Shaft (UK)

7 / 10
4 votes cast
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Still the man, any questions?
Certificate: 18
Running Time: 95 mins
Retail Price: £19.99
Release Date:

Synopsis:
Who delivers ten times out of ten? Samuel L. Jackson is Shaft, the man and the movie. John Singleton (Boyz `N` The Hood), directs this gritty action packed thriller.

With Uncle John Shaft (Richard Roundtree reprising his original role) as mentor, it`s no surprise that today`s Shaft is the coolest dude and the hottest action around. To stop a racist killer (Christian Bale) Shaft`s got to track down the only eyewitness that can put him behind bars (Toni Colette). As Shaft closes in, so does the danger. Armed with attitude and up against corrupt cops and venomous druglords he`s out to make crime pay up.

Special Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
`Shaft: Still The Man` Making Of Featurette
Cast & Crew Interviews
Theatrical Trailer
Music Videos: `Theme From Shaft` (Isaac Hayes) and `Bad Man` (R Kelly)

Video Tracks:
Widescreen Anamorphic 2.35:1

Audio Tracks:
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1 German

Subtitle Tracks:
Icelandic
Polish
Czech
Swedish
Finnish
Turkish
Romanian
English
German
CC: English
Hungarian
Dutch
Arabic
Danish
Norwegian
Bulgarian

Directed By:
John Singleton

Written By:




Starring:
Richard Roundtree
Busta Rhymes
Christian Bale
Jeffrey Wright
Vanessa L. Williams
Samuel L. Jackson

Casting By:
Ilene Starger

Soundtrack By:
David Arnold

Music From:
Isaac Hayes

Director of Photography:
Donald E. Thorin

Editor:
Antonia Van Drimmelen
John Bloom

Costume Designer:
Ruth E. Carter

Production Designer:
Patrizia Von Brandenstein

Producer:
Eric Steel
John Singleton
Scott Rudin
Mark Roybal

Executive Producer:
Adam Schroeder
Steve Nicolaides
Paul Hall

Distributor:
Paramount Pictures

Your Opinions and Comments

9 / 10
This modern movie is more a sequal to the original than a remake because richard roundtree is still shaft and samuel l jackson plays his tough cousin.jackson is fantastic.christian bale is a worthy villan.the picture and sound are brilliant the extras are poor but a music video of the shaft theme tune plus a brill trailer helps this great movie
posted by Tony Ferrino on 27/4/2001 22:21
7 / 10
There are some very good things about this remake. The acting is excellent. Samuel L. Jackson IS Shaft. I can`t think of a better casting decision in the last 10 years. I think it is safe to say that this remake would not have happened without him. He is like Sean Connery as Bond - he just oozes cool.

But...the story tries to do too much. I mean, we have the racist killer, the drug dealer, the corrupt cops, Shaft searching for the witness, Shaft struggling to do what is right - yadda yadda. Too much is crammed in and as a result, the story doesn`t work as a whole. Subplots are introduced and then ignored for the rest of the film (I am thinking of Christian Bale being recruited by Wright to sell drugs to the upper-class— don`t worry, I`m not spoiling anything, since it plays no part anywhere else in the film). Wright made such a great villain that I wish they`d ignored the trite stuff about racism and drugs and just had him be a psycho for two hours. And that ending! Upon reflection, I can`t believe I was surprised by what occurred. I guess I just expected that the writers would be able to think of something a bit less cliché. After about 45 minutes, the plot just exists to string along action sequences anyway, so why muck it up with social pretenses on the corruption of the upper class mentality? I mean really, I go to Shaft to see a sex machine who`s a hit with all the chicks.

Of course, many will argue that a good plot and realistically drawn characters aren`t important in an action film, and I guess they`d be right, to an extent. And if you look at it that way, Shaft does provide just enough plot to push the action and create a somewhat compelling storyline. The character of Shaft is the real star, and Sam Jackson delivers.
posted by Aslan on 26/4/2003 00:11