Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Jeffrey Wright, Vanessa Williams, Christian Bale, Toni Collette, Dan Hedaya, Richard Rountree, Busta Rhymes, Pat Hingle. Written (with others) and Directed by John Singleton. John Shaft (Jackson) is called to a crime site where a young black man had his head cracked open by a piece of metal. Not even bothering to wipe the blood of his hands is Wally Jr. (Bale), a rich kid with an attitude and a wealthy, influential father. A bartender Diane Palmieri (Collette) was a witness to the murder, but is too afraid to tell Shaft anything, and soon disappears. Consequently, Wally gets bail and flys off to Switzerland for a couple of years. Shaft returns to the police force, joining partner Carmen (Williams), and raids a known coke manufacturing establishment. The trouble is, they find no cocaine, and the local Dominican druglord Peoples Hernandez (Wright) just sneers at the frustrated cops. Shaft hauls People's butt into jail. Shaft's luck begins to turn. Wally Jr. returns to New York in the dead of night, but Shaft intercepts him with the help of his Rastafarian friend Rasaan (Rhymes), and throws Wally's butt into jail. But next morning, Wally gets bail, and Shaft quits the force in disgust, determined to put Wally away on his own, and with the help of some of his cop friends and Uncle John (Roundtree). But Wally has other ideas, and the race is on to be the first to find Diane, and swing the case their way. Shaft is not really a sequel to the original series of blaxploitation films from the 70's, nor is it a remake. Jackson's Shaft is the nephew of Roundtree's original Shaft, who also makes a token appearance in the film, as does original director Gordon Parks as a chess-playing nightclub patron. There is plenty of attitude and style in the telling of the story, although it's sophistication doesn't rise much above many standard cop-with-an-attitude flicks. The villains are oh so bad, and the good guys are oh so good, even when twisting the law to bust up the bad guys. There are also too many implausibilities that get in the way of continuity of the story. For instance, Shaft smacks young Wally twice, and then quits the police force, but we immediately find him back on the job two years later without any explanation of how he returned. Wally returns home to New York from his two year holiday in Switzerland without viable explanation on why the young fugitive returned. And aren't there extradition treaties with Switzerland? A murder suspect would more than likely be extradited back to the U.S. There is no foundation as to why certain cops out of the blue help a certain villain. The "surprise" ending is not at all satisfying or consistent with the tone of the movie. And where does Shaft find the money to buy Rasaan a ridiculously expensive car - that cheesy plotline appeared in a few too many 70's cop shows. And like 70's cop shows, story and plausibility are too often sacrificed for a good car chase and a chance for a cool quip. One good thing - when the bad guys get shot and die, they die well. They drop like a sack of ... potatoes. Samuel L. Jackson marks a return to form after his disasterous outing in The Phantom Menace, and the problem with his character is not him. After Pulp Fiction, there are few who can project confidence and control like he can, and he's one actor for whom I would go see a film just because he's in it. The problem is this Shaft is not a cool guy. He's always getting riled up about one thing or another. From the justice system, to Wally and the druglord, to his caricature of a police captain, he is rarely cool and is an undisciplined but well-meaning do-gooder. Actually Roundtree is the cool guy, calm and knowing, and able to leave a night club with two lovely ladies without having to say a word or brag about "the booty" to anybody. But the star of the show is Wright, who is in turn sly, suave, slimy and a rupturing volcano. You know he's gonna have to die in the end, but he gives the film considerable life. Shaft is not bad, it's just not that good. If you would like to respond, please click the E-Mail Press Here To Go To The Review List Page