The new film Shaft is the third film called Shaft following the original 1971 classic and the 2000 soft reboot. That 2000 film was a semi-sequel as it starred Samuel L. Jackson as John Shaft, nephew of John Shaft from 1971. Yet, somehow, this new 2019 Shaft also stars Jackson as the son of the original John Shaft, also called John Shaft, but now with his own son… John Shaft, Jr. That’s a lot of Johns, that’s a lot of Shafts… that’s a lot of movies that are sequels to each other… all just called Shaft.
Who is Shaft? Why, he’s the black private dick who’s a sex machine to all the chicks (jus’ talkin’ ’bout Shaft. Can you dig it?). Or so goes the classic Isaac Hayes theme song that pretty well described the original character… but only ironically (maybe) describes the latest Jackson iteration. Still fighting crime out of his detective agency in NYC, Jackson’s Shaft is asked by his nerdy son to help him solve a crime. Junior is a not-manly millennial who works for The Man (The CIA) as a data analyst. This is definitely not cool.
Which is the first of a number of problems for this movie. Jackson’s Shaft quips that he’s basically the black James Bond. But that’s not quite right… in this film, as it’s written and performed, he’s more the black Archie Bunker. Shaft is now played as a cranky old man, a dinosaur who believes that men are men, and women are women, and that millennials are ridiculous with their feelings and their avocado toast (he’s got a point on that last one, to be fair). And it’s not just that he’s playing your reactionary uncle at Thanksgiving, but that the movie can’t decide if he’s right or not.
But that tonal inconsistency in character is par for the course. One minute he’s confused by these new-fangled computers, the next he’s perfectly aware of social media. Or Junior hates guns but the next minute guns down a half-dozen henchman without blinking an eye or seeming to care he’s taken lives (though he does assure that, yes, he still hates guns). Or his girlfriend starts to do something stupid, backs down saying that’s some basic bitch stuff… and then gets kidnapped and becomes a damsel in distress anyway.
And all this is not helped by a basic plot and mystery that has been done dozens of times before. Just a prop to get us from point A to B in a movie that is really more a comedy than an action flick or crime film. A comedy about an out-of-touch action hero who can’t believe kids these days.
This movie barely knows what it’s wants to be and the whole thing suffers for it. It’s plot is boring and meandering, it’s action boring and inconsistent. The characters themselves inconsistent. There’s a few laughs to be bad and I guess you might just love a cranky old Sam Jackson shaking a fist as those millennials… but we’ve seen that before too in better movies and Facebook posts.
Score: 58