Director: John
Singleton
Year: 2000
Rating: 7.0
Stepping
into the iconic footsteps of Shaft is a dangerous thing for a filmmaker.
As Richard Roundtree, he is a much beloved character and probably the most
famous figure in the world of Blaxploitation. Director John Singleton was
probably one of the few directors that could be trusted to bring it off.
Shaft is not a remake but instead a new story, but he keeps the attitude,
the Blaxploitation aspects and most importantly the Shaft theme song from
Isaac Hayes that opens the film and plays throughout. That would be irritating
with most themes but not Shaft. It enhances every scene. And to play this
updated Shaft, who else but Samuel Jackson. Who else could carry it off?
One of the things I most appreciated about the film is its old-fashioned
action set-pieces. No use of CGI - just men and guns. The way it ought to
be. This Shaft is the nephew of the original Shaft who happily shows up here.
Along with Roundtree in the early scene in the bar is the elderly customer
sitting down. That is Gordon Parks, the director of the 1971 film. I like
that Singleton pays tribute to those two. Makes me want to revisit the Shaft
trilogy for the first time in decades. Roundtree doesn't get much screen
time but they do let him leave the bar to go home with a lady on each arm.
He still has it.
He is a cop unlike the first Shaft who was a private detective. That Shaft
is still running a private agency and wants his nephew to come in with him.
Shaft (Jackson) gets called in to a violent incident with a black man lying
on the sidewalk badly hurt. In the club he sees a waitress (Toni Collette)
who gives him an eye towards the guilty party. A racist little privileged
rich boy played by Christian Bale right off the screen of his American Psycho
character. He and the black man had words after Walter Wade insulted him.
Shaft punches him - breaks his nose - something that anyone watching would
want to do. The waitress who witnessed the assault disappears and after paying
the bond, Wade flies to Switzerland. He never should have come back with
Daddy (Philip Bosco) taking good care of him. But he does two years
later.
Shaft is waiting for him and he is bailed out again. Walter wants to
find the waitress and silence her, Shaft to make her testify. In prison before
being bailed out Walter makes contact with a small-time drug operator, Peoples
(Jeffrey Wright). Wright plays him right out of the Blaxploitation handbook
- a total sleaze with the Hispanic accent and a bunch of gangbangers. Walter
hires him to find the girl and kill her. A couple dirty cops are on the payroll.
Shaft has his friend (Busta Rhymes) and an honest cop (Vanessa Williams)
helping him. The final 30-minutes turns into as Shaft says, "Guliani Time"
as the bodies pile up. This was of course pre-crazy-Guliani. There was apparently
a lot of friction between Singleton, Jackson and the writers in how to portray
Shaft - Jackson wanted a number of lines cut that he felt were racially insulting
and there were arguments over whether Shaft should be a cop and for how long
and having no sex scenes. No sex scenes won out. Surprised that there was
not a sequel with Jackson as the box office was ok vs budget - maybe all
the fighting. That didn't come until 2019 when Usher plays Shaft's son. Trying
to recall whether I saw that. (Ah, I did according to Letterbox. It clearly
didn't stick.)
