certainly can see why.
I have watched this movie over & over again and enjoy everytime just because of the superior acting.
I discovered that Jeffrey Wright is very well educated and when he did “Shaft” he hardly had any acting credits to his name – now I notice he’s a busy boy and I really look forward to seeing him in upcoming movies and hope he does very well for himself!
Superb Thriller
A dark film from the director of boyz in the hood.
John Shaft(Samuel Jackson) JR a young cop who is the nephew of the legendary John Shaft SR(Richard Roundtree) is sent to the scene of a murder of a young black man. The murderer is suspected to be a racist rich pshyco (Christian Bale the new batman).So Bale hires Peoples Hernandes ( Jeffrey Wright the new Felix Lighter).And Shaft tries to persuade a witness (Toni Collete) to confess what she is reluctant.Shaft ends up in a battle of wits with both Bale and Wright. An unsuspected ending , a strong cast and a much more interesting plot than it sounds make this superb.
This can be ranked along the other Shafts .
Conclusion
This Reviews are from other people’s perspective, whether you will like this movie or not it up to you, but shaft (2000) has got 6.0 over 10 and that is high! so why not just give it a try?!
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