Shaft review
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Shaft
Warner Brothers
R. 111 min
After the racial tensions in the 1960s began to subside a bit a phenomenon took place in American Cinema called Blaxploitation films. Mostly they consisted of combinations of violence and 1970s Jive reflecting a silly Hollywood idea of African American culture of the time. Nothing particularly high quality or memorable but one character has remained a pop icon over the decades, the hard-boiled Detective John Shaft originally played by Richard Roundtree.
The series got a reboot just about 20 years ago was Samuel L Jackson joining Richard Roundtree and now two generations of Shafts become three with the addition of JJ played by Jessie Usher the estranged son of Jackson’s version of the character.
Maya (Regina Hall) is Jackson Shaft's ex-wife who left him when JJ was just an infant. Reason? Same old story from police dramas of every era, a cop’s life was just too dangerous and she wanted to raise the son in a more civilized fashion. JJ is working for the FBI however as a peaceful and bookish systems analyst, a far cry from his ultra cool foul mouth tough guy of a father. When JJ’s best friend, a reformed drug addict working in a public service organization, winds up dead from a drug overdose JJ’s suspect Foul Play. When his FBI superiors blow him off as he presents his theory he reluctantly turns to his father for help. Eventually the polar opposites mesh into a pretty solid team as the son brings modern detective technology to the table along with dads legendary status on the tough streets of Harlem. As they unravel the plot the audience is treated to a big helping of action, wisecracks from Samuel L, laugh out loud scenes and a week’s supply of f-bombs and, may I say, a hell of a lot of fun. Frankly after I saw the film I checked the box office and competing reviews, and I am disappointed this film isn’t selling a lot more tickets. It’s not great art, it’s just great fun.
Besides the fact that this film is pure entertainment and especially considering its roots and Harlem setting it exhibits almost none of the current tread toward ham-handed political correctness. Just remember that John Shaft, rhythm and blues and great big cars were cooler back in the seventies, but this could have been Asians in Chinatown, Irish in South Boston or Italians in Little Italy. Unlike Spike Lee’s vision of everything being us-versus-them racially this one is us versus them meaning the good guys versus the bad guys. And don’t tell me it doesn’t bring a smile to your face when you hear that Isaac Hayes soundtrack as the bad guys are about to get their asses kicked.
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WSS
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