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Click above to purchase "Shaft (2000)" at amazon.com
Shaft (2000)
review by Ren C.
Rated R
Studio: Paramount
Running Time: 99 minutes
Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Vanessa L. Williams,
Christian Bale
Screenplay by John Singleton, Shane Salerno and
Richard Price
Story by John Singleton and Shane Salerno
Based on the novel by Ernest Tidyman
Directed by John Singleton
Retail Price: $29.99
Features: Making-of Featurette, Cast Interviews, 2
Music Videos, Theatrical Trailer
Specs: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English Dolby
Digital 5.1, English Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround,
English Closed Captions, English Subtitles, Chapter Search
Let me start this review by emphasizing one point, namely
that Samuel L. Jackson is the coolest man in Hollywood.
There, having said that, I feel comfortable to move on in
this review. While "Shaft" may, at first glance seem like a
remake, it is nothing of the sort. If anything, while it
couldn't be classified as a sequel to the 1970s movies
starring Richard Roundtree, per se, it can be more
accurately classified as a continuation of the series. This
is further emphasized by the fact that Richard Roundtree
appears in the movie, reprising his role as Jackson's uncle
Shaft.
Moving on to the plot of the movie, we open immediately
immersed in action, with an apparent murder having just
taken place outside a New York nightclub. The police are on
the scene, including Detective John Shaft (Jackson). He
investigates, and based upon a tip from a waitress in the
bar (the amazing Toni Collette), he locates the suspect,
Walter Wade Jr. (Christian Bale). However, because of a bit
of an altercation that Shaft has with Wade, Shaft is removed
from the precinct. Wade is able to use his father's
connections to make bail, and leaves the country.
We then shift forward to two years later, and see Shaft
once again apprehend Bale as he reenters the country from
Switzerland. However, Wade is again able to convince the
judge to set bail, and again manages to get free. Shaft is,
to say the least, perturbed by this and turns in his badge
in the most unique manner that I have ever seen. When
questioned by his partner Vasquez (Vanessa Williams), as to
why he has done this, he says that he is going to get Wade
his own way. The only problem with this is that the waitress
who could provide the key to convicting Wade has
disappeared. In addition, Wade has found an ally, Peoples
Hernandez (Jeffrey Wright), the local drug lord, who is also
looking for the waitress.
This sets up the basic plot of the movie, but the movie
is much more complex than this. This, despite being an
action movie, sets up one of the most interesting plots I
have seen in quite some time. It manages to be that rarest
of creature, an action movie that satisfies both in terms of
action and plot. Another major plus to this movie is the
acting. While it is not filled with big name stars, it does
manage to present a number of actors doing incredible jobs
within their roles. Collette, Bale and Wright all paint
their characters with degrees of emotion that other actors
more than likely would not have brought to the role. I also
enjoyed the fact that Richard Roundtree plays a fairly
significant role in the movie, which is a nice tip of the
hat.
This is also a very authentic movie, having been shot
throughout New York City, and has that gritty,
"on-the-street" type feel to it. It is obvious that the
director, John Singleton wanted to make the movie look as
authentic as possible, and in doing so went out of his way
to shoot at these locations. All of these elements add up to
make an entertaining, and engrossing movie.
The movie was released in June of last year, and as such
looks phenomenal on DVD. This is a fairly dark movie, and as
such it looks very dark and very intense, all at the same
time. The picture is crystal clear throughout the movie, and
I have absolutely no complaints.
The movie makes full use of its 5.1 track to deliver a
fully immersive experience. Being an action movie, there is
a lot of gunplay and sirens involved, and at times it did
feel like the movie was taking place in the room. There is
also a lot of bass driven background music in the movie, and
it is evident, but never to the point of overshadowing the
foreground action.
This is the only area where the disc is slightly
disappointing. It would have been nice to see some
comparison between the modern Shaft and Roundtree's Shaft,
or something of that nature, but I take what I can get.
First up is the making-of featurette, and can we say
"promotional", boys and girls? This told me absolutely
nothing new about the movie, despite running for about
fifteen minutes. In fact, the trailer did more in two
minutes to make me want to see the movie than this
featurette did in fifteen.
Next is a series of cast interviews, again not
particularly revelatory. All the major players are
interviewed here, and the major thing that these interviews
made me appreciate was how authentic Collette, Bale and
Wright's accents were in the movie. It seriously does not
sound like the same actors.
There are two music videos provided on the disc as well.
The first is a prerequisite when talking about Shaft-Isaac
Hayes' "Theme from Shaft". The song was re-recorded for this
updated version of Shaft, and while it is still good just
because it is the theme from Shaft, it doesn't seem to quite
hold up to the 70s version. For one thing, the three-minute
introduction is gone, which definitely helped the older
version. Again, just a small nit-pick. The other video
provided is R. Kelly's "Bad Man", which seems like every
other ballad that R. Kelly has ever released. Nothing of
interest happens in this video, as it is the standard
"artist sings in a room and sings the song while being
alternated with clips from the movie" video.
Wrapping up the features is the very impressive
theatrical trailer, which the first time I saw it made me
want to see the movie, and now that I have seen the movie it
makes me want to see it again. That is the sign of an
effective trailer.
While I'm not thrilled about the relative lack of
features, in this case, it doesn't matter all that much.
This disc could be featureless and I would still recommend
it, I enjoyed the movie just that much. As such, the way the
disc is now, I still have no hesitation in giving it a high
recommendation.
 (4.5/5 - NOT included in
final score)
(4.5/5)
(4.5/5)
 (2.5/5)
 (4/5,
NOT an average)
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