Shaft

Dir: Tim Story

2019

*

Shaft is the sequel of Shaft, which of course was the sequel of the classic Blaxpoitation film, Shaft. The Shaft film of 2000 (the third Shaft sequel following Shaft’s Big Score, and Shaft in Africa) featured Samuel L. Jackson as Shaft, the nephew of the original Shaft, played by Richard Roundtree. In 2019’s Shaft, we learn that the original Shaft is actually 2000’s Shaft’s father and that Shaft 2000 has a son, also named Shaft. It’s not really made clear why the original Shaft told Shaft 2000 that he was his uncle, rather than his father but I imagine it had something to do with being only six years older than him. It’s all rather confusing but it matters not, because 2019’s Shaft really isn’t worth wasting your time trying to understand. Why it even exists is anybody’s guess, there’s running out of ideas and then there’s really running out of ideas. I think what the film was trying to convey was that the concept of Shaft is outdated, which I’m not sure anyone disagreed with. However, it is critical of Shaft 2000, way more than it is of the original. Shaft 2000 was an updated version of the original Shaft, and I would argue it was far more up to date than its near thirty-year predecessor, but then Shaft 2000 isn’t really the same as he was nineteen years ago. He is far more like the original Shaft, who in turn is a lot closer to 2019’s Shaft in attitude. Sort of. You could say that the updated Shaft is now more dated than the dated Shaft, and that the new Shaft isn’t really Shaft at all. There is a reason why this film didn’t do so well, it was impossible to promote. That and the fact that the script was awful. Rewind to 1989, John Shaft II (Shaft 2000 – before the year 2000), his wife Maya Babanikos, and his infant son John "JJ" Shaft Jr. (Shaft 2019 before 2019) survive an assassination attempt by drug lord Pierro "Gordito" Carrera. Concerned that Shaft II's lifestyle will put them in danger, Maya leaves him and raises JJ on her own. 25 years later, JJ (Jessie T. Usher) is an FBI agent and a cybersecurity expert with a degree from MIT. He’s a nerd. After his childhood friend Karim dies of a heroin overdose, JJ concludes he must have been murdered. JJ travels to Harlem to investigate Manuel, the drug dealer who runs the neighborhood and sold the heroin that allegedly killed Karim, but is violently ejected from his property. While being treated for a minor injury in the hospital by JJ's other childhood friend and his own crush Sasha, he shows her Karim's toxicology report. She notes that the amount of heroin in Karim's system would have killed him long before he could have taken that much by himself, suggesting that he was indeed murdered. With no other recourse, JJ turns to Shaft II (Samuel L. Jackson, Shaft 2000, his father) for aid. Shaft II agrees to help after realizing that JJ's case may lead him to Gordito. The two begin investigating together, but JJ's progressive white collar outlook on life clashes with Shaft II's old-school street ways. After confronting Manuel again, the Shafts investigate "Brothers Watching Brothers", the drug rehab clinic Karim was a part of. There they learn that Karim stopped going to rehab in favour of attending services at a mosque currently under suspicion by the FBI for terrorism. The next day, Sasha accompanies JJ and Shaft II to investigate the mosque, where they are removed from the premises after the imam notices JJ's FBI badge. Shaft II convinces JJ and Sasha to have a romantic dinner together, and the Shafts next investigate a convenience store owned by a woman named Bennie Rodriguez who donated $500,000 to the mosque. Maya calls JJ to inform him that she is coming to New York to meet a man for a date; she is overheard and followed by Shaft II. The Shafts survive two separate assassination attempts orchestrated by Bennie, and Maya forces Shaft II to kick JJ out of the investigation for his own safety. JJ turns over the evidence they have gathered to the FBI, who arrest the mosque's imam. However, the media accuses the FBI of Islamophobia, and JJ's boss Vietti fires him. JJ returns to Shaft II and overhears a conversation about Gordito, leading him to believe that his father was stringing him along the entire time. While Shaft II visits and reconciles with Maya, JJ and Sasha track down Bennie to an abandoned warehouse and learn that "Brothers Watching Brothers" is a front for a drug smuggling ring; Karim was killed when he threatened to blow the whistle on their operation. JJ is caught by the smugglers; Sasha is captured while JJ is rescued by Shaft II. The two visit JJ’s grandfather, John Shaft Sr. (Richard Roundtree, the original Shaft), to acquire more firepower, and Shaft Sr. decides to accompany them in an assault on Gordito's penthouse. The Shafts kill the drug smugglers after JJ has an intense fight with Cutty and kills him, avenging Karim's death. He rescues Sasha before being confronted at gunpoint by Gordito. Gordito attempts to shoot JJ to spite Shaft II, but Shaft II takes the bullet and shoots Gordito, causing him to crash through a window and fall to his death before collapsing. In the aftermath, Shaft II recovers at the hospital. JJ and Sasha kiss and begin a relationship. Vietti offers JJ his job back, but JJ turns it down in favour of joining his father and grandfather in their PI business, suggesting that this might not be the last we see of the Shaft trio. This is undoubtedly the last time we will see the Shaft trio. The character is of course outdated but an honest look at what a Blaxpoitation character such as Shaft is doing in 2019 would have been brilliant. Instead, they dated Shaft 2000 into a misogynistic, homophobic asshole – something he wasn’t back in 2000. Maybe that is the true honesty of the film though, maybe the original Shaft is a full on Trump-supporting nut but he just knows better than to talk about it. I’m not really sure though, why you would make a sequel such as this, that only goes to destroy the history of the loved character. It handles the subject matter, particularly the Islamophobic bit, like a clumsy toddler with slippery fingers. The film is written for people who never saw the original and perhaps never even saw the 2000 remake. Shafted would have been a better title. It’s utter garbage, just how much money does Samuel L. Jackson owe?