50
Metascore
33 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Baltimore SunAnn HornadayBaltimore SunAnn HornadayThere's good trash: throwaway, intellectually undemanding action movies that, despite their heavy body counts and hard edges, are executed with a touch of class and a sunny disposition.
- 75Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyPhiladelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyShaft is still enormously involving. It's popcorn, but very fresh.
- 70VarietyRobert KoehlerVarietyRobert KoehlerSamuel L. Jackson instantly takes the mantle from Mr. Shaft himself, Richard Roundtree, and runs with it on pure style and charisma.
- 67Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam ArnoldSeattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam ArnoldEssentially works, even though the script is a mess and John Singleton's direction is often clumsy and heavy-handed to an annoying degree.
- 63San Francisco ExaminerWesley MorrisSan Francisco ExaminerWesley MorrisThe movie's primary narrative weakness is that its racism plot points seem ripped from the headlines of a "Geraldo" newsletter and stretched into a string of terribly executed car chases.
- 60TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghIt's a bad sign when audience enthusiasm peaks during the credits sequence.
- 60Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversShaft scores by lacing ba-da-boom action with social pertinence.
- 60TNT RoughCutSusannah BreslinTNT RoughCutSusannah BreslinSingleton's lack of influence makes Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" look far funkier in comparison.
- 40Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranThe main thing the new Shaft gets right is casting for the title role. It's too bad the rest of the film doesn't hold your attention the way he does.
- 30The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottThis may be the first movie that runs under two hours and yet has no attention span. Characters are abandoned and picked up; narrative threads dissolve before your very eyes.