Shaft (2000)

This was the part they had been waiting for Samuel L. Jackson to get old enough to play. It is impossible to imagine anyone else replacing Richard Roundtree (naturally given a cameo) as John Shaft. So does it deliver?

It's all business as usual from the beginning as the voice of Isaac Hayes dwarfs some very funky guitars and the vignette has many boobs and cool effects like handcuffs and guns. From there, it's straight to the murder scene and only two minutes later, Jackson is having a very interesting tête-à-tête with a young Christian Bale, and naturally solving all mystery in seconds. Bale really is discusting as a racist yuppie, though. There is nothing you want more than to see Shaft get him. Though at five minutes in, it makes everything a bit simple and cut & dry.

Jeffrey Wright is most entertaining, but other than that the cast here is negligible, both the actors and the parts. It's painfully clear that they're all décor for the force that is John Shaft in this flick. It's always nice to see Pat Hingle though, even if he only has a couple of lines.

As for humour, Jacksons one-liners are very cool and very, very black (It's my duty, to please that booty).

A bigger problem is that there is no real plot here. We know the killer, we know the hero, and, quite frankly, we know the ending. There's not even a twist to be found. There are some clever moves, and ideas though, and Toni Collette does provide a MacGuffin of sorts. But I've seen Indiana Jones dig for 3000 year old artifacts, that have more of a backstory than her.

The action is decent, but not very well divided. Meaning you are bored at times, and exhausted at others. And the cursing is most solid. Enough for them to must have hired consultants on the area.

So in summation, Jackson as John Shaft is one of the coolest characters of the decade. Unfortunately, they couldn't be bothered to get him much of a script, and all other characters have the depths of a puddle in Sahara

5/10