Still the man, any questions?
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.
Shaft (2000) is a action, adventure, crime and thriller film directed by John Singleton, released on June 15, 2000 with a runtime of 1h 39m. It stars Samuel L. Jackson, Vanessa Williams, Jeffrey Wright and Christian Bale. Viewers rate it 6.0 out of 10 across 1,528 ratings.
Watch the official trailer for Shaft before you stream it.
Samuel L. Jackson
as John Shaft
Vanessa Williams
as Carmen Vasquez
Jeffrey Wright
as Peoples Hernandez
Christian Bale
as Walter Wade, Jr.
Busta Rhymes
as Rasaan
Dan Hedaya
as Jack Roselli
Toni Collette
as Diane Palmieri
Richard Roundtree
as "Uncle" John Shaft
Ruben Santiago-Hudson
as Jimmy Groves
Josef Sommer
as Curt Flemming
Lynne Thigpen
as Carla Howard
Philip Bosco
as Walter Wade Senior
Directed by John Singleton, written by John Singleton, Shane Salerno and Richard Price, produced by Mark Roybal, John Singleton and Scott Rudin.
Average viewer score of 6.0/10 from 1,528 ratings.
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…
Reviewed on July 6, 2015
_**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)…
Reviewed on August 8, 2021
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.
Reviewed on December 28, 2025
Let this review be a lightning rod for all the naysayers sayin' my reviews aren't legit. I believe this movie deserves a pole position for best sequel ever! (/s) The gist is Samuel L Jackson wields every power invested in him as a cop to go after Christian Bale (the bad guy) until the system fails, and then Samuel L Jackson must leave the justice system behind and go rogue. There's a lot of familiar faces including…
Reviewed on August 29, 2026
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Shaft (2000) is available to stream on Paramount Plus Essential and Starz Apple TV channel, and to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home and Plex. Streaming availability is checked against JustWatch data and can change by region.
The main cast of Shaft (2000) includes Samuel L. Jackson, Vanessa Williams, Jeffrey Wright, Christian Bale and Busta Rhymes. The film was directed by John Singleton. You can see the full cast and crew list, with character names, further up this page.
Shaft was released on June 15, 2000 and runs for 1h 39m.
Shaft (2000) holds an average rating of 6.0 out of 10 from 1,528 viewer votes, and is a good pick if you enjoy action, adventure and crime films. Read the viewer reviews on this page to decide for yourself.
Yes. The official Shaft trailer is embedded in the trailer section of this page and plays instantly, no download or sign-up required.
