Detective Essay

Good Cop or Bad Cop? “Who is the man that would risk his neck for his brother man?” Many have heard these lyrics for over 30 years from the theme song of a very well-known African American detective movie. The answer is Shaft, John Shaft to be exact. The 2000 version starring Samuel L. Jackson proved to be just as good as the first. Although, this Shaft happened to be the nephew of the original one, played by Richard Roundtree, Samuel L. Jackson did not disappoint. Shaft showed even more cleverness, wittiness and street smarts as he made it his quest to solve his latest case. John Shaft proves that he takes no mess and will go out of his way to bring justice to the ones who deserve it. Shaft had grown up in the inner city and learned the ins and outs of his town and it helped him succeed as a detective. Shaft does it all from handling local drug dealers who want to corrupt kids to arresting a racist male who killed another and almost got away with it. He’s well-known in his town and everybody knows he doesn’t take any mess from anybody. In the John Singleton version of the classic, Shaft takes on a local case of an alleged racially driven murder of a young African American male. Walter Wade Jr., the son of a rich tycoon pleads self-defense and gets out on bail before fleeing the country to Switzerland. An entire two years later, Shaft gets a tip that Wade was returning and met him at the airport to arrest him immediately for leaving the country. Wade eventually gets off again on bail and Shaft feeling a close bond with the victim’s mother, quits because of the injustice. He then makes it his mission to get Wade convicted with or without the help of his colleagues and the justice system. He focused on finding the witness he discovered the night of the murder. Wade who became worried that Shaft would find her, hired a local drug dealer named Peoples to find her first and kill her. A series of events and people, including crooked cops, try to stop Shaft on his