Duffman88

As others have mentioned, this adaptation of Shaft is hard to like from the beginning. The over the top racist actions carried out by Bales character, Wade Jr, are ridiculously unbelievable in 2000 and even less today. It feels forced and just cringey which is something I would expect from Spike Lee instead of Singleton who has released good movies before and after this one. Furthermore, Wade's racist actions do not make any sense considering how he interacted with other characters in the film, notably Jeffrey Wrights character, Peoples. If you can ignore the race-baiting, you can enjoy the rest of the film and treat it as a b movie. Would have given 7/10 but reducing to 5/10.

In a morally perfect world, this movie would be given a higher rating than "6.7". However, we live in a polarized country and many of the low ratings are from people/critics who hate Republicans. Despite this film being about the early life of a politician, there is no political agenda whatsoever. This film is simply about young adult JD reflecting on his early childhood of being raised by his "mamaw" due to his mom's drug addiction. Though equally important, it is also about not being ashamed of where you're from or who your family is despite their flaws. If you're a fan of films about overcoming the odds, such as Boyz In the Hood, I Can Only Imagine, or Men Of Honor, then you will like this movie.

This movie is about a small town defending their community from big business and the state of NM. The film had interesting characters, a good storyline, and great cinematography. Was it perfect? No, but it was still good. Some people label it a left leaning social justice film because the town is Latino majority, but they are mistaken. Every character in town own and carry firearms and they actually believe in God which would be a contradiction to leftist beliefs. The Milagro Beanfield War is simply about a small town banding together to stop a big company from transforming their town into an LA and driving up the cost of living. Anyone who owns property or lives in a small town can relate to the story.