Certification. 18
Running Time. 1 hour 39 mins
Director. John Singleton
Cast. Christian Bale, Toni Collette, Dan Hedaya, Samuel L. Jackson, Busta Rhymes, Richard Roundtree, Vanessa Williams, Jeffrey Wright.
Rating. 56%
Gordon Parks' 1971 Shaft is one of the most definitive blaxploitation thrillers of the 1970s. Was there the need for a 21st century reboot? Director John Singleton clearly thought there was.
Singleton was undoubtedly a talented director, but one who found himself living in the shadow of a successful and hugely influential debut. At age 24, John Singleton became the first black director and the youngest ever to be nominated for an Academy Award (for Best Director). Sadly, Singleton struggled to find a way to match or surpass Boyz In The Hood in the remainder of his career.
There is no denying that Samuel L. Jackson is the most perfect choice to play Detective John Shaft. He oozes self-confidence and charisma. Jackson brings a genuine weight to the role, but his John Shaft is way more mainstream than Richard Roundtree's. In a nice touch, Richard Roundtree gets to reprise his original role in a few incidental scenes. Still a private investigator, Uncle John Shaft is encouraging his nephew to join him in the private sector, and escape the futility of working within a system that is broken and inherently favours rich, white people.
But it is an almost unrecognisable Jeffrey Wright that steals the show a mesmerising performance as the menacing and apparently psychotic Dominican drug lord, Peoples Hernandez.
Ultimately, Singleton's Shaft falters due to shallow, undeveloped, stock characters and a poorly written, unoriginal storyline. Singleton is unable to elevate the film beyond the standard Hollywood crime thriller, and John Shaft comes across as just another angry and embittered law enforcement officer.
Devoid of the gratuitous nudity and sex commonplace in the blaxploitation films of the 1970s, the film lacks the flavour of the genre it was trying to recapture and pay homage to. Singleton's film is a sanitised version of Shaft and one that pales in comparison to the original.
Comments
Post a Comment