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Shaft
(2000)
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action
 (imdb rating: 5.9/10)
Plot: 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.
Wow Christian Bale was in this flick  Nice hair I wrote this review for Epinions (rip) - Is Shaft a baaad MF? Written: Aug 12 '00 (Updated Aug 12 '00) Product Rating: Pros: Samuel L. Jackson is way cool Cons: Story is lame Shaft is a cultural icon for the blaxpoitation movement back in the day. I'm not sure if I was even born when the TV series was on, but the movie looked promising in bringing this hero up to date. Samuel L. Jackson plays John Shaft, in his own words, the meanest MF to ever walk the streets. Sam Jackson sure talks the talks and walks the walks. He just has this cool demeanor and attitude we give him since his amazing role in Pulp Fiction. Jackson is bad alright but the story line was a big bore. Here's the premise, a hate crime happens down at a bar, and it involves a rich kid. That guy bashed a black boy (Mekhi Phifer) in the head with a metal stick (conveniently lying around the street) simply because he was going out with a beautiful white woman. Shaft, a cop, is all over the rich boy, arrests him, and it goes to court. The boy gets out on bail from a sympathetic judge (who's undoubtly bribed by the accused's father), and just flees to Europe. Shaft and the whole community is outraged, but there's nothing that can be done. The boy eventually comes back but his money makes him untouchable. Okay, I could go on and try to tell you more, but there's really nothing I can say that will get you interested. I'll say this much, the movie has good style (clothes, colors, settings), and camera direction (thanks to John Singleton), but the story is just lame. I'll grant that Sam Jackson looks and acts pretty cool, but not Vanessa Williams as a supporting character can save the movie from its weak plot. I don't know enough about the original series to speak intelligently about it and whatever references it supposedly makes, but I sure hope the TV series was much better than this full feature film. What I know is that the original actor who played Shaft on TV Richard Roundtree has a cameo as Jackson's uncle. Singleton as I mentioned is the director. He was involved in more politically engaging movies such as Boyz N the Hood, Poetic Justice and other Higher Learning. His latest effort unfortunately is nothing but a big commercial splash for the summer of blockbusters aimed to please the masses. In closing, I regret watching this movie because it was such a waste of time. Recommended: No Links - /reviews/album/574/ost-original-sound-track/shaft Last Updated 11/10/2008 4:15:00 PM 1hr 39min / Directed by John Singleton / Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Vanessa Williams, Jeffrey Wright, Christian Bale, Busta Rhymes / Language: English Also by John Singleton - filmography (5 movies)
    Also starring Samuel L. Jackson - filmography (20 movies) 
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