Overrated

Load of rubbish!!

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

This movie proves that the "it can't be bad if _______is in it" idea is a lie. Even the great Samuel L. Jackson can't carry this turd. He's perfect for the part, but the cheesy clichés and awful stereotyping is impossible to watch.It's embarrassing that good actors (Vanessa Williams not included) lent their skills to such an awful picture.Obvious and outward police racism that nobody could get away with (today, anyway) is commonplace, but ignored by everyone BUT Shaft. I know it's a sequel (of sorts) to the original, but even Jackson and a talented cast can't pull it off.No spoilers... Just, don't watch. You'll never get this time back.

I can't talk about "Shaft" without talking about two golden performances: Christian Bale and Jeffrey Wright.This was the first movie I'd ever seen Christian Bale in and his performance was so good I positively hated him. I didn't simply hate Walter Wade Jr., I actually hated Christian Bale!! I can remember only one other actor playing the antagonist so well that I hated the person, and that was Rebecca De Mornay in "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle." Of course, Christian Bale went on to be incredible in other movies such as "The Machinist", "Equilibrium" and the "Batman" franchise, but it took me some time to get over him being Walter Wade Jr.Then there was Jeffrey Wright as Peoples Hernandez. You mean to tell me he's NOT Latino??? No, he's not and that is amazing. His performance was stellar. He did such a good job that I wanted to see him in other movies."Shaft" was superbly written and the acting was even better. The story was good and I only neglected to write about that because it was secondary to great performances.

New York City police detective John Shaft (nephew of the original 1970s detective) goes on a personal mission to make sure the son of a real estate tycoon is brought to justice after a racially-motivated murder.This was a strange film. First, there is no way to make "Shaft" without having the actual Shaft playing the character. However, Samuel L. Jackson is probably the only person who could have attempted to fill the role, so at least they cast as good as they could.But the movie is strange in general because of Christian Bale's character. His racism is so over-the-top that it almost makes no sense. The movie seems forced. There is no doubt that racism is alive and well, but the examples here were so exaggerated it was almost comic. (In retrospect, I am glad it was Bale... always nice to see an A-lister doing something corny.)

The hardest part about being a black cop is not getting shot by white cops when you pull your gun.The honkies in this action movie, however, know better than to mess with Shaft.When rich white boy Wade Jr. (Christian Bale) is accused of killing a black man (Mekhi Phifer), no nonsense detective John Shaft is assigned to the racially charged case. But the accused is allowed to flee the country when the only witness (Toni Collette) goes missing.Unrelenting, Shaft spends the next two years searching for her.When he finds her, Wade Jr. serendipitously returns Stateside with a sadistic drug lord (Jeffrey Wright) on his payroll.John Singleton's much-maligned reboot of Shaft isn't as blasphemes as perceived, with Sam Jackson serving as a worthy successor to Richard Roundtree.Besides, young African Americans need to be exposed to influential Black icons before the CIA assassinates them all.Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca