An Equal Opportunity Re-Creation Lives On In Jackson’s ‘Shaft’

The first hint, perhaps the only necessary one, that Samuel L. Jackson could epitomize the type of cucumber-cool customer who “won’t cop out when there’s danger all about,” was his mesmerizing take on the character of Jules Winfield, the Ezekiel-spouting, big-afro-wearing hitman with the icy-cold stare in Pulp Fiction. But in case we didn’t pick up that clue — and others since — here he is as the ultimate super-cool cat, John Shaft, in the modern re-working of the hit 1971 film of the same name, Shaft. Is Jackson the goods? Can you say, “Who delivers ten times out of ten?”

Instead of replacing the original Shaft (Richard Roundtree), Jackson plays the nephew of Roundtree’s character, who has a cameo in the new film. But instead of following his uncle into the private eye business, Shaft is now a detective in the NYPD. When the film opens, he is on the case of a race crime involving a rich, bigoted yuppie, Walter Wade, Jr (Christian Bale). When daddy foots his bail, Wade skips the country and avoids his moment in court. But he doesn’t escape Shaft, who is willing to bide his time to make this bust.

Meanwhile, the script introduces another villain, a Dominican drug lord named Peoples Hernandez (played flamboyantly by Jeffrey Wright), whose run-in with Shaft, who has the gall to stain the coke dealer’s crisp white designer shirt, puts him in the same cell as Wade… and a plan is hatched.

The original Shaft was a groundbreaker in that it was the forerunner of the early 70s “blaxploitation” films — films starring black actors and aimed at the black audience — and it starred a new kind of African-American hero. Though Sidney Poitier had long established himself as a major star — he won an Oscar in 1963 and had three top hits in ‘67 — Shaft was one of the first films to feautre an African-American lead in a role that not only played up his skin color, but also a distinct culture. Whereas Poitier was characterized by nobility and irrepressible dignity in the face of opposition, Shaft was unapologetically and aggressively anti-establishment: he sported an afro, wore a sleek leather jacket, was a “sex machine to all the chicks,” and used street slang. Also, the film itself made a statement against the white establishment. Shaft seeks the help of black militants and in the climax they turn the tables on their white foes by unleashing a high-powered water hose upon them.

Directed by John Singleton, whose debut film, Boyz N the Hood, put him in the record books as the youngest — then age 22 — Oscar-nominated director in history, the new Shaft successfully re-creates the spirit of the original film, even though the atmosphere in which this new version arrives is vastly different. If the heartbeat of the first film, which aside from its politics was its attitude, then this Shaft has got a strong pulse. In keeping with our Scorsese-Tarantino-influenced film culture, Shaft has attitude in its dialogue, which features lots of off-color language, coarse street slang, and crude put-downs. Yet it’s also a bit retro in that its hero, though a member of the police force, must take the law into his own hands, a la the first Shaft, not to mention Dirty Harry and Death Wish, and is perhaps a bit un-PC in his liberal use of violence to get the job done.

Rated R for strong language and violence, Shaft is a lean urban thriller that is definitely not for everyone, but makes great use of leading man Jackson and also surrounds him with an interesting, eclectic case. Also intriguing is Singleton’s use of race in the film. Jackson’s Shaft is not fighting against white establishment, per se — in fact, he is an equal-opportunity butt-kicker, bashing the heads of black, white and Latino villains — but against a corrupt establishment, and he is aided in this way by blacks, whites and Latinos.