Shaft (2000)

How do you remake a classic?  Well in the case of trying to bring back the LEGENDARY Private Detective John Shaft of the 1971 Gordon Parks cult hit starring Richard Roundtree, acclaimed director John Singleton (Boyz N The Hood, Poetic Justice) teamed with acclaimed writer Richard Writer (The Color of Money, Clockers) to....NOT remake it, they decided to "re-imagine" the character as a former NYPD cop trying to exact justice in late '90's New York City.  Oscar-nominee Samuel L. Jackson now plays the titular character with Roundtree returning to play his uncle.  This time around, Shaft is determined to bring justice for the racially-charged murder of an innocent young man at a NYC club.  The murderer is played by Oscar-winner Christian Bale (The Fighter), the witness whom Shaft has to find is played by Oscar-nominee Toni Colette (The Sixth Sense).....and beyond that, Shaft also has to combat corrupt local cops PLUS local drug kingpin Peoples Hernandez played by Oscar-nominee Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction).  Throw in some high-octane action, Busta Rhymes as Shaft's driver, AND....the iconic Oscar-winning theme song from Isaac Hayes and what do you get?  

Besides several Oscar nominees, you happen to get a surprisingly enjoyable (and very timely) action thriller to kick off Black History Month.  Can you dig it? :)    

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

SHAFT - 2000

Directed by John Singleton

Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Vanessa Williams, Christian Bale, Jeffrey Wright, Toni Colette, Busta Rhymes, Dan Hedaya, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Josef Somner, Lynne Thigpen, Phillip Bosco, Pat Hingle, Lee Tergeson, Daniel Von Bargen, Sonya Sohn, Francisco Tavaras, and Richard Roundtree

Genre: Crime Thriller (Audio clip)

Is it possible that John Singleton might have been one of the more unsung action directors of the modern era? 🤔 Sadly he's no longer with us and his signature achievement remains Boyz N the Hood from '91. But in the early '2000's, he had a pretty strong run of pure action films: Four Brothers, 2 Fast 2 Furious (which remains my personal favorite film in that franchise), and THIS of course. In all three films, he crafted straightforward stories with straightforward heroes and straightforward actiom....no frills, minimal CGI (even '2 Fast except for one racing scene involving a draw bridge)...just basic good guys with guns, cars, or fists fighting against basic bad guys with the same.

Fortunately, in the case of this FIRST reboot of Shaft, he already had a great actor in place - Samuel L. Jackson - even though Jackson himself had some big shoes to fill. If you've seen the original Shaft from '71, it's obvious off the bat that it wasn't a particularly good movie...it's clearly low-budget, low stakes, and most of the cast is '80's TV-levels of engaging at best. But none of that takes away from the impact of Richard Roundtree as the title character - his John Shaft is a self-aware powerful FORCE walking the streets loaded with charisma and swagger...his mere presence rose above those movies and basically it's only him and Isaac Hayes' Oscar-winning theme song which have kept the legacy of Shaft strong all of these decades later.

Jackson, obviously quite the charismatic presence himself, doesn't even try to recreate Roundtree's performance nor does he need to - his Shaft is more verbal, less sexual, and more emotional....and for a different time of course, even his character says "It's Giuliani time!" late in the film. This was late '90's New York City, a time when crime was actually going down but also when the criminal elements were becoming more segmented...and the hyper-awareness we have today of the racial politics which pervades many police departments was in its early years of first coming to the surface. This becomes part of the plot though never overwhelms it. And Jackson brings his signature intelligence and profane bravado to this role and is a joy to watch! This John Shaft starts with the NYPD but eventually becomes a private dick as the story progresses, mainly coming from his frustration with the ongoing case of a racially-motivated murder by a rich Manhattan brat who keeps evading him....and his search for a waitress who witnessed the murder but has since disappeared.

The rich brat is played by Christian Bale in an apt companion part to his role as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho which came out the same year - Bale is great as a brutish frat bro type along the lines of Brock Turner. He has a sneer through most of his scenes which is almost comical until you watch the thuggish behavior that comes with it...his strongest moments are earlier in the film as it appears that he will be Shaft's main foil in this story. 

But the actor who REALLY steals this film and ends up being Shaft's main foil is Jeffrey Wright in a truly bat-shit but crazy good performance as Peoples Hernandez, the local druglord who becomes enmeshed in the ongoing back-and-forth between Jackson and Bale. Wright as an actor has often had a very cerebral presence which he excels at but not here....his Peoples is PURE id, probably a more sophisticated, post-gentrification update of Pacino's Tony Montana but no less entertaining nor offensive to watch. :) 

The film has several great moments though sadly the plot kind of peters out towards the end as things get wrapped up a bit too tightly. Still overall, this was a very fun rewatch with great action, characters, and music.... theme! :)

Best Needle-drop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

Of course, we hear that iconic Shaft theme throughout – the original 1971 theme performed by Isaac Hayes even won the Oscar that year for Best Original Song.  Only now it has been somewhat rescored (but sounding pretty similar to the original) by composer David Arnold who was performing similar magic recreating the James Bond theme for the Brosnan films around the same time. Over a suggestive opening credits sequence, portions played throughout, and of course over the closing credits…..I NEVER get tired of hearing it…..not the least of it is the kick-ass opening hook….with the guitars, symbols, horns, flutes…..  This is PURE hero music and among the best in cinema history! (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film): 

Coming off her impressive Oscar-nominated performance the year before from The Sixth Sense – which in my opinion is THE best part of that movie - Toni Collette plays the waitress/witness on the run and unfortunately, her character isn't given much to do on the surface besides looking very frightened for much of the film.  Still being one of our more underrated and expressive actresses, Collette still aces this character with just a few broad strokes to show us that this is a compassionate person with depth.

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

Wright steals every scene he's in and you definitely see the footprint of screenwriter Richard Price (a master of urban crime dramas at this time) in one standout scene about halfway through between him and Bale - they're basically negotiating the terms of assigned hit though Peoples is doing most of the talking. What he's asking for initially seems silly until he opens the door to his druglab when suddenly the conversation feels much more tense...but Peoples keeps his tone smooth and it becomes obvious that we're suddenly watching two great actors square off unexpectedly in a scene that could actually hold its own with the best tough guy face-offs from any Scorcese film.

MVP (person most responsible for the success of this film):

Only nine years after his breakout stint directing the legendary Boyz in the Hood – which resulted in him being THE youngest nominee ever for Best Director – Singleton’s career had obviously shifted into more mainstream, conventional entertainment by this point.  Infact his next film would be an action sequel no less….the underrated previous episode 2 Fast 2 Furious.  However in retrospect, it was still obvious just how adept , Singleton was at drawing out memorable performances from actors of all stripes - seriously the guy drew probably among the more natural performances we've seen from Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube...and major props to him for STILL being the only director to figure out how to utilize Tyrese Gibson no less. ;)

And here, that track record only continued with unique breakout performances from both Jeffrey Wright and Christian Bale  who ALMOST steal this movie away from its very iconic title character no less.  Undoubtedly this movie is a bit messy in its execution and likely overstuffed….but it looks and sounds great with fun action sequences, memorable dialogue, and despite an abundance of plot and characters, it STILL tops out at an economical 100 minutes.  For helming one of the more underrated reboots of the early ‘2000’s – which was a time period FILLED with them – John Singleton is the MVP.

Final Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Happy 25th Anniversary to what I PERSONALLY consider THE Best Film headlining the legendary character of John Shaft.  Ok to be fair….I still never saw the 2019 legacy sequence….but I’ve heard things. 

Streaming on Prime Video, hoopla, fubo, & PlutoTV

And that ends another BAD MOTHER….SHUT YO MOUTH review!