History Film / Shaft2000

* BailEqualsFreedom: Averted, which is surprising considering how fast and loose they are with the law in the rest of the movie. When Christian Bale's character jumps (no pun intended) bail by flying to Switzerland, he is immediately arrested the moment he sets foot back on American soil. Of course, he ends up getting released on bail by the judge ''again'' (highly unlikely in RealLife, given that he's ''proven'' himself a flight risk), making the whole exercise pointless, except as an example of what an entitled {{Jerkass}} the character is. His lawyer argues that taking away his passport is enough to eliminate him as a flight risk. The judge agrees... cue Bale's character calling Shaft from Switzerland to make fun of him. It's made blatantly clear that Bale's character's father is a very influential man, and the judge is making all the wrong calls either because he's in the father's pocket or someone higher up is. [[spoiler: To ensure it won't happen again, the victim's mother shoots Wade to death on the courthouse steps before he can even be tried]].

* BailEqualsFreedom: Averted, which is surprising considering how fast and loose they are with the law in the rest of the movie. When Christian Bale's character jumps (no pun intended) bail by flying to Switzerland, he is immediately arrested the moment he sets foot back on American soil. Of course, he ends up getting released on bail by the judge ''again'' (highly unlikely in RealLife, given that he's ''proven'' himself a flight risk), making the whole exercise pointless, except as an example of what an entitled {{Jerkass}} the character is. His lawyer argues that taking away his passport is enough to eliminate him as a flight risk. The judge agrees... cue Bale's character calling Shaft from Switzerland to make fun of him. It's made blatantly clear that Bale's character's father is a very influential man, and the judge is making all the wrong calls either because he's in the father's pocket or someone higher up is. [[spoiler: The victim's mother shoots Wade to death on the courthouse steps as he's leaving]].

* RemakeCameo: Creator/RichardRoundtree returns as the original John Shaft, the chess player addressed as "Mr P" is Gordon Parks, the director of ''Shaft'' and ''Shaft's Big Score''. Music/IsaacHayes also makes an uncredited cameo.

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:We never find out if Ms. Palmieri's testimony would have actually done anything to put Wade in jail, because Troy's mom (fed up with Wade evading justice repeatedly) just blows him away at the film's closure before they can even bring him into the courthouse.]]

* NonActionBigBad: Walter Wade Jr. is responsible for the murder that occurs, but he has Peoples Hernandez do most of the villainous actions in the movie. He never gets in a fight with Shaft, when he and Peoples get in a fight he gets his ass handed to him by Peoples (even getting stabbed in the hand) and the aforementioned murder he was capable of pulling off because he surprised Troy (his victim).

* {{Nephewism}}: Jackson's Shaft is the nephew of the original Shaft played by Richard Roundtree.[[note]]At least until the 2019 sequel reveals that Roundtree's Shaft is [[RetCon actually]] the ''father'' of Jackson's Shaft, but for some strange unspecified reason, he was only pretending to be his uncle in this film. In hindsight, Jackson's Shaft appears to be okay with it in this film as he happily calls him "Uncle J" upon their first onscreen interaction, but in the 2019 film, the implied ParentalAbandonment is a factor in why they don't have the best relationship. There, Jackson's Shaft retorts that his father is the worst there is after his own son says that ''he'' is the worst father ever.[[/note]]

* SpinOffspring: Samuel L. Jackson as the "nephew" ([[spoiler:actually, son]]) of the original Shaft, played by Creator/RichardRoundtree in a supporting role. Apparently he passed his skills down to him as he's just as badass.

Creator/SamuelLJackson stars as John Shaft II, a relative of the original John Shaft (Creator/RichardRoundtree, coming back in a [[TheCameo cameo]]), who works for the NYPD. Creator/ChristianBale appears as the villain, Walter Wade Jr.

* ParentalAbandonment: The 2019 sequel reveals that [[spoiler:Roundtree's Shaft is actually the father of Jackson's Shaft, but for some strange unspecified reason, he was only pretending to be his uncle. Jackson's Shaft appears to be okay with it in this film as he happily calls him "Uncle J" upon their first onscreen interaction, but in the 2019 film, it's a factor in why they don't have the best relationship. There, Jackson's Shaft retorts that his father is the worst there is after his own son says that ''he'' is the worst father ever]].

* BigNo: Walter Wade Jr., right before [[spoiler:the victim's mother shoots him.]]

* DragonInChief: Peoples Hernandez fulfills this role to Wade Jr. However, he eventually becomes a DragonWithAnAgenda after Shaft kills his brother in a gunfight halfway through the movie, getting into a fight with Wade Jr. and stabbing him in the hand in the process, showcasing that at least physically-wise he's EvilerThanThou.

* ParentalAbandonment: [[spoiler:Roundtree's Shaft is actually the father of Jackson's Shaft, but for some strange reason, he pretends to be his uncle in public. Jackson's Shaft appears to be okay with it as he refers to him as "Uncle J" but in the 2019 film, it plays a big factor in why they don't have the best relationship. There, Jackson's Shaft retorts that his father is the worst there is after his own son says that ''he'' is the worst father ever]].

Creator/SamuelLJackson stars as John Shaft II, the nephew (later revealed to be son) of the original John Shaft (Creator/RichardRoundtree, coming back in a [[TheCameo cameo]]), who works for the NYPD. Creator/ChristianBale appears as the villain, Walter Wade Jr.

* SpinOffspring: Samuel L. Jackson as the nephew of the original Shaft, played by Creator/RichardRoundtree in a cameo appearance. Apparently he passed his skills down to him as he's just as badass.

* BailEqualsFreedom: Averted, which is surprising considering how fast and loose they are with the law in the rest of the movie. When Christian Bale's character jumps (no pun intended) bail by flying to Switzerland, he is immediately arrested the moment he sets foot back on American soil. Of course, he ends up getting released on bail by the judge ''again'' (highly unlikely in RealLife, given that he's ''proven'' himself a flight risk), making the whole exercise pointless, except as an example of what an entitled {{Jerkass}} the character is. [[spoiler: The victim's mother shoots him to death on the courthouse steps as he's leaving]].

* WorthIt: [[spoiler: The victim's mother will likely be taken to jail for murder. But when said murder's victim is the smug bastard who killed your son and played the judicial system like a fiddle, can you blame the lady?]]

Creator/SamuelLJackson stars as John Shaft II, the [[SpinOffspring nephew]] of the original John Shaft (Creator/RichardRoundtree, coming back in a [[TheCameo cameo]]), who works for the NYPD. Creator/ChristianBale appears as the villain, Walter Wade Jr.

* RemakeCameo: Creator/RichardRoundtree returns as the original John Shaft, the chess player addressed as "Mr P" is Gordon Parks, the director of ''Shaft'' and ''Shaft's Big Score''. Isaac Hayes also makes an uncredited cameo.

* TheKlan: A black man named Trey was dining in a mainly "upper class" restaurant and was racially harassed by a Jerkass white diner named Wade. After ignoring the first few public insults, Trey walks over to Wade's table, cuts two holes in his cloth napkin, and puts it on top of Wade's head, where it resembles a KKK hood, to the laughter of some of the onlookers including his friends. Wade responds to this by [[DisproportionateRetribution beating Trey's head in with a metal pole]], setting off the plot.