Shaft

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Shaft

R

Released Jun 16, 2000

1h 38m

Action

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

67%

Tomatometer

118 Reviews

40%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

Crooked cops on the take -- small-time drug lords -- sleazy informers and sadistic rich kids ready to kill --- for police detective John Shaft, its just another night in the underbelly of New York City, another shift facing down cops and criminals who want him dead and a legal system that thrives on money, not justice.

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Critics Consensus

With a charismatic lead, this new Shaft knows how to push the right buttons.

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Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

A guilty pleasure for adults and older teens.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 28, 2010

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Globe and Mail

Rated: 2.5/4

Mar 22, 2002

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Peter Travers

Rolling Stone

Rated: 3/5

May 10, 2001

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Chuck Klosterman

Akron Beacon Journal

This is really a totally different creation, and it ends up being almost as good for totally different reasons.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 28, 2023

Full Review

Tony Black

Cultural Conversation

Super-empty but super-cool thrills.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 14, 2021

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

While there's time for action and chaos, the detective work is sloppy, resulting in plenty of collateral damage and destruction; it's all brawn and no brains.

Rated: 3/10

Nov 9, 2020

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terry t

This is my all time favorite movie!! The entire cast was just amazing!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/07/25

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Audience Member

A rather standard crime thriller plot, enhanced by a very solid cast and Samuel L. Jackson doing what Samuel Jackson does best. Jeffrey Wright and Christian Bale are good as the villains but the weak script brings the level of the film down. Good for a Sunday afternoon watch if you have nothing better to do.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/05/25

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Audience Member

I liked it a lot. Samuel L. Jackson has the aura to play a character like Shaft. Unfortunately I think the writing heavily weighed this movie down, they set so much up and it didn’t get paid off. Especially the ending, I had a similar reaction to the ending of “Uncut Gems”, just one a much smaller scale. I have yet to see the original Shaft, which I hear is pretty damn good. Wade was literally just Patrick Bateman if he didn’t have the balls to do what Patrick did, and they are played by the same guy! Who would have thought!! Overall this movie didn’t hurt nobody, and is just generally a pretty good time to be had. 41% is VERY low, seems a little unfair. 3.5/5 stars.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

12/10/24

Full Review

Matt W

Shaft (2000) has a good performance from Samuel L. Jackson as the lead, a good performance from Christain Bale (right in the middle of his Amercian Psycho phase) as one of the villains, and then there's Jeffrey Wright, who absolutely acted his Ass Off as Peoples Hernandez, the other main villain. Supporting cast did well enough for what was asked of them, including Richard Roundtree who played the original Shaft and apparently stepped right out of a time portal from the 1970s to play Jackson's uncle. And yet, this movie as a whole is so completely forgettable. I saw it as a young dude back in the early 2000s and thought it was okay/not bad. I happened to come across it on one of my (few) movie channels earlier this year and while it was a nice little diversion and trip down memory lane, ultimately it does not provoke a strong urge in me to watch it again anytime soon. Maybe I'll buy 2 copies of the DVD to watch in 2044, one for me and one for the space capsule.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

11/12/24

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Chad W

Listen. This movie is supposed to be an homage to the original, even having THE original John Shaft in the movie. As much as I love Samuel Jackson and Jeffery Wright. I can't recommend it.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

11/10/24

Full Review

James B

i watched it on tv it was good film is 24 years old early 2000 vibes cool seeing jeffrey wright and christian bale as villains good action flick samuel l jackson is cool

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/02/24

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John Singleton

Director

Samuel L. Jackson

John Shaft

Vanessa Williams

Carmen Vasquez

Jeffrey Wright

Peoples Hernandez

Christian Bale

Walter Wade, Jr.

Busta Rhymes

Rasaan

Shaft: Official Clip - New York Car Chase

2:13

Shaft: Official Clip - Shoot Him

1:37

Shaft: Official Clip - The Iceman Goeth

1:15

Shaft: Official Clip - Thrown in Jail

1:16

Shaft: Official Clip - April Fools

2:08

Shaft: Official Clip - Mano a Mano

1:56

Shaft: Official Clip - Gimme Your Shoes

0:52

Shaft: Official Clip - Million Dollar Bailout

0:41

Shaft: Official Clip - Meeting Peoples

1:23

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Synopsis

Crooked cops on the take -- small-time drug lords -- sleazy informers and sadistic rich kids ready to kill --- for police detective John Shaft, its just another night in the underbelly of New York City, another shift facing down cops and criminals who want him dead and a legal system that thrives on money, not justice.

Director: John Singleton
Producer: Scott Rudin, John Singleton
Screenwriter: Ernest Tidyman, John Singleton, John Singleton, Shane Salerno, Richard Price, Shane Salerno
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Shaft Productions Ltd., Paramount Pictures, New Deal Productions, Scott Rudin Productions
Rating: R (Strong Violence|Language)
Genre: Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 16, 2000, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 1, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $70.3M
Runtime: 1h 38m
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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