Coming roaring out of the 60's or 70's or whatever decade it originated from comes the movie Shaft, starring the prolific Samuel L. Jackson as the title character. I have never seen the original movies starring Richard Roundtree, who by the way I believe plays Shaft's uncle, a private detective, in this movie (and the character may be supposed to be the original John Shaft). Still, I don't think that dimishes the viewing experience.

This movie does not try to establish a retro style, which failed for The Mod Squad. It's a rather standard action movie with the main character (and possibly others) borrowed from the original, set in contemporary times and situations. Heck, the only modern show that I can think of which had a good retro look was The Flash, which I watched in college. But I digress.

The movie starts with a homicide. Walter Wade, Jr (played by Christian Bale, who has an uncanny resemblance to a young Parker Stevenson), a young socialite with a rich father, has killed Trey, a young black man, in a racially motivated assault. The only witness is Diane Palmieri (Toni Collette, from The Sixth Sense), who disappears. Shaft is the on the scene NYPD detective, and after punching Wade he decides to leave the force. Wade later flees the country while out on bail.

Two years later we find out that Shaft has not left the force, as he now works in narcotics with his partner Carmen (Vanessa L Williams, who should have remained Miss America). In a routine aftermath of a drug bust, Shaft butts head with the local drug lord Peoples Hernandez (Jeffrey Wright), who is also carted off to jail on rather trumped up charges.

But Shaft is tipped off that Wade is returning to the USA after two years. Shaft is waiting for Wade when he arrives at Westchester and Wade is also carted off to jail that same night. In jail Wade meets Hernandez, and although they don't get off to a good start, they will meet again shortly to further the plot.

With Wade back in custody (and subsequently back out on bail) it's still unlikely he'll be convicted unless Diane is found. So Shaft, who by now has finally officially quit the force, searches for Diane as the bad guys also search for Diane and Shaft. The rest of the movie is a bunch of gunfights, chases, and a somewhat surprising ending that, if not altogether satisfying, at least it is different.

What did I like about this movie? It's relatively well scripted. All the characters are necessary to the plot, you meet someone at the beginning and later on they're back. Also, the two villains intertwine rather effectively without a cliched rich bad guy hires drug lord to kill the witness plot device. It's more sophisticated than that. Samuel L Jackson puts in a good performance and Shaft is quite a bit more bloodthirsty than most of the action heroes, although maybe that's just an impression based on a couple of scenes where he shoots someone when he could have knocked them out.

Offhand I can't think of any criticisms to heap on the movie. There weren't any glaring plot mistakes that I caught during the movie, the characters are in general a bit more different than in most movies, and the bad guys especially act believably without making dumb mistakes that let the good guy triumph.

In conclusion, this is the best shoot 'em up action movie to come along in quite a while. It doesn't really try to be funny or dramatic, and stays in its genre better than most action movies. The story makes sense, the plot rings true, and the movie seems to follow the spirit of the original, as far as I can tell.