Shaft

"Still the man, any questions?"

2000 1h 39m EN

😐

6.0

MID

🍅

67%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

IMDB

★6.0TMDB · 1,518🍅67%Rotten Tomatoes●50Metacritic★6IMDB · 84,415

ActionAdventureCrimeThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

New York police detective John Shaft arrests Walter Wade Jr. for a racially motivated slaying. But the only eyewitness disappears, and Wade jumps bail for Switzerland. Two years later Wade returns to face trial, confident his money and influence will get him acquitted -- especially since he's paid a drug kingpin to kill the witness.

“Still the man, any questions?”

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Cast

Samuel L. Jackson
John Shaft
Vanessa Williams
Carmen Vasquez
Jeffrey Wright
Peoples Hernandez
Christian Bale
Walter Wade, Jr.
Busta Rhymes
Rasaan
Dan Hedaya
Jack Roselli
Toni Collette
Diane Palmieri
Richard Roundtree
"Uncle" John Shaft

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Singleton
Writers: John Singleton, Shane Salerno, Richard Price
Languages: English, Spanish, German
Countries: United States of America, Germany

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

26 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Spanish, German.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Germany.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Shaft Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John Singleton, shot by Donald E. Thorin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by David Arnold. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor John Bloom shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Samuel L. Jackson and Vanessa Williams and Jeffrey Wright carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Singleton directs. Donald E. Thorin behind the camera. David Arnold scores. John Bloom cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America, Germany. Dialogue in English, Spanish, German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

126 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Spanish, German.
3International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Germany.
4Part of the "Shaft Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by John Singleton, shot by Donald E. Thorin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by David Arnold. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor John Bloom shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Samuel L. Jackson and Vanessa Williams and Jeffrey Wright carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Still the man, any questions?".
10IMDB entry: tt0162650 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 14 themes, including "drug dealer", "new york city", "corruption", "sibling relationship".

The technical file

Cinematography: Donald E. Thorin
Original score: David Arnold
Editing: John Bloom
Production design: Patrizia von Brandenstein
Costume design: Ruth E. Carter
Makeup / hair: Allan A. Apone
VFX supervisor: Randall Balsmeyer
Stunt coordinator: Nick Gillard
Runtime: 99 min · 1h 39m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $46,000,000
Box office: $107,626,125
Return: 234% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Shaft (2000)
Rotten Tomatoes: 67% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 50/100
IMDB rating: 6/10 · 84,415 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

2 wins & 13 nominations total

Part of

Shaft Collection

The Shaft trilogy is composed of action-crime films centered on an African-American police detective named John Shaft, who over the course of the films have altercations with a variety of crime. The films are characterized by their blaxploitation characteristics.

Also by

John Singleton

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-07-06
★ 7/10
I know cats who'd take out whole zipcodes for that kind of cheese. Remakes do work occasionally, case in point Shaft, John Singleton's update of the 1971 Blacksploitation movie that starred Richard Roundtree as the title character. Roundtree gets a part in this one as well, playing the uncle of Samuel L. Jackson's title character, John Shaft. It's the perfect role for Jackson, lashings of cool and menace, on his bulky shoulders dose the film easily rest. Plot finds Shaft turning in his badge after the law proves useless to let racist murderer Walter Wade Junior (Christian Bale a sneering villain but awesome looking in a tux) out on the streets. Shaft vows to bring Wade to justice, by any means necessary. Though he also has other things on his plate, namely Latino drug lord Peoples Hernandez (Jeffrey Wright a riot) and some less than honourable police officers. The screenplay is a little trite, but as an action movie, one with the coolness and sparky humour, it really hits the required spots of those just after such easy minded fare. The support cast is a roll call of sound performers with the likes of Vanessa Williams, Dan Hedaya and Toni Collette fronting up, while the awesome ebullience of Busta Rhymes is very infectious. Isaac Hayes gloriously famous theme tune is still in place, pumped up by composer David Arnold, which ensures the feel of the original isn't lost, and Donald E. Thorin's photography is pin sharp and in turns gorgeous (night shots) and streetwise gritty. Shaft, the 2000 version, still bad-ass and sadly under appreciated. 7/10
Wuchak2021-08-08
★ 4/10
A black detective in Gotham desperately wants to nail a snooty racist murderer The nephew of the original John Shaft is a detective in New York City (Samuel L. Jackson) where he tries to apprehend an arrogant racist killer (Christian Bale) by finding a key witness (Toni Collette) while dealing with a gang lord (Jeffrey Wright) and corrupt cops. Vanessa Williams is on hand as a helpful officer. “Shaft” (2000) is a ‘hip’ crime thriller that resurrects the franchise 27 years after the original trilogy from 1971-1973 that featured Richard Roundtree in the title role (he returns here as the aged uncle). The cast and filmmaking are fine; the problem is the lame story with which they’re shackled. The key crime in the opening act is glaringly weak. Bale’s character is a snooty punk born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but I didn’t buy his rash, racist actions at the night club. It just didn’t ring true, especially since he seems to get along with black people just fine the rest of the movie. Likewise, Collette’s actions aren’t convincing as the doe-eyed bartender. Simply put, the scriptwriters tried too hard to concoct a racist whitey villain when subtly was in order. If you can roll with that serious flaw, there are enough thrills to amuse, including Jackson as the bad axx protagonist and Wright’s entertaining drug lord. Plus it’s always good to see the charming Vanessa Williams. The film runs 1 hour, 39 minutes, and was shot in various areas of New York City, as well as nearby Newark. GRADE: C-
Chandler Danier2025-12-28
★ 8/10
How there are 2 movies in 2 years with the name Shaft is beyond me. Both of them have Sam in them. One of them is good. This one. This one is good. You should watch it. The other one sucks. Roundtree is in both as well. Roundtree is the best. Bale is good. Westworld guy is good. Especially when he gets stabby. Very stabby.