Nine times out of 10, these remake/tribute movies fall flat. But like the man himself says, “Shaft” comes through 10 times out of 10. This film is as surprising as the original blaxploitation movie it is based on and for the same reason — the man playing the lead is a strong black man with loads of style, an unending supply of cool lines and a delivery system more sophisticated than an ICBM.

“Shaft” is not a remake per se of the original, nor is it strictly speaking a sequel. It is more like “Shaft: The Next Generation.” Samuel L. Jackson plays John Shaft, nephew of the original black private dick of the same name (played by the one and only Richard Roundtree) who was a sex machine with all the chicks, and by all accounts still is.

Shaft is on the case of rich psychopath Walter Williams (Christian Bale), who killed a young black college student.

The case should be open and shut, but when Williams gets out on bail, he skips the country and justice. Needless to say, this does not sit well with Shaft.

Two years later, the rich boy tries to sneak back into the country but is immediately and stylishly busted by Shaft, who is just waiting in the killer’s limo.

Shaft is no wide-eyed optimist, but after all he went through to catch this guy he can’t imagine that the justice system is about to let him down. Of course, it does.

As unrealistic as it seems, New York is about to tear itself apart with racial tension, yet the judge still sees fit to grant bail to a guy who skipped out once before.

This is the last straw for our hero, who decides that working inside the system is getting him nowhere. “Too black for the blue and too blue for the brothers.” He decides to take his uncle up on an offer to go into the private eye business and get this killer his own way — his own way being with extreme prejudice and awe-inspiring violence.

The key to the case is Diane Palmieri (Toni Collette), a waitress who witnessed the murder at the bar and has since been on the run. Shaft knows he must track this reluctant witness down and get her to testify because the bad guys are looking to kill her.

The rich boy teams up with Peoples Hernandez (Jeffrey Wright), a small-time drug dealer he met in lock up. Williams wants Hernandez to kill the waitress in exchange for $40,000 in jewelry, but Hernandez has a better idea. He wants to use Williams’ social connections to take his drug dealing uptown. Williams wants nothing to do with that plan but, after a little subterfuge by Shaft, ends up selling drugs for Hernandez like a common thug.

Shaft uses his connections in the police department, Rasaan (Busta Rhymes), and his old partner Carmen Velez (Vanessa Williams) to screw with Williams, Hernandez and some bad cops to full effect.

Soon the bad guys are at each other’s throats and making mistakes that help Shaft see justice done.

Samuel L. Jackson is undoubtedly the perfect Shaft 2000. There could be no doubt before and seeing the final product has left little criticism in anyone’s mind. He is perfect. He is stylish, hard-core, brutal, honest and above all, a pleasure to watch on screen.

The story was surprisingly sophisticated, but so were the original films, that was the key to their success.

Writer/director John Singleton knows this material inside and out, and the movie comes off in many ways not so much as a simple action-packed mystery thriller as it comes off as a labor of love.

“Shaft” is a living tribute that never feels like someone is propping up a dead genre or trying desperately to breathe life into some artifact from the past that should have stayed there.

The character of Shaft has as much to offer today’s audience as he did in the 1970s and in some ways has even more to offer.

Sure, Shaft is a bad mother, a collection of catch phrases and sexual power wrapped tightly in stunning Armani outfits carrying big guns and an attitude that could scare a charging rhino, but he still manages to be more than a stereotype. He is an icon.

The difference between a stereotype and an icon is depth of character.

We know this character. We understand Shaft, his mission and his means.

Like all the great detectives of history, he is complex. Though no one truly understands him, but his woman, we understand enough about him to make him come to life.

“Shaft” is a great time. It isn’t a deep thinker, but it is definitely the thinking man’s action flick. It captures everything good and decent about the original and stands on its own as a modern detective story with all the twists and turns in the right place.

The one thing we could have used more of was Richard Roundtree.

If this truly is a continuation of the original concept, there is plenty of room for two Shafts on the big screen without getting cheesy and sentimental.

There are bound to be a series of these new “Shaft” films, and they promise to bring something of substance to a genre that long ago gave over to endless scenes of mindless violence and clips that never run out. Frankly, it will be refreshing.

---

Greg Jerrett is a graduate student in English from Council Bluffs. He is opinion editor of the Daily.