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Our first glimpse of John Shaft is of him striding toward the camera, Armani coat blowing in the wind, while Isaac Hayes's indelible theme plays over the credit sequence. It is a fantastic moment and emblematic of everything that's great about John Singleton's new version of Shaft. Unfortunately, this isn't a music video and, once the story gets going, Shaft doesn't always deliver "ten times out of ten."

The original Shaft, released almost 30 years ago, caused a sensation in American culture. Starring Richard Roundtree, it featured the first true African-American hero and, for better or worse, ushered in the blaxploitation genre. The genre faded as the '70s came to an end, and it's somewhat surprising that it's taken this long to resurrect such a cultural landmark.

The story opens with Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson) confidently pushing through a crowd of people at a murder scene. Walking into a restaurant, he quickly picks out his target, the despicable Walter Wade (Christian Bale), a self-proclaimed "son of a big man." As we soon find out, Wade is a virulent racist who's beaten a young black man to death for some perceived offense. Feeling invincible because of his father's connections, Wade scoffs at Shaft's ability to bring him to justice. Needless to say, Shaft doesn't take too kindly to that.

As it turns out, Wade is right, and he's soon released on bail, whereupon he flees to Switzerland for two years. But in one of the story's many awkward moments, the next scene finds him flying back to the U.S., where Shaft, clued in by a "100% solid" tip-off, picks him up. But wouldn't you know it? Wade posts bail again. Instead of leaving the country again, though, he sets out to kill the lone witness who can put him behind bars (played by Toni Collette, Sixth Sense).

After this second injustice, Shaft quits the police force, and it's here where the film slides quickly downhill. Written by Singleton and Richard Price (Ransom), the story introduces a Dominican drug lord named Peoples Hernandez (played by Jeffrey Wright, Basquiat), whose sole narrative purpose is to provide Latino targets for Shaft to shoot. Now the dynamics of contemporary action flicks demand that there be plenty of human fodder, so this isn't much of a surprise. But the movie doesn't leave it at that, but rather has three long and ultimately pointless conversations between Wade and Hernandez. In each of these scenes, the movie grinds to a halt while Wright and Bale take turns looking menacing.

The problem with these scenes, besides the fact that Christian Bale is merely reprising his American Psycho role and Jeffrey Wright is merely a cartoon character, is that there is no Shaft. Because let's face it, Samuel L. Jackson, wearing the coolest threads on the planet, spouting off lines like "Do you think that makes me less dangerous . . . or more dangerous?", and knocking heads is what I paid to see. Can you dig it?

Updating a legend is always a tricky business, but Samuel L. Jackson is so perfect for this role that there's never a doubt that he *is* Shaft. Even the return of Richard Roundtree as Shaft's uncle can't diminish Jackson's coolness factor. With a gleaming bald head, dangerous goatee, and a wardrobe that any action hero would kill for, Shaft could hide in a corner and still be the focus of every scene. But when director John Singleton frames Shaft from below as he strides down the street or lights Shaft in silhouette, well we're talking about the making of an icon.

Adding to the image is Jackson's way of delivering a line. There aren't enough one-liners for my taste, but the few there are are classic. I'd seen it in the commercials a dozen times, but Shaft's "It's my duty to please that booty" was almost worth the price of admission.

The one misstep in Shaft's character is the lack of women and sex. Now I'm not a big fan of nudity and sex in movies, but c'mon. This is Shaft! The big black dick who scores with all the chicks, as the song says. Instead we get Shaft innocently flirting with the wife of his best friend and picking up a waitress. Even Roundtree gets more action than Shaft, and that ain't right.

Speaking of Roundtree, it's nice that his role is actually more than just a cameo. Not that he has a ton of screen time, but he shows up often enough to remind us of this movie's roots. The other actors are just so much window-dressing. Vanessa Williams (Soul Food) is Shaft's faithful sidekick, riding shotgun when he needs it. The rap artist Busta Rhymes shows up periodically to deliver some unusual line-readings, and Dan Hedaya (The Hurricane) has been typecast so often the audience knows his character is crooked long before the movie makes it clear.

Singleton, who made his directorial debut in the great Boyz N the Hood and then quickly crashed and burned with excrement like Poetic Justice, does a solid job. Knowing where his bread is buttered, his scenes with Samuel L. Jackson are perfectly lit to highlight Shaft's inherent magnetism. Fortunately, the movie's music (by David Arnold) is a faithful adaptation of the great Isaac Hayes score.

There's a strange moment near the end of Shaft when Jackson, about to kick some Latino butt announces, "It's Giuliani time." I can take a pretty good guess that Samuel L. Jackson's politics don't include much love for New York Mayor Giuliani or his aggressive police force; and so the use of the phrase made famous in the Abner Louima incident must be seen as sarcastic. Yet the audience is clearly supposed to cheer for Shaft as he mows down the Latino drug lords with upwards of 41 bullets. So are we cheering for police cruelty? Or is it just ok because this time a black man's the one dishing out the brutality? Of course, it's a pointless discussion. Summer blockbusters are designed to remove anything that might offend. Which might be why Shaft doesn't shoot a single white person. Can you dig it?

J. Robert Parks 06/19/2000