Shaft (2000)

• Directed, Co-Written, and Co-Produced by John Singleton
• June 16, 2000
• Based on Shaft created by Ernest Tidyman

The nephew of the legendary detective works to take down the son of a real-estate mogul a racially motivated attack.

I have to say starting out I enjoyed Shaft 2000. There is certainly plenty to like here. But as a Shaft film it’s much more in line with the second shaft movie than it is with the first in many aspects. New York City is not as much of a character as it was in the original nor in some of the detective films which imitated or perhaps were even inspired by Shaft. 

This is a film set in the Shaft universe but is not as much of a sequel as Shaft’s Big Score. If anything it’s more of a gritty action film. The original Shaft and the general vibe of the character is not as present here as he perhaps should be. Richard Roundtree shows up to establish a familial connection with Samuel Jackson but does little more.

Shaft 2.0 (Samuel L Jackson) is a streetwise cop going against the system rather than a private investigator fighting the man. If any actor living today has a similar if not identical screen presence to Richard Roundtree it is Samuel Jackson. He can come on screen and be tough without having to do much. In contrast to the original his John Shaft is not nearly as certain or in charge of the situation. People don’t defer to him or back down when he asserts himself like happened with Shaft originally.

Shaft 2.0 is trying to take down Walter Wade, Jr. (Christian Bale), the racist son of a local real estate magnate. The kid beat a black man (Mekhi Phifer) to death and because of money as well as social position has been able to avoid consequences for several years. Shaft is p****d!

Walter is just a rich douchebag who has been able to accomplish what he’s accomplished because his father (Philip Bosco) has been helping him. If it weren’t for his dad, he wouldn’t even be a factor to Shaft. I do feel Jr. should’ve been more in charge of things as a character or the father should’ve been more involved in the story. Either get rid of the dad character and make the rich son able to handle things or make the dad the actual power behind the son and have him go against Shaft. Make a decision.

If there is a genuine threat to Shaft it’s in the form of Peoples Hernandez played by Jeffrey Wright who I did not know was in this movie. Peoples has resources and skills and just general attitude that Walt Jr. does not have. And he grows as quite a threat while Walt never quite gets beyond the initial jerk at the club phase. Unlike Lil’ Walt, Peoples has corrupt cops like Detective Jack Roselli (Dan Hedaya) and Detective Jimmy Groves (Ruben Santiago-Hudson) that he can use while Water Jr. cannot even figure out how to come up with money easily. He has a whole gang while Walter has…nothing. Yet Walter is framed as the main threat. Huh? And worse he overshadows the better Peoples in the narrative for no discernable reason other than nobody knew how to make Walt a threat on his own or make Peoples the main villain.

I really can’t say up until this film I had a high opinion of Wright. I didn’t think terrible of him, but all I ever thought I ever had seen him play were more intelligent or cerebral individuals. I had never seen them come anywhere close to someone who is brutal or violent. This was a bit of a revelation for me because he kills it as a brutal yet complex gang leader that aligns himself with Christian Bale’s Walter Jr. 

Rather than muscle his way from one scene to the next Shaft 2.0 takes advantage of things and tries to pit one side against the other in order to weaken them. It works but it quickly falls apart when Shaft the Living Sequel allows himself to be seen. Normally these things play out for a little bit with each side taking the other down until somebody finally realizes what’s going on and the remaining forces put aside their differences long enough to go after the good guy who easily dispatches them. Not so much so here. 

Admittedly, Samuel Jackson is not playing the original Shaft but if this is going to be a Shaft film then the Shaft character needs to be able to handle things on his own. He doesn’t need assistance to get to the point just before he takes on the villain. It’s a different thing to need help to take down the villain like he did in the original one. Here this Shaft has his own little loyal group aiding and abetting.

It’s a good film. Plenty of action. Plenty of twists and turns. And the story never lets up. It’s always moving forward. Whether it be the investigation to try to track down Diane Palmieri (Toni Collette) or what’s going on with the main threat(s) there’s never a dead spot. And seeing Samuel L Jackson whip out a can of whoop ass on everybody that causes him even a minor problem is just very satisfying.

The soundtrack is absolutely amazing and certainly helps set a more Shaft tone than the action alone does. They even resurrect the original Shaft theme along with music that mimics or alludes to the original soundtrack. You just get a whole different feel than you would in any other movie.

I went into this hoping it would re-capture much of the magic of the original film. I liked the first one and the second one and the third one was enjoyable enough even though it was basically trying to make Shaft into James Bond. Perhaps it was the time Shaft came out in or the fact that it was a unique first of its kind. Regardless Shaft 2000 doesn’t quite recapture the original Shaft magic even though it is a good movie. 

As a Shaft movie, Shaft 2000 is okay. As a Samuel L. Jackson movie Shaft 2000 is fantastic. It’s accessible to people who’ve never seen a Shaft film yet is connected enough to the original Shaft movies that at least you feel it belongs. This is worth a watch.