Runtime: 99 minutes
Directed by: John
Singleton
Starring: Samuel L.
Jackson, Christian Bale, Vanessa Williams, Jeffrey Wright, Richard
Roundtree
From: Paramount
I viewed this Friday night so I could check out the new film on Saturday. At the time I was not a big fan of this but in hindsight, this is notably better than Shaft 2019, as I'll discuss in a few hours.
As the new Shaft film is out this weekend,
it seemed like the opportune time to finally check out this movie for
the very first time. At the time I did not hear good things about this
version (which seems proper to the new film as that apparently isn't
lighting anyone's ass on fire either) so I never bothered and instead
stuck to the original 1971 blaxploitation classic. In 2019, I definitely
noticed how this just screamed “early 2000's” in style and appearance;
it's the damndest thing how so many from that period have such a
similar aesthetic.
The other thing I noticed pretty quickly: what a mean-spirited, unpleasant movie this is. I am not asking for something light-hearted and cheery when they chose a story about a racist rich punk total tool (Christian Bale!) who tries to do everything to get rid of a frightened witness to his hate crime that resulted in a death (and not that such a scenario could happen in real life... looks around sheepishly...*) but this is full of vulgarity & cursing, everyone yells at each other and awful comments are made constantly. Maybe I'd be able to excuse that if the plot was interesting and thrilling, but it's not; in fact, it's a total mess.
I can at least say this was average, although I highly doubt I'll ever watch this again. Samuel L. Jackson is a bad mother... and occasionally I did laugh. It does have a quality cast and what a bizarre mix of talent: Jackson, Bale, Richard Roundtree (I wish there would have been more with him), Toni Collette, Vanessa Williams, Busta Rhymes, Dan Hedaya, Pat Hingle, Elizabeth Banks in one of her first movies, and even American football legend Lawrence Taylor. And the score from David Arnold was a 2000 version of a funk score, and was a decent facsimile of what was heard in blaxploitation films of old.
I just wish this would have been fun and wacky like a blaxploitation film of old.
* It is said that Bale's character is the "son of a prominent New York real estate developer." Insert your own comments if you wish.
The other thing I noticed pretty quickly: what a mean-spirited, unpleasant movie this is. I am not asking for something light-hearted and cheery when they chose a story about a racist rich punk total tool (Christian Bale!) who tries to do everything to get rid of a frightened witness to his hate crime that resulted in a death (and not that such a scenario could happen in real life... looks around sheepishly...*) but this is full of vulgarity & cursing, everyone yells at each other and awful comments are made constantly. Maybe I'd be able to excuse that if the plot was interesting and thrilling, but it's not; in fact, it's a total mess.
I can at least say this was average, although I highly doubt I'll ever watch this again. Samuel L. Jackson is a bad mother... and occasionally I did laugh. It does have a quality cast and what a bizarre mix of talent: Jackson, Bale, Richard Roundtree (I wish there would have been more with him), Toni Collette, Vanessa Williams, Busta Rhymes, Dan Hedaya, Pat Hingle, Elizabeth Banks in one of her first movies, and even American football legend Lawrence Taylor. And the score from David Arnold was a 2000 version of a funk score, and was a decent facsimile of what was heard in blaxploitation films of old.
I just wish this would have been fun and wacky like a blaxploitation film of old.
* It is said that Bale's character is the "son of a prominent New York real estate developer." Insert your own comments if you wish.
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