Shaft (2019)

“Is there no non-violent people in Harlem? ” – John Shaft Jr.

Number of Times Seen – 1 (1 Jul 2019)

Brief Synopsis – An FBI agent who is the estranged son of Shaft must team up with his father in order to try and solve the mysterious murder of his friend.

My Take on it – This is a film that I’ve been interested in seeing for past few months after having recently watched the first two films in the series.

This film looks at this kind of story from a comedic perspective which isn’t great choice yet it still manages to not tale itself serious enough which helps keep things fun.

The plot itself is quite weak and feels quite strained in the way that it is paced.

Samuel L. Jackson is a superb actor, but he changes the persona of his character a bit too much here and his blatant attitude doesn’t work as well as the way he played the character in the previous film and in some instances even hurts things a bit more.

It was nice seeing the 3 Shaft actors reunited in this film and the interactions between them are quite fun to watch and this is clearly the best part of watching this film.

Unfortunately tho, this film feels so far removed from the original film’s premise and lacks a nostalgic feel that is expected from a sequel.

There is no question about the fact that the original film is the best of the series and has the best storyline of the three.

This film is a pure action comedy that works for what it’s worth yet fails to break free from its constraints and give us an interesting and enjoyable “cop” film despite having some great characters to work with here.

Bottom Line – Fun film that know that it isn’t taking itself seriously and that works quite well. The storyline itself is quite weak and things move along in a strange way. Jackson plays the character in a much more blatant way than he did in the previous film and that actually hurts this film more than helps it. Nice seeing all 3 Shaft’s in this film together, but this film fails to bring back the nostalgic feel of the original which is clearly the best of the series. The three generation of the characters are fun to watch interact with one another and that is the best part of this film. This is a pure action-comedy that manages to work for what it’s worth yet isn’t able to break free and tell an interesting and enjoyable story despite having fun characters.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – There is only a 6 year age difference between Richard Roundtree (Shaft I) and Samuel L. Jackson (Shaft II). (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)