THE SKINNY
The nephew of the original Shaft takes the law into his own hands in order to capture a racist murderer

THE BOTTOM LINE
Jeffrey Wright is great, but John Singleton should have left Shaft in the 70’s

THE FULL REVIEW
Were it not for the hilariously outrageous performance by Jeffrey Wright (Basquiat) as a repugnant and egomaniacal Dominican drug dealer named Peoples Hernandez, there would be little reason to see John Singleton’s update of the 1971 film Shaft. Not to take anything away from Sam Jackson’s imposing performance in the film’s lead role, but Wright is so much fun to watch on screen that nearly everything else that occurs in this film (good and bad) comes across as merely an accessory to the unexpected surprise that is the Hernandez character.

This updated version of Shaft pits a recently retired New York detective named John Shaft against an arrogant racist named Walter Wade, played by Christian Bale (American Psycho, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Velvet Goldmine), who is out on bail after ruthlessly murdering a young black man. Shaft must find the only witness to the murder, played by Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense, 8 1/2 Women, Muriel’s Wedding), before Wade gets to her.

While this film wasn’t exactly bad, it was a significant letdown. With his involvement as writer and/or producer/director in such films as Boyz N the Hood, Rosewood and even Higher Learning, John Singleton has more than proven himself adept at exploring race-related issues in his films. With Shaft, however, the idea for which Singleton had been shopping to potential backers since the mid-1990’s, it appears that the director may have succumbed to the ills of Hollywood in the process of finally getting this picture made.

Singleton collaborated with Richard Price, author of the novel Clockers, to produce a surprisingly thoughtless and at times shoddy script, particularly given the provocative subject matter with which the film deals. Hollywood uber-producer Scott Rudin exerted significant influence over the development of the film, beginning with his insistence that the title character be played by Sam Jackson (his marquee name would appeal to a crossover audience), rather than Don Cheadle, whom Singleton had wanted. While he may not have looked as slick as Jackson in a long black Armani leather coat, Cheadle, whose range as an actor runs deeper than Jackson’s, may have been able to create a more compelling John Shaft.

Strangely, the film doesn’t start out all that bad. The audience is quickly drawn in to what initially appears to be a generally good cop’s passionate crusade to make a smug and detestable racist pay for the ruthless murder he committed. Christian Bale plays his part to perfection, but as the story’s main villain, he is conspicuously absent for much of the later part of the film. Perhaps this is to Bale’s benefit, since the story completely breaks down about two-thirds of the way through the film. The plot gives way to routine bullet-laced action sequences. And, in what has to be one of the more perplexing and outlandish plot twists in recent memory, two associates of Shaft on the police force turn so bad that they almost make Bale’s character look compassionate by comparison.

Released in theatres across the country in 1991, Boyz N the Hood was a powerful, landmark film that exposed mainstream audiences to some shocking aspects of urban black culture in America. Despite the certain box-office success of the new Shaft, film audiences would be much better served if Singleton focused his efforts on creating entirely original films instead of wasting his talent making Hollywood updates of movies that were breaking ground 30 years ago.

By: Craig Ettinger