Herald rating: * * *
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Christian Bale, Jeffrey Wright, Toni Collette.
Director: John Singleton.
Rating: R16 (violence, offensive language).
Running Time: 98 mins.
Screening: Village, Hoyts, Berkeley cinemas
Review: Russell Baillie
Gotta hand it to Mr Samuel L. As the plot to this revamp of 70s blaxploitation flick is
unravelling in all directions, he's still cool. Real cool. Funny, too.
And this Shaft has its laughs on its own terms. Despite Jackson's delivery of some truly classy lines - "it's my duty to please the booty" - the film isn't big on taking the Michael out of its origins.
No, it's reverent to the point that the original Shaft, Richard Roundtree, turns up in his old role to play a leather-jacketed Obi-Wan to his nephew with the same name and badass attitude.
It also comes equipped with those blaxploitation optional extras - big cars, big guns, big cigars and babes - though this newly sensitive Shaft seems capable of having women just as friends.
Storywise it's a dull tangle of crooked and/or racist white cops and lenient judges, one rich, white racist killer (Bale) who hooks up with a Hispanic druglord (a scene-stealing Wright), and a missing witness (Collette), through which Jackson's Shaft the younger picks his way, leaving quite a body count.
But the cluttered plot is exacerbated by an unevenness of tone.While some scenes, especially those between supporting players Bale and Wright, are electric, the flippant, funky escapism and offhand violence of the rest of film makes their efforts a mite redundant.
The original character was an early hero of black cinema, but Shaft the idea was always better than the movies that resulted. This one's not a bad movie, a popcorn thriller that's mildly infectious from the moment Isaac Hayes' famous theme kicks in. But though it's funny, don't go looking for Austin Powers in an afro. Or any fresh ideas either.
