You know, that John Singleton movie with Samuel L. Jackson as Shaft, made for Paramount back in 2000; The one that no one likes.

Well that’s a little harsh. I’m sure it has its defenders, but it’s fair to say that there was a lot of anticipation before that film came out. And there was a whole lot of disappointment after people saw it. 

To be fair though, it was rather obvious that the film wasn’t going to live up to expectations considering all the studio compromises that Singleton had to make, which were chronicled by the media at the time.

And when you think that Jackson plays John Shaft’s nephew in the film, and not a new re-imagining of the original character, it sort of defeats the whole purpose of the movie, wouldn’t you say?

But then, in its favor, of course, there’s that absolutely fantastic performance by Jeffrey Wright as the Dominican drug dealer bad guy.

But, then again, there’s the woefully miscast Vanessa Williams pretending to be a tough NYC cop.

However, if you’re still interested, the film is coming out for the first time on blu-ray DVD through Warner Home Video (which, several months ago made a deal with Paramount to release, on DVD, some 600 of their older titles) on August 13th. Why Paramount did that, I have no idea, but their loss is Warner’s gain.

No word yet as to special features that will be included.