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Review of Shaft – Limited Edition Score

Shaft (2000)

Shaft

Music from the Motion Picture

The year was 2000, and Shft has returned! That’s right Samuel L/. Jackson is John Shaft! While a future Batman plays the villain in Walter Wade! David Arnold brings us the score to the hit 2000 sequel film Shaft! TFG1Mike gives you his thoughts on the score from La La Land Records, and more!

Shaft 2

It had been years since I had thought about this film. Then I saw the La La Land Records announcement that they were going to be releasing the score. I also noticed that the film had appeared on Netflix streaming, my preferred streaming service. I went back and watched the film. Even 14 years after it’s release in 2000 Shaft with Samuel L. Jackson really holds up, and still stands out. This film was NOT A REMAKE NOR WAS IT A REBOOT. Which is what Hollywood does most of the time these days. However it was a sequel of sorts. With Jackson’s Shaft being the nephew of the original John Shaft played by Richard Roundtree! After watching this film again recently, I grabbed my buddy Doug Abel from Talkin’ Bout My Generation…. and we reviewed it on MWIRE Episode 114! After getting the soundtrack from La La Land Records…. I haven’t been able to stop listening to it. It’s got such great music in it.

Shaft Poster

 In doing research on David Arnold I found out that he has composed or had several involvements with the Bond franchise! That is awesome. So this single disc soundtrack release has 29 tracks with an album time of 73:54. The style of this score has a very 70s feel to it, with new millennium sounds to it as well.

Shaft Title

Within and even outside the movie’s context, David Arnold’s score is a fun upbeat action packed listen through. Combining drums, guitars, violins, flutes, and more! Take Track 11 as an example entitled “Diane’s Playground Escape”, this track shows a slow build up to a very nice piece of intense chase music. You can’t… or I can’t write this review praising David Arnold’s score, without talking about the Shaft Theme song by Issac Hayes! The song is amazing, and a great theme for the character. Having Hayes craft it and sing it was the best thing ever. In Track 16: “Let’s Play Games” we hear, and if you are watching the film… see that Arnold can really push the envelope on emotionally crafty sounding music. The beginning of the track starts off very slow, and then it moves into the sneaking around type of music. Even in that there are mix ins of the Shaft theme.

Shaft Scene #1

Tracks 1-24 are the scores from the main body of the release. Tracks 25-29 are listed as bonus tracks, but three out of trhe five are film versions of the music cues. I love when the La La Land Records producers and album arrangers do this. Because we get music we normally wouldn’t. These bonus tracks also include David Arnold’s Shaft 2000 Theme. This is an instrumental version of the Issac Hayes song. I freaking love this. One of the best movie themes I’ve ever heard. Whether it’s Hayes singing the song or the instrumental version. They both sound amazing!

Shaft Scene #3

Final Thoughts:

Shaft (2000) is a great action packed score. David Arnold’s style and the tones he ended up using were all very well done, and I highly recommend it. Tim Greiving wrote up the linre notes for this release. It explains the tale of how Singleton made Shaft (2000), and more. Once again La La Land Records does THE BEST liner notes! You can get this awesome score from LA LA Land Records directly! So there ya have it I just talked about Shaft!

Review Overview

Final Score

You Damn Right!

Shaft (2000) by David Arnold is a upbeat action packed sounding score. To a film that spares no expense on very subtle action. There are times in the music when you just wanna get up and dance to it. David Arnold did an amazing job crafting the score here!

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TFG1Mike

TFG1Mike is a geek with many interests. He has been podcasting for over a decade, and sees no stopping point in sight. From Transformers, He-Man, Batman, Comics, movies, video games, cartoons, and so much more, Mike has a zeal for the things he loves, and he will bring the hammer down on the things that he has a disdain for. He's generally a postive person, but negativity can creep in there. Mike is all about the innuendos and innuendon'ts too. You'll hear him on many of The GCRN podcasts!

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