SYNOPSIS

Samuel L. Jackson stars as detective John Shaft, a new-generation “black private dick who’s a sex machine with all the chicks” in this stylish, action-packed update of the classic blaxploitation trilogy (SHAFT, SHAFT’S BIG SCORE!, and SHAFT IN AFRICA) from the early 1970s. Shaft’s nemesis this time around is Walter Wade Jr. (Christian Bale), a cocky, blue-blooded white kid who commits a violent hate crime but still manages to skirt the system. When Wade forms an unholy alliance with powerful Dominican drug lord Peoples Hernandez (Jeffrey Wright) along with two dirty cops from Shaft’s own precinct, Shaft turns in his badge to dispense justice on his own terms. Luckily for him, the original Shaft (Richard Roundtree, who is this Shaft’s uncle) is around to help out, along with Vanessa Williams as a trustworthy cop, Toni Colette as an eyewitness to Wade’s crime, and rapper Busta Rhymes as Shaft’s man-on-the-street Rasaan. Director John Singleton (BOYZ N THE HOOD, HIGHER LEARNING) appears in a brief cameo, as does original SHAFT director Gordon Parks; the only creator missing is Ernest Tidyman, who wrote the novel that started it all. And SHAFT fans, take comfort–Isaac Hayes’s remake of his classic theme is as funky as ever.


TRAILER


RELEASE DATE

September 15, 2000

DIRECTOR

John Singleton

WRITER

Ernest Tidyman, John Singleton

COMPANY

United International Pictures (UIP)

GENRE

Action, Adventure, Thriller

CERT

18

RUNTIME

95 minutes

IMAGES