Shaft (2019 Review)

Shaft is One Bad… Movie

There’s no arguing that back in the day Shaft was one of the coolest characters in cinema and a crucial blaxploitation film. He was one bad mother… You know what how that goes. However, his heyday was in a different era and his brand of cool, well, it just isn’t cool anymore. In fact, it’s pretty much the very definition of toxic masculinity. So, in a lot of ways, Shaft felt a lot like watching that weird uncle who only shows up at holidays to drink and crack jokes about how millennials are so self-entitled and soft. In other words, it’s just kind of sad.

For those of you who don’t know, John Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson) is the baddest detective in all of Harlem. He also happens to be a terrible father who is reunited with his estranged son (Jessie T. Usher) after 20 some odd years. Reluctantly, Junior turns to his father for help solving the murder of his best friend, which is odd considering that Junior works for the freaking FBI. Still, I guess all those resources, inter-department connections, and decades fo intelligence gathering are no match for an angry guy in a trench coat. The two prove to be quite an odd couple as they tear through Harlem leaving a trail of collateral damage and bodies in their wake.

Shaft is a movie that tries to relish the good old days where a man was expected to slap the shit out of women for talking back and showed off their masculinity though homo and transphobic remarks. At least that’s what all the “cool” guys did back in those days. Of course, audiences now are probably a little more aware that this is the type of behavior associated more with total dick heads these days. The problem is that when a movie claims that a total dick head is cool, that doesn’t bode well at all for the film in general. Sure, you could argue it was a different time, but if you did then you would be just as bad as Shaft is in this movie. It’s just hard to really root for a guy who constantly treating everyone around him like trash and keeps trying to force offensive jokes that no one is laughing at. In fact, it borders on embarrassing at certain points. To make matters worse, it feels like Shaft almost knows better at times, but still makes the jokes and then tries to justify that they were “just joking.”

These types of jokes are just a symptom of the lazy filmmaking prevalent in Shaft as a whole. The whole movie feels like it’s a pitch for a midweek comedy sitcom that follows Shaft and sons as they solve mysteries together. Much of the exposition regarding the entire life of John Shaft jr. is simply spoken allowed by characters as they “remember the good old days.” It’s this type of storytelling that drives me nuts in movies. Personally, I’m a fan of the mantra that films should show and not tell. If they are forced to tell, they shouldn’t simply do it in the most blatant manner possible. Shaft though clobbers us with character backstory out of left field constantly as characters casually mention important plot points over dinner conversations. This is probably an attempt to spice up the generic characters the film is working with but it only makes them seem even more unnatural. In that regards, this is a perfect “homage” to the blaxploitation movies of yesteryear.   

As obnoxious as I found the character himself, I was incredibly entertained by Samuel L. Jackson’s performance in it. He approached it in such an over the top fashion that it reminded me just how much fun he is to watch. This version of Shaft is a caddy and bordering on gossipy at times as he constantly judges everyone around him. Of course, this often gives way to wide-eyed anger fueled fits of shouting, which serves as a stiff contrast to his son. Junior is the very definition of what babyboomers think millennials are. He’s soft, sensitive, computer savvy, and cares about things like feminism and rights. Because of poorly written he is, Usher has to go over the top in order not to be the blandest character of all time. Instead, he only proves to be one of the most obnoxious.

I’ll admit that were jokes in Shaft that landed. Though they were moments where Shaft tries coconut water for the first time or expresses surprise that HD porn is available online, not the ones where he swings his machismo around like a… Well, I’m sure you can finish that image yourself. Shaft is a movie version of someone who claims that are “brutally honest” or “savage,” when in fact they’re just an ass. It’s filled with uncomfortable jokes at the expense of those who are in the process of fighting for their rights and justifies it all with a shrug and “oh, that’s just Shaft, he’s from a different time.” I’m sure there’s an audience for his sort of shenanigans, but I’m also pretty sure that same audience doesn’t know how to edit a pdf either. Shaft might be old school, but he should take some time to educate himself.