Shaft

2000 99 min ★ 6.0 Action, Adventure, Crime, Thriller

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.

▶ Watch Trailer

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

Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Jimmy Groves

Josef Sommer

Curt Flemming

Details

Director

John Singleton

Screenplay

Shane Salerno

Tagline

"Still the man, any questions?"

Status

Released

Original Language

EN

Budget

$46,000,000

Revenue

$107,626,125

Production

Paramount Pictures, Scott Rudin Productions, New Deal Productions, Shaft Productions, Munich Film Partners & Company (MFP) GHS Productions

Reviews

J

John Chard

July 6, 2015

★ 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 co...

W

Wuchak

August 8, 2021

★ 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 of...

C

Chandler Danier

December 28, 2025

★ 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.