Shaft Movie Review

The following is a movie review “Shaft” by Marc Primo.

Release date: June 14, 2019 (United States)

Director: Tim Story

Language: English

Production Companies: New Line Cinema, Davis Entertainment

Producer: John Davis, Richard Brenner, Josh Mack, Marc S. Fischer, Tim Story, Ira Napoliello, Keyna Barris

Samuel L. Jackson takes on the legendary role of Shaft once again with Tim Story at the helm, and with three generations trying to solve a murder. The question most audiences would like to ask is if the franchise has suddenly shifted to the comedy genre, with the character showing age and somehow shedding off his maverick approach to crimebusting.

Fans are more familiar with the charismatic seventies ex-cop who enforced the law on his own terms bringing the epitome of cool to the streets. This time around, we get a reboot that softens the name and gets rid of the character’s outdated elements in an attempt to make it more appealing for modern audiences. Unfortunately, Story fails on that aspect.

JJ or John Shaft, Jr. (Jessie Usher) takes up work as a cybersecurity expert when he discovers his childhood friend Karin Hassan (Avan Jogia) dead from an apparent overdose. Thinking that Karin was set up for murder, he turns to his semi-absentee father John, Sr. (Jackson) to solve the puzzle. Their generational gap is quickly established and forces a number of comical scenes to prove the point, especially when another Shaft (Richard Roundtree) shows up to offer his assistance.

Bringing a dynasty of street smart detectives in one film seemed too irresistible for the filmmakers even if the characters don’t really keep up with today’s milieu. Mixing old and new attitudes of the character proves to be a bit absurd that viewers might wonder if they are watching a black episode of Austin Powers. Writers Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow fail in creating the generational balance by making the preppie Shaft Jr. as the arbiter of reason between the two older Shafts. The signature lines are still there though, such as “It’s your duty to please that booty,” and “I’m an equal-opportunity *ss-whooper,” making for a good collection of quotable quotes for Shaft fans.

The opening scenes where Shaft Jr. constantly receives gifts from his father while growing up immediately tells us what’s going to happen for the rest of the film where a macho dad and his sensitive son make up an uncomfortable combination. Jackson is in his usual self, bringing remnants of his decent portrayal of the character in John Singleton’s 2000 adaptation back to the screen, yet still fails to be interesting. What we get is a lesson of the times wherein the old should embrace the tabboo ideas of millennials, and for the young ones to learn how to stand for themselves as men rather than rely on their mobile apps and GPS.

While 'blaxploitation' has been used numerous times in films before, Story’s Shaft merely becomes an action-comedy caper that makes fun of the odd father and son team more than bring out black nostalgia as fans would have expected. Perhaps some time in the future, we might finally see the true Shaft from the ‘70s who we all know and love.

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