I gotta admit,
I've never seen the original "Shaft." As a matter of fact, I've
never seen ANY of the films during the "blaxploitation" era.
I've never seen "Superfly," I've never seen "The Mack,"
I've never seen any of those. The closest blaxploitation film I've ever
seen is the Keenan Ivory Wayans film, "I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka,"
which is really a spoof of the genre. Great movie, though. I laughed hysterically.
This new version of "Shaft" isn't really a remake, because from
what I hear about the original, this is totally different. Besides, Richard
Roundtree, the man who played the title character in the original, plays
the same man in this movie while Samuel L. Jackson plays his nephew. So
realistically, this is a sequel of sorts.
Although there's no denying that Samuel L. Jackson easily bursts the coolness
meter, I wasn't so sure about his being cast as "Shaft." Yeah,
"Shaft" was Mr. Cool, but he was also a lady killer, and I couldn't
see Samuel L. Jackson being a Casanova. Also, I thought he was a little
too old for the role. As it turns out, none of that matters. The script
doesn't call for any overt Casanova behavior, and the age thing is irrelevant.
Samuel L. Jackson is perfect.
Aside from
Samuel L. Jackson, there are lots of other talented people in front of the
camera. Former Miss America Vanessa L. Williams was good, as was rapper
Busta Rhymes, who provided much of the humor. Christian Bale ("Patrick
Bateman" in "American Psycho") was great as the evil white
guy, and Toni Collette (the mom in "The
Sixth Sense") was great as the scared white girl. The actor who
probably stands out is Jeffrey Wright as "Peoples Hernandez."
His accent was funny (I'm not sure if that was intentional or not), but
he was scary. I've never seen him before, but I know that he was the title
character in "Basquiat." The guy's a damn good actor.
"Shaft" was directed by John Singleton, a man who turned everyone's
head with his widely praised debut film, "Boyz N the Hood."
He followed that with "Poetic Justice, "Higher Learning,"
and "Rosewood" (with the exception of "Rosewood,"
he also wrote those movies). Unfortunately, he never matched the critical
and financial success of "Boyz N the Hood." I don't think that
the critics will fall in love with "Shaft," but hopefully, it'll
be a big hit for Singleton. He's a talented guy, and I'd like to see him
do well. As for the script, it was written by Singleton, Shane Salerno
(one of the many writers of "Armageddon"),
and Richard Price. Richard Price is a very well-respected writer who's
done a lotta work with Martin Scorsese. He wrote Scorsese's segment of
"New York Stories" (entitled "Life Lessons"), he wrote
the Scorsese-directed Michael Jackson video, "Bad," and he wrote
"The Color of Money." In addition, he wrote the screenplay (adapted
from his own novel) for the Spike Lee-directed "Clockers," he
wrote "Mad Dog and Glory," and "Sea of Love."
I was glad
to see that during the opening credits, they stuck with the "Shaft"
music that we all know and love from Isaac Hayes. For the actual score though,
it was David Arnold. The music was terrific, totally in keeping with the
feel of the movie.
"Shaft" doesn't seem to take itself too seriously, and that's
probably the way to watch the movie. Don't take it too seriously, just sit
back, and enjoy.
Scale of 1-10: 8