Review: Shaft

Directed by: John Singleton

Written by: Richard Price, John Singleton, Shane Salerno

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Vanessa Williams, Jeffrey Wright, Christian Bale, Dan Hedaya

Rating: [3.5/5]

It would shock no one to believe the criminal justice system in the United States does not reflect the values it should. Something quite obvious as money and political influence can tip the balance in one direction or the other depending on who has the highest bid at the time. This, reasonably, would anger someone trying to play by the rules when they don’t exist. Shaft presents us a character who opts out of playing by the rules to get true justice done making for a fun and wild ride through the streets of New York. 

Following an arrest that should have resulted in an open-and-shut case, John Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson) becomes disillusioned with the process and decides to get justice outside of his position as an officer. This leaves him in a place to protect a key witness to an assault leading to the death of someone he knew as her life faces a serious threat. 

When taking a character made famous from a different era of filmmaking like the blaxploitation films makes for an adjustment in order to adapt towards a more modern approach. What works in the 1970s might not necessarily fly in 2000, and this adaptation of the Shaft character makes for a more than competent film allowing the lead star to flex his charisma making for something worth enjoying. 

Shaft’s disillusionment in the criminal justice system occurs in a case he believes he has cracked, however, the culprit at the center of this issue just so happens to be the son of a major real estate tycoon. Walter Wade Jr. (Christian Bale). It means Wade can manipulate the system to get just enough leeway to fully exploit it to his benefit. It allows the opportunity where he can flee the country when not deemed a flight risk and gets a pitiful bail amount relative to the money he can access. Shaft finds himself in the place where he needs to begin to act in his own way thus presenting this new approach where he does not require the backing of the NYPD but does not have the handcuffs of serving as a public official with his approach to his enemies. As a result, we get a film filled with shootouts, one-liners, and plenty of fun. 

As a villain source you get Wade, the obvious culprit, but also a Dominican gangster named Peoples Hernandez (Jeffrey Wright), who receives just the right amount of financial incentive in order to get involved with this mess. Now seeing Jeffrey Wright operate in this type of character definitely came as quite a surprise. Mostly consuming his more modern work of the 2010s and beyond where he has a more sage quality to him, seeing him play a Dominican gangster well and truly through me for a loop but it certainly makes for an entertaining viewing experience when you see Wright go up against Samuel L. Jackson in a showdown for the ages. 

One of the keys to success driving this feature forward derives from its inherent silliness. A perspective on this movie could certainly exist where it becomes very self-serious about the subject matter at hand, but going back to its blaxploitation roots, this movie knows how it wants to tackle its plot thus making for something overtly silly but also with a purpose, and nothing you can fault it for. It helps excuse some of its weaker elements even if it excels in most areas. This sets the proper foundation of expectations where we can enter the story with the right framework. 

Shaft delivers everything it seeks to accomplish as a film. It brings in someone like Samuel L. Jackson to rock out with the natural charisma everyone knows and he gets to punch Christian Bale’s weirdly punchable face on multiple occasions. Honestly, what else could anyone ask for? This film knows what it is and has plenty of fun in bringing us into this world and bringing back a character with plenty of swagger and attitude when it comes to what he does, how he does it, and who gets to tell him what to do. An entertaining romp by every stretch and something worth watching if you need something fun to escape into and enjoy.