JJ aka John Shaft Jr, is working for the FBI as part of the cyber team, but when he wants to find out the truth about his friends death he must reconnect with his father John Shaft.
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JJ had just reconnected with his best friend Karim who had struggled with drugs in the past after serving in the Army. But he seems to have recovered and this is something that makes him happy that his best friend has turned the corner and could have a better life. That is short lived however when Karim is found dead and an overdose is blamed, but JJ didn’t want to believe this as he had been clean. When talking to another friend Sasha it turns out the toxic reports from his death was too much and could have killed 20 people.
With his more office job within the FBI he was never going to be allowed to do anything about this and must talk to his father John Shaft. Who had nothing to do with his life and up bringing when his mother freaked out that he was too dangerous for their son. So years later he now needs his help. This is when the film actually takes a more amusing turn, as they are the complete opposites and that leads to John being confused by JJ and how that is actually his son. Putting him in situations he really is not comfortable with including being around guns, strange for an FBI agent right? Along with nightclubs and drinking, something else he does not seem to enjoy at all.
In typical Samuel L. Jackson style you cannot help but love his version of Shaft. We get all three coming together in this film, with the original Richard Rountree joining the party as well, although he doesn’t have the biggest screen time. It does create for a rather epic closing scene though, with all three of them wearing the jackets and walking together. Jessie T. Usher wasn’t fantastic though and his character was rather weak as he attempted to do what he felt was the right thing? Trying to force 2019 ideas into the film, which at times just makes him look like a wimp with his father and his behaviour.
Despite all of that it is enjoyable enough and I only watched 2000 Shaft a few months ago and then found out afterwards that another film was coming. I had no idea it was going straight to Netflix though until clicking on the other day and the film being available. So certainly enjoyable enough and a film that you can be switched off really and still follow the storyline. It doesn’t have a massive amount of twists and turns which means you can pretty much work out what is going to happen next but we don’t always need complex storylines to enjoy a film do we!
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I actually prefer this version of Shaft over 2000.
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Nice one! I haven’t seen the first version, have you?
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Technically, there has been three Shafts starting with 1971. The 2000’s version I’ve seen, and I think it has an issue with what it wants to be. This one leaned into the comedy early, while still having solid action.
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Yeah I was meaning the 1971 version, as I haven’t seen that one. Just couldn’t remember the year!
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I thought this was pretty great in a ‘1970s-cop-show’ kind of way, albeit with the kind of f-bombs that would have been banned from the airwaves back then. It was fun, but a far cry from the blaxploitation coolness of the 1971 original, which you should really try to see. That Isaac Hayes soundtrack is so cool. Its the one thing that the 2019 Shaft (it has the theme, but uses mostly modern songs to keep it very ‘current’ I suppose) really, really lacks.
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That’s really interesting as when I was talking about it with my dad earlier the soundtrack must have been so good as he thought Isaac Hayes was Shaft! 😂 I will try and see if I can find it available to watch anywhere!
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