Plot: What’s it about?
Who delivers ten times out of ten? John Shaft played by Samuel L. Jackson (“Pulp Fiction,” “Jackie Brown”& “Deep Blue Sea”) This is not the the John Shaft character of the three Shaft movies in the 70’s but the nephew of his Uncle John Shaft (Richard Roundtree of the Original “Shaft,” “Shaft’s Big Score” & “Shaft In Africa” ) who has a cameo in the movie. Shaft (Jackson) is a cop for the NYPD who is investigating a racial murder in which a young black man was killed by a white rich yuppie named Walter Wade, Jr. (Christian Bale of “American Psycho”) Shaft’s only witness (Toni Colette) has disappeared and Wade has left the country after posting bail only to return two years later and is re-arrested by Shaft. Wade gets out again and hires a druglord named Peoples (Jeffrey Wright) to kill the witness. Shaft is not only up against Wade but Peoples, his gang of thugs & ! ! some crooked cops. Shaft is more than up to the task with the help of his partner Carmen Vasquez (Vanessa Williams) and informant Rasaan (Busta Rhymes). What ensues is some tough talking and hard hitting action that makes “Shaft” an enjoyable film that tops the original version.
The new “Shaft” was directed by John Singleton (“Boyz In The Hood,” “Higher Learning,” “Rosewood” & “Poetic Justice.”) who I think has made a much superior film to the original “Shaft.” Samuel L. Jackson is great in this film, which moves along at a quicker pace, has all the tough talking dialogue like the original & more action. The supporting cast is also very good with solid performances by Christian Bale, Vanessa Williams, Jeffery Wright & Richard Roundtree for the little screen time that he has. It would have been nice to see Jackson & Roundtree fighting the bad guys together. The film does lack in the character development department as you don’t find out too much about Shaft’s background or even see where he lives. There is really no time for that as Shaft is thrusted into the police investigation and tryi! ! ng to put Wade and all the other bad guys behind bars or in the morgue. Despite these things, The new Shaft still delivers at least nine times out of ten which isn’t that bad.
Paramount, which has been known for solid transfers but light on the extras offers a little more in this disk. Instead of the usual trailer we get two 15 minute featurettes about the making of “Shaft” with interviews from Jackson, Vanessa Williams, Christian Bale, Richard Roundtree, John Singleton and others. There is a music video for the “Shaft” theme by Isaac Hayes and another one for the song “Bad Man” by R. Kelly. The main menu screen is a motion menu that has some cool music with it. It would have been nice to have an audio commentary by John Singleton, Samuel L. Jackson & Richard Roundtree. Paramount seems to only provide some supplements on their newer titles like this, “Sleepy Hollow,” & “Mission Impossible 2.” I did notice an audio commentary & deleted scenes on an older title like Cheech & Chong’s “Up In Smoke,” &! ! nbsp;but it would be nice to see more supplements on other older titles like the Friday The 13th series and the upcoming disks of “Death Wish” & “The Warriors.”
Video: How does it look?
The picture is presented in a widescreen 2.35 version that is enhanced for 16:9 TV’s. The picture is very sharp and the colors look well balanced with proper flesh tones and no color bleeding. I found no pixels or artifacts on the screen at all. (Then again I didn’t stick my face right up to the monitor with a magnifying glass to look for pixels) From where I was sitting, which was a distance of over 6 feet from the television I saw a perfect picture.
Audio: How does it sound?
The audio however was not as good as the video. The audio was a 5.1 track which I felt was not aggressive enough in the rear speakers during some of the scenes involving gunplay. Don’t get me wrong this is not a terrible mix, it’s just not as good as I thought it would be. The front speakers sound great with good balance of dialogue and music/effects. The bass kicks in pretty good throughout the action scenes. The rear speakers do get some use when some cars are passing buy and during other scenes, but are not aggressive during the action scenes. While it is not a bad mix I don’t think it is as aggressive as Paramounts other disks like “Payback” or “Face-Off.”
Supplements: What are the extras?
A theatrical trailer is included, which is always nice…especially when it has that Shaft music in the background. Also included are a few music videos, most noteably with R. Kelly as well as a few brief featurettes. All in all, not a bad offering from Paramount. Just remember who the baddest mutha in the world is!
