Shaft

Shaft

Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Jessie T. Usher, Richard Roundtree, Alexandra Shipp

Directed by Tim Story

The Story:
In the late 80s, John Shaft II (Samuel L. Jackson), his wife Maya (Regina Hall), and their infant son JJ survive an assassination attempt, and she convinces Shaft to leave both of them alone for their own safety.  As the boy grows up, he gets presents from the elder Shaft, but doesn't contact him and believes he's a deadbeat dad.  Now fully grown, JJ Shaft (Jessie T. Usher) is a successful FBI data analyst who's thrust into a major murder mystery, and needs help from an unlikely source - his father, who runs an investigative agency.  Together they uncover a drug ring that calls back to Shaft II's attempted assassination attempt and threatens their lives, as they turn to John Shaft Sr. (Richard Roundtree) to help solve the mystery and take down the drug cartel for good.

The Synopsis:
There's many times, especially when it comes to comedies, where I'm a bit too harsh on the film, mostly because comedies are my least favorite genre because they follow a same traditional formula and you can pinpoint the exact times where the comedy subsides, a dramatic event happens, there's a moment of clarity, and then we go back to the comedy.  "Shaft" is no different, and despite that I still found myself laughing hysterically throughout most of the film, despite other people despising the film because it seemingly reverts back to the old days of making fun of women, gays, and minorities - and while it does, there's not the malice typically associated with it, and sometimes people just need to take a chill pill.

The "Shaft" franchise has existed since the early 1970s (and even earned Isaac Hayes an Oscar win for Best Original Song), and the main staple of the franchise is the original Shaft, Richard Roundtree.  In 2000 there was a continuation to the Shaft legacy featuring Samuel L. Jackson as the lead Shaft (with Roundtree playing Shaft's uncle), and now the family lineage continues as Jessie T. Usher takes on the mantle of Shaft as Samuel L. Jackson's Shaft's son - this will get a bit confusing since all three men are named John Shaft, so I'll assign Richard Roundtree as Shaft Sr., Samuel L. Jackson as Shaft Jr., and Jessie T. Usher as JJ.

The film follows the traditional pattern of mismatched cops with JJ and Shaft Jr. working together to solve a deeply personal case for JJ, and of course there's the generic oil-and-water connection between the two men: JJ is a data analyst who doesn't like using guns, believes in the equal rights for everyone, and doesn't believe in hurting women; Sr. is a no-nonsense BA who frequently uses guns, refers to women as sexual objects, and is an "equal opportunity ass whooper."  As it goes, one begins to learn from the other and begins to adapt to their idiosyncrasies and both become more well-rounded individuals who take the best from one another and uses it to their advantage.  Still, when you get Samuel L. Jackson, you get some of the best laugh-out-loud moments you'll find - until Richard Roundtree enters the mix.

Samuel L. Jackson gives an effortless performance as Jr., as he begins from the first scene to the last and gives truly gut-rolling laughter moments as well as some truly inspired lines (when he's confronting a possible villain, she refers to him as a character from "The Matrix," to which Jackson says he's tired of being mistaken for Laurence Fishburne - something that actually happened to Jackson in real life).  He believes in shoot-first-ask-questions-later, and carries himself with an unmitigated swagger and confidence that oozes out of his performance, even if he's very rough around the edges.

Richard Roundtree (in his short time - he appears about twenty minutes before the end of the film) steals the scene as Sr., the OG-Shaft who still has the confidence, sexiness and self-assured attitude that's carried his legacy since the 70s to today, as he offers some of the best one-liners in the film.  He's also retconned in the film as Jr.'s father instead of his uncle as he was introduced in Jackson's "Shaft," but again in a truly meta moment Jr. mentions that moment as well.

The weak link to the film is actually Jessie T. Usher's JJ, who's your generic millennial (or at least generic in the minds of older folk)- timid, shy, believing in equal rights for everyone, doesn't want to use a gun, lacking any confidence.  He's introduced early on and we have a while of getting to know him before Jr. comes on scene, and those are the weakest moments of the film as they're filled with humorless moments that introduces the plot and characters but not much else.

One of the main issues people have with the film is how it considers women, and I can easily see their point.  The two main female leads belong to Alexandra Shipp and Regina Hall, and both aren't given much to work with.  Shipp's Sasha is tough, but when danger arises and she pulls out her own gun, JJ takes it from her and uses it instead, and she ends up the generic pawn in the Shaft men game versus the bad drug cartel.  Regina Hall's Maya tries to have a power of her own as she despises Jr., but she's still susceptible to his charms and continues to hold a flame for him.  Even when Jr. and JJ go against a female villain, JJ doesn't believe in hitting her strictly because she's a woman, and therefore more vulnerable than a man.  To that end I can understand, but this film is about the culture clash and it's very evident that there's still a long way to go.

The Summary:
While it's clearly not the best in the franchise, "Shaft" adds a more comedic turn to the long-running series and provides several laugh-out-loud moments especially with Samuel L. Jackson and the OG-Shaft Richard Roundtree.

The Score: B-