Shaft
Who's the Man? Not the screenwriter.
By Christopher Welch

: : : Our Rating : : :

There must have been a memo. This memo had to have been passed around Hollywood more than a few years ago. The memo probably went something like this. "It is our opinion that the best way to end a standoff between the hero, and villain at the end of a movie is this. The hero and the villain should both appear to be unarmed. The villain appears to be giving up, and the hero is allowing him to do so, when suddenly out of nowhere the villain pulls a gun. Just before he is able to squeeze the trigger the hero also pulls a gun out of nowhere and pumps the villain full of lead. This twist will take the entire audience by surprise, and we can use it over, and over again as much as we want because they will never see it coming."

I swear if I have to see this stupid cliched thing used in one more movie I am going to pull my own gun out of seemingly nowhere and shoot myself in the head. While I am sorry if I ruin it for you, not surprisingly this is the way one of the main villains in Shaft meets their inevitable end. Capping off a film that while in the first two acts shows a small hint of potential, Spirals into a stupid cliched mess by the end.

There is really only one reason to see this movie, and that is Samuel L. Jackson. Any blue blooded American will agree that he was born to play this role, this movie helps to prove it. The entire film is really just an excuse to see Jackson strut around, shooting off one liners, and being a bad ass. If this happened to be in a fairly good movie all would be right with the world. Sadly however this is not the case.

The entire film starts off by showing some potential. However that's all it ever really does is show potential. Throughout the entire film, things are introduced that seem like they will be pretty cool, but soon they just spiral into the same old humdrum routine as every other movie out there. What doesn't end in a cliched way ends with a very tacked on, "Quick tell the writer to do this even though it doesn't make a whole lot of sense" feel. This is particularly true for the way Christian Bale meets his end at the end of the film.

John Singleton the film's director is able to establish a good feel for the film, (particularly with the style of the dialogue), and throw in a couple of nice odds and ends, but that's about it. One of the odds and ends is the fact that the original Shaft, Richard Roundtree makes an appearance in the film. While this is a cool homage though, there's really no reason for him. He just shows up every so often, spouts a couple of lines, and then disappears, only to show back up again at the end of the movie.

The only other note worthy items in the movie are the two villains, played by Jeffrey Wright, and Christian Bale. Wright in this film shows off some pretty nice acting skills despite his silly character. It wouldn't surprise me to see him get a lot more work because of his role in this film. I for one think he deserves it. Secondly is the performance of the in my opinion highly talented Christian Bale. While his work here doesn't even come remotely close to his utterly brilliant, and in my opinion Oscar worthy role in American Psycho, he does the best he can with what he has, which unfortunately isn't a whole lot.

These are the few bright spots in a film that is filled with a lot of stupid, cliched moments a completely unnecessary female character in Vanessa Williams, and some mock acting turns by several rappers. The most laughable of these is Shaft's buddy, and side kick in the film. Unless you're Frank Sinatra, musicians should stay musicians, and actors should stay actors.

Shaft is really only worth seeing because of the actors. Christian Bale, and Jeffrey Wright shine, but not nearly as bright as they would in an actual good movie. As for Samuel L. Jackson he does what he does best, and what he does is quite simply be The Man.