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is this design ugly?

SHAFT - dir. john singleton
i saw this one the same day i saw the perfect storm: by comparison it's more fun and enjoyable (uh...), though i didn't find myself as enthralled as i was with tps. several days now after having seen it, i'm still not sure what to make of it. so let me kick around a few ideas.

john singleton started out the 90s with boyz n the hood and automatically marked himself as a director to watch: poetic justice with janet jackson (!) was damaging, but i still held out hope for him. higher learning was arguably worse and by the time he released the very worthy rosewood, he no longer had much of a following which was a shame. shaft, then, throws him right back into the spotlight. his deft, stylish touch is in evidence as the opening sequence and familiar theme song hit the screen and things get off to a good start.

samuel l. jackson was born to play shaft. no offense to richard roundtree but, as far as i'm concerned, he was just holding the role until sam came of age. admittedly, jackson's shaft is channeled through pulp fiction's jules, but never has a good guy on the screen been this baaaad. he brings just the right mix of intelligence, wit and violence to the part, though sadly shaft's legendary libido is nowhere to be found, minus a scene or two. in those scenes, though, jackson demonstrates that when it comes to mackin' the ladies, he's still got much to learn from roundtree, found here reprising his role (jackson's shaft is his nephew, in case you were wondering).

the story revolves around a rich kid, played by christian bale, who kills a black youth at a club and flees the country when his bail is sent at a paltry level. he seems destined to elude justice...untill SHAFT gets on the case. shaft ultimately quits the force when he gets fed up with the system (of course) and decides to take justice in his own hands.

things get a little confusing at this point, and my falling asleep doesn't help ANYTHING -- mind you, this had more to do with my tiredness than the dullness of these setup scenes. deals are made left and right between some crooked cops, bale's character, and a neighborhood kingpin portrayed by jeffrey wright in an annoyingly over-the-top fashion. this middle section is fairly slow and is a little hard to follow, imo. one of the faults of the movie is singleton's inability to keep the momentum up throughout the entire film.

anyhow, the ending is quite exciting and makes up for the middle with some great action, car chases, and a kinetic performance by busta rhymes as shaft's homeboy who might as well be named busta rhymes. there is a "happy ending," you'll be glad to know, but it comes about in an unexpected manner that i won't ruin here. shaft is a success, then, for all involved. it's a good summer film, but not great: it's exciting and all but it doesn't have a timeless feel to it like the original. it is odd to call the original timless, yes, but the clothing and even the lingo is in and out again every few years. the original was just that -- an original. though it's not a remake or a sequel, this shaft feels like an ephemeral pleasure. still, compared to singleton's most recent work, i'll take that any day, and for a night out at the movies, i'll settle for it as well. i'll now take ike's advice and shut my mouth. but i'm talkin' about shaft! can you dig it? (insert groans here.) you really thought i'd make it through this review without a pun?