Shaft

A quality detective film from the '90s (well, technically from the new millennium, but it has that nostalgic feel of a decade ago). Samuel L. Jackson plays a tough detective whom you’d better get along with, as making him your enemy could lead to unfavorable outcomes. Some of the best supporting roles are featured here: Christian Bale as a sleazy character, Jeffrey Wright as a gangster, and Dan Hedaya as a corrupt police officer. The story feels quite simple, but sometimes it's nice to watch something where you can turn off your brain and immediately know who the hero and the antagonist are. Toni Collette as the murder witness was also a pleasant surprise. Although the film has its moments of humor and overall lightness, which I think is a good choice, there are some moments that aren't very entertaining (the fate of the two corrupt detectives). Don’t expect much action, but when it does come, it's satisfying. The ending has a surprising twist that genuinely caught me off guard. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it did manage to captivate me. I give it 68%. (07/09/2018)

I was reminded of Shaft after all these years and was so pleasantly surprised that I had to give him an extra star. It's an honest crime drama that would perhaps be an absolute classic if... if it had been made before or soon after Dirty Harry. It's Dirty Harry that Shaft most resembles – a title character who is at once a rebel, a pragmatist, and a rather cunning fox, an interestingly evolving story, cynical catchphrases and impressive shoot-outs. I'm not familiar with the original series or the film, but even from this "new millennium version", the 70s can be felt far and wide. And that's good. (07/01/2019)

Samuel L. Jackson is perfectly suited for this role, even though it doesn't quite have the punch of the 1970s blaxploitation era. This is just a typical modern action film, with a pretty tough character in the lead role, who you wish was even tougher. There aren't that many memorable lines, but the story is quite intricately woven, even though it culminates in a somewhat expected manner. (04/21/2015)