{"id":10623,"date":"2025-01-14T23:56:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T04:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=10623"},"modified":"2025-01-14T23:56:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T04:56:57","slug":"shaft-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/01\/14\/shaft-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Shaft (2019)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Shaft<\/strong> (2019)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Action-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 111 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (pervasive language, violence, sexual content, some drug material, brief nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Tim Story\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Christopher Lennertz\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Larry Blanford\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 14, 2019 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Jesse T. Usher, Richard Roundtree, Regina Hall, Alexandra Shipp, Matt Lauria, Titus Welliver, Cliff \u201cMethod Man\u201d Smith, Isaach De Bankole, Avan Jogia, Luna Lauren Velez, Robbie Jones, Aaron Dominguez, Ian Casselberry, Almeera Jiwa, Amato D\u2019Apolito, Leland Jones, Jalyn Hall, Chivonne Michelle, Tashiana Washington.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $21.3M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0As much as I dig Richard Roundtree\u2019s iconic Harlem private eye John Shaft in the 1971 original, I prefer John Singleton\u2019s 2000 reboot\/sequel starring Samuel L. Jackson in the title role in which he played cop-turned-PI John Shaft II, nephew to John Shaft. It has more action and violence. The newest Shaft<\/strong> reteams Jackson and Roundtree AND brings another John Shaft into the fold. He\u2019s the son of John Shaft II, Junior (Usher, Independence Day: Resurgence), and not exactly a chip off the old block. Whereas the senior Shafts would never deign to work for The Man, Junior is an FBI computer analyst routinely berated and put down by his dick off a boss (Welliver, Bosch). If either Shaft was dead, he\u2019d be spinning in his grave right about now.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As a counterpoint to the senior Shafts\u2019 anti-establishment\/pro-black masculinity views, Junior not only works for a government that constantly marginalizes people of color, he\u2019s also a millennial who eats healthy, doesn\u2019t drink, hates guns and goes out of his way to respect women. How does this happen to a Shaft? Easy, he was raised by his mama, JS II\u2019s ex Maya (Hall, Girls Trip) after an incident in \u201989 when Junior was just a baby. She took Junior and left after thugs ambushed Shaft on the street with mother and son in the line of fire. So let\u2019s see, we have a non-violent, tech-savvy, health-conscious, politically correct, part-of-the-machine member of the Shaft clan. I guess that makes him the white sheep of the family.<\/p>\n

\u00a0ANYWAY, let\u2019s briefly discuss the plot of Shaft<\/strong>, a sequel\/reboot featuring three generations of the baddest family to hit the streets of Harlem. It\u2019s no great shakes. It all starts when Junior\u2019s best friend Karim (Jogia, 2017\u2019s A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream) is murdered. Junior is determined to find out who\u2019s responsible so he goes to see his father after not seeing him for 25 years. It\u2019s not exactly a joyous reunion. Junior is resentful but desperate. The elder Shaft is too cool for all that. Their investigation leads to a drug ring and an old nemesis of Shaft II, reclusive drug lord Gordito (De Bankole, Casino Royale).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Where is Shaft #1 during all this? Not sure, he doesn\u2019t show up until the last 20 minutes of the picture. Once Roundtree gets involved, Shaft<\/strong> really kicks into high action gear. At 76, he still has a few good moves in him. He also has an arsenal that would make John Matrix from Commando jealous.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As much as I like the new Shaft<\/strong>, it\u2019s definitely the weakest of the series. Its biggest problem is choice of director. I\u2019m not sure whose idea it was to hire Tim Story, the guy behind the Ride Along and Think Like a Man movies, but he\u2019s the wrong choice. He turns what should be a gritty action picture into an action-comedy with Jackson uttering more jokes than tough guy dialogue. There\u2019s even a self-referential remark about Laurence Fishburne. I\u2019ll cop to laughing several times during Shaft<\/strong>. I had a great time watching it despite its tonal mishandling. In his defense, Story keeps things moving a fairly rapid clip. He also knows how to stage a good action scene. The fights- guns, fists and knives- are well orchestrated if a bit too stylized at times. Slo-mo bullets, really? Please.<\/p>\n

\u00a0At first, I found Usher\u2019s character annoying. I secretly hoped his dad would knock some sense into the boy. What kind of dummy goes into a Harlem drug den alone and questions the guy in charge? That deserves at least a smack upside the head. In any event, his character grows on you. The contrast between millennial Shaft and old school Shaft (and older school Shaft) is interesting. I\u2019ve already pointed out the differing values, but I haven\u2019t touched on sexual attitudes yet. The elder Shafts love the ladies; it\u2019s their duty to please that booty. When Junior first shows up as his father\u2019s office, a half-naked woman answers the door. Moments later, Dad shows up with glitter in his beard. Junior is horrified. He\u2019s been raised to not treat women as sex objects. He can\u2019t even get up the courage to ask his childhood friend Sasha (Shipp, X-Men: Apocalypse) out on a date. Naturally, Dad gives him a few points and a hard nudge in the right direction.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s great seeing Jackson back in action. I always hoped he\u2019d do a sequel to his Shaft. Obviously, it\u2019s also great seeing Roundtree don his bad threads one more time. Shipp is very easy on the eyes. Nah, she\u2019s HOT! Hall is loud, shrill and unpleasant as the angry ex who wishes her baby\u2019s daddy would just grow the f up already. Velez (of TV\u2019s Dexter) has a small but memorable role as a drug lord who\u2019s somehow involved in the plot. There\u2019s a great scene with her and Junior.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I have to say that I HATE the new Shaft theme. Instead of using Isaac Hayes\u2019 iconic theme, the very definition of cool, we get some auto-tuned hip-hop song by rapper Quavo (\u201cToo Much Shaft\u201d). It sucks! There\u2019s no rule that says everything in a reboot has to be new. Why not provide a strong connection to the original? Thankfully, Shaft<\/strong> contains some good old school R&B. It\u2019s also a pretty good flick. I realize it\u2019s hollow summer entertainment but it gets the job done. It\u2019s a solid Saturday night action movie. Besides, Junior has the potential (genetically speaking) to be a bad mother…. SHUT YO\u2019 MOUTH!\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shaft (2019)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Action-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 111 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (pervasive language, violence, sexual content, some drug material, brief nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Tim Story\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Christopher Lennertz\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Larry Blanford\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 14, 2019 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Jesse T. Usher, Richard Roundtree, Regina Hall, Alexandra Shipp, Matt Lauria, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10792,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Shaft-2019-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10623"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10794,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10623\/revisions\/10794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}