Shaft (Sequel) (2019)

Starring: Jesse T. Usher, Samuel L. Jackson, Regina Hall, Alexandra Shipp, Richard Roundtree, and Method Man
Grade: A

As stated before, it irks me to no end that this sequel, the film before it, the television show, and the first movie that started the franchise all have the same fucking title. No other franchise has ever done this and there’s a good reason as to why. It’s stupid beyond belief.

Summary

In Harlem in 1989, John Shaft II (Jackson) is in a car with his wife Maya (Hall), and they are parked in the middle of the street for some reason. She’s yelling at him for his lack of maturity before a car pulls up and parks nearby. Shaft notices them and is able to take out both men on foot and the other guy who was still in the car. When Shaft takes out the last guy, he looks at the guy’s wallet to find a skull logo on a plastic baggy. This means they were sent by drug lord Pierro “Gordito” Carrera (Isaach de Bankolé). Afterwards, he calmly goes back to the car to see Maya still freaking out. Noting the danger in Harlem and how it tends to follow Shaft, Maya intends on taking their baby son JJ away from all of this, revealing to us that JJ was in the backseat the whole time. After she leaves Shaft for good, there is a montage of what happened over time, with Shaft sending the young JJ a ring for Christmas in 1994 and JJ being confused, a grade school JJ being bullied at a park and making friends with Sasha and Karim while Shaft is on a car chase in 1997, and the events of 2000’s Shaft (even though it’s incorrectly labeled “2001” during this sequence). By the time a grown JJ (Usher) is headed to college and is sent another gift from Shaft through Maya, he just refuses it. Before he heads out, his two best friends in the now grown Sasha (Shipp) and Karim (Jogia) say bye to him. Sasha opens Shaft’s gift to JJ once he leaves and finds that it was all porno magazines anyway.

In present day New York, JJ works for the FBI as a data analyst. On the way to work, he almost gets hit by a car, and the driver flips out on him before driving off, prompting JJ to take a picture of his license plate. Once JJ gets settled in at his computer at work, he looks the guy up and suspends his license. Karim calls him right after to hang out soon, and JJ is down. JJ hears an ambulance drive by on Karim’s end, so he asks where Karim is at. When Karim says he’s walking to the hospital, JJ questions if he’s okay. Karim knows he’s asking if he’s still using drugs, but JJ assures him that he wasn’t going there with it. Karim changes his tone and appreciates that he’s looking out for him. He changes the subject and says that he’s going for his checkup with Sasha, who is now a nurse. JJ likes her big time, and Karim knows this, so he messes with him over it, adding that JJ may have a shot now that he’s an FBI Agent. JJ corrects him, saying he’s just a data analyst right now. The conversation is cut short however once JJ’s boss Special Agent Vietti (Titus Welliver) walks in and tells him to come to the conference room immediately. In the meeting, Vietti talks about how the White House wants to ramp up cyber surveillance of potential terrorist threats, specifically the Rashad Azzam Mosque in Harlem and its cleric Farik Bahar (Amato D’Apolito) since he’s been making frequent trips to Afghanistan. Vietti wants a complete digital blackout, as he doesn’t want the news accusing the FBI of Islamophobia. Next, he asks who wants to take the lead on this. JJ raises his hand to volunteer, but Vietti asks if anyone else wants to do it. JJ knows he can do this and comically states, “Put me in the game coach” but Vietti shuts him down because he’s a rookie and he needs to respect the hierarchy in place. Under his breath, JJ comments “You have to give respect to get it”. Vietti heard him and sarcastically asks what he just said. JJ is genuinely surprised he heard that while Vietti dresses him down about how he doesn’t have time to deal with the latest hotshot coming out of MIT waiting to flex his nuts.

Right now, he’s dealing with terrorist threats, the worst heroin epidemic the city has ever seen, and “a 7-year-old daughter who wants me to call her ‘Frank'”. He tells JJ to know his fucking role in front of everyone and gives the job to someone else.

That night, JJ is at a bar waiting for Karim and Sasha. The bartender asks if he wants another before happy hour is over, so he goes with it and opens his wallet. She sees his FBI insignia and asks if he’s an agent, becoming mildly interested in him. When he tries to explain how he’s actually a data analyst, she just walks away. Karim saw the whole thing and tells him to just say “Yes” next time. Sasha shows up right after, and they’re all happy to see each other, as it’s been a while since all three were in the same room. They get a table where JJ asks Karim why he had to leave town. Karim mentions how he had to set some things up for his new business, “Brothers Watching Brothers”. It’s a rehabilitation program him and his army buddies started. It’s to help veterans who got into drug addiction, as Karim went through the same thing a little while ago. Karim says there is something else too. Before he can get into it however, he is interrupted by a text message telling him that they have to meet up immediately. On the spot, he tells JJ and Sasha that he has to go. Outside, JJ runs after Karim to make sure everything is good, and Karim assures him it is. He hugs JJ and thanks him for being a great friend before leaving. The next morning, Maya calls JJ to tell him Karim was found dead. At the funeral, JJ and Sasha discuss Karim’s death, with Sasha being sad Karim relapsed and died of an overdose and JJ refusing to believe this theory regardless of what he was found with because he is confident Karim was clean at this point in his life. Now, JJ wants to find out what actually happened. After some researching on his computer at work, JJ starts his investigation, and it leads him to Harlem. Looking at a picture of the sidewalk Karim was found dead on, he walks around trying to find where the spot was. He runs into some little kid on the street, who makes fun of JJ for looking out of place. However, the kid does notice the picture on JJ’s phone of Karim’s dead body and notes how this was the guy they found dead off of dealer Manny’s (Ian Casselberry) drugs.

JJ asks who Manny is, but the kid refuses to be a snitch unless he pays him. Snatching a handful of cash before JJ could count it from his wallet, the kid tells JJ that Manny runs the block. Anyone who gets dope from that block gets it from him. He points JJ to the apartment building he stays in. Inside, JJ walks through the decrepit apartment building. After declining a girl offering herself to him for cash, he just tells her friend he’s looking for Manny. Manny overhears this and starts questioning JJ. JJ tries to show him a picture of Karim and asks if he made a “purchase”. Manny reveals nothing and his henchman knocks JJ out. Following this, JJ goes and gets treated at the hospital and talks with Sasha, his nurse. She’s thankful it didn’t turn into a shootout, but JJ reveals that he doesn’t carry a gun anyway, which surprises Sasha because she has a gun and she lives in the nice part of Brooklyn. JJ argues that most gunshot wounds are self-inflicted and she’s probably safer without one statistically, though she counters that this isn’t the case when he’s in a drug house investigating a murder, which is fair. Even so, JJ shows what he found. He hacked into the medical examiner’s database and pulled the initial toxicology report. He admits that the cops may have been right about Karim’s overdose. However, Sasha looks at the report and says there is no way Karim could have killed himself. The concentration levels were way too high. He would have overdosed before he even finished using. Someone had to have done it to him. Realizing this, JJ decides to go back to Manny to get him to talk. He has to know something. Sasha tells him not to go back there without the police, but JJ knows Manny isn’t talking to the police. Since Manny isn’t talking to the police or JJ, he needs help. Reluctantly, JJ goes to his estranged father, John Shaft II. Showing up to his office, a naked woman answers the door, and a confused JJ just asks where Shaft is. Shaft appears behind him with a gun to the back of JJ’s head until JJ reveals it’s him. Shaft invites him in and criticizes his wardrobe choices right off the bat.

Shaft has the girl leave while promising to call her, which she doesn’t buy. Once she leaves, he tells JJ that she’s a hell of a Pilates teacher. Shaft starts messing with JJ after he turns down a drink, joking that he can make him a sparkling water type mixture and how Maya really fucked him up.

JJ argues that she raised him rather than abandoning him 25 years ago like Shaft did. Shaft refuses this notion, saying it was more complicated than that. Plus, it’s not like he forgot him. He sent him gifts for every birthday and Christmas, though JJ reminds him that one of the gifts were condoms when he was 10 years old. Shaft brings up the VIP passes to a strip club with the complimentary $500 stacks, but JJ didn’t know about this gift. Shaft jokes that Maya was probably worried JJ would run into his grandma in there (“You know she had more stripper girlfriends than a Arab got hoes in a harem”). JJ gets stern with him, telling him to not talk about his grandma like that. This is when Shaft notices JJ’s badge on his belt. He asks how it feels to be working for the man, but JJ considers it an actual job compared to what Shaft does. Shaft correctly guesses that he lives in Soho with a loft and a bisexual roommate to the point where JJ questions if he’s been stalking his Facebook, but Shaft explains how he could read him a mile away just based off his clothing choices. He blames Maya for turning him into a bona fide white boy. JJ sarcastically questions if it makes him white just because he shops at the Gap, has a college degree, and knows his FICO score. Hilariously, Shaft responds that it does. Changing the subject, JJ finally admits that he needs his help, garnering a laugh from Shaft who knew this day would come no matter how hard Maya tried to kill “that family shit” in him. Assuming JJ got some girl pregnant on some Shaft type shit, he asks how much money JJ needs for the abortion. JJ explains this isn’t the problem, and he needs Shaft’s help for a case. Shaft tells JJ he can’t afford him, but JJ replies that Shaft owes him on account of payback for “father figure depravation”. He also tells Shaft to not use the n-word after he responds in shock. Finally, Shaft asks what the case is, so JJ explains how he has reason to believe Karim was murdered rather than the overdose his death was ruled as.

Shaft doesn’t buy it, as he’s been through plenty of these cases before and it always led to the junkie just being a junkie and their friends and family wanting another reason. Still, JJ persists and gives him the file. JJ brings up how Karim had enough heroin in his system to kill 10 people. There’s no way he could have done something like that to himself. When he brings up how he traced the supplier to 139th Street in Harlem, Shaft’s interest is piqued. He goes over and looks at a newspaper clipping on his board of a previous case with the headline “Million in Heroin Seized”. Turning around, he looks at the wound on JJ’s head and wants to know who did it to him. Once he tells him it was Manny and his boys, Shaft realizes he knows Manny and is ready to get to work. They drive over to Manny’s place, and Shaft tries to give JJ a gun. He turns it down because he’s anti-gun, which is why he’s an analyst and not an agent. Shaft blames this on Maya, and JJ gets frustrated enough trying to explain himself that he decides he wants to wait in the car. Pulling a shotgun from the trunk, Shaft tells JJ that going in the car is something Maya would do. It doesn’t take long for JJ to get out of the car to follow him. Shaft approaches the two henchmen and takes them both out before asking JJ which one hit him. He also has JJ take their guns, which leads to JJ throwing them out of the window. Once JJ points the guy out who hit him earlier, Shaft shoots the other guy in the thigh. Since he wants JJ to beat up the guy who actually hit him, he figured he would stop the other guy from jumping in. When JJ backs down from beating up the other guy while he’s on the ground already, Shaft shoots that guy in the leg too. Shaft steps on the guy’s nuts and demands to know where Manny is until Manny shows up. Shaft and Manny know each other well. After Shaft messes with him and intimidates him, he reveals how JJ is his son and should get the respect that comes with the family name.

Manny starts running. Shaft tells JJ to shoot him, but he tells Shaft how he threw the guns out of the window.

After yelling at JJ for doing something so stupid, Shaft goes outside and shoots the windshield of a truck. It causes the truck to stop, leading to Manny to run right into it when he was trying to escape through traffic. Shaft takes his gun and breaks two of Manny’s fingers while he has JJ hold the gun. JJ shows Manny the picture of Karim and asks if he was buying from him. Manny admits he used to, but he didn’t know what Karim was doing there. Karim hadn’t seen Manny in a while after he started working with the “Brothers Watching Brothers” group. Not knowing what the group is about, Shaft assumes Karim was gay based off the name and asks if JJ is, so he has to tell Shaft that he’s straight. Frustrated, JJ has to explain how the group is a rehab center for army vets, and neither Shaft nor Manny believe him. Either way, that’s all Manny knows. Manny tries to get on Shaft for breaking his hand, but Shaft explains that it was only two fingers. Then, he breaks Manny’s hand. He also comments that Manny owes him $100 for messing up his coat, so Manny gives him cash. On the car ride home, JJ lambasts Shaft’s tactics of aggravated assault, illegal use of a firearm, and torture, adding that he was violating human rights. Shaft doesn’t see a problem, but JJ reminds him that he works for the FBI. He can’t be aiding and embedding “the city’s highest profile sociopath”. Even so, Shaft reminds JJ that he was the one who asked for help (“If you don’t like the way the sausage is made, close your eyes when you’re eating it”). JJ just tells Shaft to drop him off and he will take it from here. He plans on going to Brothers Watching Brothers to see what he can find out, but Shaft wants to be there to babysit him along this mission since JJ clearly needs the help. JJ comments how he’s the worst father ever, but Shaft replies that his own father was. Either way, he can’t have JJ out in these streets besmirching the family name.

The two go over to the Brothers Watching Brothers building, and the front desk guy who greets them sounds flirtatious enough to where Shaft gives JJ a look like it confirms his suspicions.

JJ bypasses it and tries to talk to the guy, but Shaft takes the intercom microphone and calls to whoever runs the place to come up front. Major Gary Cutworth (Matt Lauria) shows up, and JJ apologizes on Shaft’s behalf, saying that Shaft thinks he’s the black James Bond. Shaft replies that Bond would think he was Shaft if he were real. JJ brings up wanting to talk about Karim, and Cutworth realizes he recognizes JJ from the funeral. Just then, Sgt. Keith Williams (Robbie Jones) and Staff Sgt. Eddie Dominguez (Aaron Dominguez) show up behind Cutworth to make sure everything is alright. Cutworth takes them back and gives them some oral history about the place. They opened it two years ago, they conduct physical and mental therapy, a majority of their staff are retired vets, and they make them feel more comfortable from their transition from the service to the work force. Last year, they started bringing back donated vehicles damaged from overseas missions, they refurbish them there, sell them, and help make profits for their rehab operations. Dominguez chimes in to say how crazy it is to go through three tours with Karim just to lose him like that. Keith wonders why Karim didn’t come to them, so Shaft suggests he may have been scared to. Dominguez questions if he’s ever been to war, so Shaft tells him he’s been on the front lines in Harlem in the 1980s. Cutworth tries to calm things down and tries to explain Dominguez’s words with how the war just took a toll on a lot of men. In terms of addiction, he considers Karim the worst of them all. He couldn’t cope. Keith talks about the lack of funding, and the red tape stopped the VA from helping. Cutworth states that this is the reason they started the place. It was Karim’s idea, which is why it was strange when he started pulling away. Cutworth adds that when Karim found religion, he stopped coming around. JJ is confused by this because Karim was never religious, but Cutworth replies that he started going to the Rashaad Mosque uptown after seeing his girl Anam (Almeera Jiwa). Cutworth says Karim spent all his time there once the two got together. He assumes that’s when he started using again.

Dominguez gets uncomfortable and attempts to leave, but Cutworth stops him. He asks what JJ and Shaft are intending to look into. Before JJ can say anything, Shaft just says it was about closure. They all shake hands and Shaft looks at Dominguez who looks away, suspicious. Afterwards in the car, Shaft knows something wasn’t right about Dominguez not making eye contact, but JJ is more concerned that Karim is tied to the mosque the FBI has under surveillance. Shaft messes with him and calls him out for thinking his friend is a terrorist, though he suggests the same thing. After they mess with the radio, with JJ picking a rap song and Shaft turning it to some slow R&B, JJ realizes Shaft isn’t going to his house. Instead, Shaft takes him to a night club. For Shaft, it’s part of the case. They need to blow off some steam, and he’s trying to teach the uptight JJ this. JJ doesn’t want to go clubbing on a Tuesday with a 60-year-old, but Shaft counters that any woman that comes dressed up on a Tuesday night is his kind of woman. He tells JJ this is how he met Maya. Just then, two women Shaft knows in Baby (Chivonne Michelle) and Sugar (Tashiana Washington) send drinks their way and join them. They flirt with Shaft, and he introduces JJ to them. They’re all over JJ and he’s loving it, but Shaft messes with him by telling the women JJ was about to leave. When they press him to stay, JJ relents and they take some shots. Elsewhere in the club, Shaft talks with a friend of his in Freddy P. (Meth). Freddy gets on him for trying to be a father now and for tearing up half of Harlem with JJ already, adding that nothing happens in these streets without him knowing. Shaft states that this is why he’s here. He thinks JJ’s lead is going to take him straight to Gordito. He wants Freddy to get some information for him on Dominguez, telling him about how he works for Brothers Watching Brothers. Freddy comments on how bad the name is, and Shaft agrees wholeheartedly. Freddy tells him that he will see what he can do, though he jokes that it’s going to be a firestorm if Maya finds out about all this.

Shaft assures him this won’t happen. Getting serious, he talks about how Gordito has been slipping through his fingers since JJ was born. It’s gotten personal. If JJ is his ticket to nailing Gordito, that’s “motherfucking street poetic justice”. Plus, he’s looking out for JJ and brings up how he sent Baby and Sugar over to him. Freddy points out how a guy is trying to fight JJ over the two, so Shaft heads over there. He tries to defend the drunk JJ, but JJ says he has it handled. The dance floor opens for JJ to fight the guy, and JJ surprisingly takes him out through his use of Capoeira, the Brazilian dance martial art that looks strange in practice but effective, nonetheless. Maya had him take lessons when he was a kid, and it comes out when he drinks. Shaft was proud at first, but his respect was gone once he explained it was a form of dance fighting. Right after, JJ pukes on Sugar and Baby, so Shaft takes JJ back to his apartment. He comments that it looks like an apartment display at Pier 1 Imports, and it really does. He messes with JJ and throws him on his bed. JJ gets a text from Sasha, so Shaft gives him credit for a late-night booty call. However, JJ explains they are just friends. He told her about the mosque though, so she wants to come with. He tries to text how dangerous it might be, so Shaft presses him on making Sasha a thing and correctly guesses that he wants to. Shaft sees the picture by his bed of Maya and him as a child, and Shaft admits they all have that special girl. He goes over to the fridge to get him the coconut water he asked for and notices that he still has the Super Bowl ring from Lawrence Taylor that he gave JJ when he was a kid as a gift. He says he did a serious favor for him back in the day. Knowing LT, this must have been an insane favor.

Shaft goes back over to JJ and finds him asleep. He covers him. Then, he takes a swig of the coconut water but spits it up into JJ’s backpack because it tastes terrible (it does). Two generations of Shaft are now fully locked into this case. Surprisingly, it’s a lot bigger than they ever could have guessed.

My Thoughts:

The sixth and final installment of the Shaft franchise came and went without a whimper, but the disrespect was undeserved. Though it’s possible audiences have forgotten about the legend of Shaft, as a sequel every 20-30 years isn’t a great way to keep a franchise alive, the poor box office returns don’t tell the whole story. This long-awaited sequel is still an entertaining continuation of the series, albeit in a much different way. In an effort to keep the IP contemporary, 2019’s Shaft is the most playful iteration of the entire bunch. Instead of being the serious, action-driven narrative the first three movies were, a pure detective story in the vein of the show, or the violent but amusing action vehicle the 2000 film was, this update is firmly situated in the light-hearted, action comedy subgenre. Similar to the tone of his previous hit-or-miss work with films like Taxi, the Fantastic Four franchise, and the Ride Along franchise, this was filmmaker Tim Story’s way of staying true to the style and characterization of previous Shaft installments and characters but also contrasting it through the new protagonist who represents the current generation and general consensus of productions like Shaft.

Truth be told, it’s a sly move that utilizes fresh-faced star Jesse T. Usher and his role as “JJ” as a great way to avoid criticisms regarding the violence, the law-breaking vigilantism, the misogynistic attitude, the language, and jokes of previous Shaft movies, with JJ letting the audience know what his father does isn’t acceptable in today’s age. It’s a lame cliché on paper, but they pull it off in a funny manner. If you haven’t noticed lately, this type of character has become a new trope in in mainstream comedies in an effort to get away with humor that used to be the norm back in the day but is now referred to as “dated” or categorized as “dark humor” (see Kumail Nanjiani’s reaction to literally anything Dave Bautista says in Stuber). In an effort for screenwriters to make the movies they love without losing financial backing, they have to write stuff like this in to make sure viewers don’t take some humor or mean-spirited jokes to heart. It’s a subtle “out” for them. Unfortunately, these good intentions can sometimes directly affect the narrative, as its focus in being noncontroversial makes the audience predict every beat of the story. For instance, there’s no way in this day and age the Karim character was going to turn out to be a terrorist because that type of profiling wouldn’t fit the message of the movie or today’s culture. On top of that, the trio of Cutworth, Reggie, and Dominguez being a suspicious multiracial group with ulterior motives almost certainly lets you know the white guy in Cutworth will be the main villain of the three of them because it would be the least controversial choice. It’s just a reaffirmation of JJ’s whole persona in the film in avoiding profiling people like John Shaft II would back in the day. They play with this when both of them realize their clues imply Karim could have terrorist ties, but the viewer is never fooled by the fact. Now, none of this makes the film less fun, but it makes things way too easy to figure out, giving the third act a lot less suspense as a result.

It’s a shame too because the moving parts involved with the fiasco involving the Brothers Watching Brothers group and how it’s related to Gordito and Benny is one of the more compelling cases in the Shaft series.

Certain details are brought up as a clear bait and switch tactic to make fun of Shaft II’s mindset in looking at the criminal field or how JJ is trying his hardest to assume every other possibility to avoid stereotyping like in the mosque scene, but the direction in which things are going makes the answers rather obvious as time moves on (“So are you a Muslim from a Muslim country, or did you find Allah in some cell block?”). Again, it doesn’t stop the movie from being fun, as this sequel is worth the watch if you’re a fan. However, it does stop the movie from trying to attempt something a little more creative or fresh by design. Then again, we shouldn’t expect too much from a movie that had the action movie cliché of JJ seeing the financial files of the mosque being crazy encrypted, but he “hacks it” to gets in within seconds. The other part of this conscious effort to play things safe is that the willingness to let the main character take the reins of the beloved series is strained because he takes too long in convincing the viewer he’s ready for the challenge. To be fair, this was all a strategic decision, as the protagonist’s arc was written as having to learn from his father’s style and take from it when the time is right since he desperately needs the change in attitude in his career and personal life. Furthermore, everything else being the same outside of the main character allows for the franchise to pay homage to the foundation laid previously and maintain the fans of the series who would come out to see this sequel. If it was watered down completely to avoid these elements, it wouldn’t be Shaft anymore, so this conscious decision in the writing of the film allowed it to play through. Some of the jokes might seem outdated to some, but these criticisms aren’t fair. If a viewer truly believes this, they don’t understand the franchise nor the lore of the series that began in 1971 and has lived through the 2000s. For someone like John Shaft II, this script is exactly how an updated version of him would react to the nonsense he sees.

This is just part of the litany of positives coming out of the sequel and potentially final film in the franchise.

First of all, it’s the funniest movie of the series, with Singleton’s film being a close second. For all the movie’s faults, they do milk the dynamic of Shaft and son to amusing results. It’s all about John Shaft II’s attempt at fatherly advice now that he’s back in JJ’s life. It’s hilarious watching Shaft hug him and give him words of encouragement before his date with Sasha (“Go tear that ass up son”). He even brings back the classic line from the previous film telling him, “… and son remember, it’s your duty to please that booty. Give her the shaft big boy”. JJ may have his reservations about his father’s approach to women in general, but there are elements of truth to what he says. It’s just that the verbiage is harsher and people like JJ can’t decipher the true meaning behind his message. For example, they have a conversation shortly after JJ scores a dinner date with Sasha where Shaft II explains “You have got to stop being so afraid of women, son. Women want a man to be a man. They don’t want some pussy”. Then he hilariously gets off topic for a minute adding, “Well, some women want some pussy. Well, some women want both. That’s my preference, but in general, women want a man to be manly”. Voicing the echoes of many, JJ points out how women don’t like to be told what they like, prompting Shaft to reply this is exactly what he’s talking about before going on the “old man” rant about how men used to be men and how “You millennial motherfuckers run around worrying about what women think and how they feel and apologizing and shit. It’s embarrassing! Real men don’t apologize. They just own they shit”. It’s a great line that begins as a truthful monologue but turns into John Shaft II’s warped and outdated outlook on life that he doesn’t realize is wrong until later, especially when dealing with Maya. The old Shaft from the 70s is someone who could figure this aspect of life out, but John Shaft II is a whole different animal, exemplified by the 2000 film and this sequel. Maybe he does need JJ to center him. After all, JJ’s presence and love did remind him that he still has a heart.

The 2000 film missed out on giving the original Shaft a bigger role in the narrative as the mentor. Here, they don’t make the same mistake twice. John Shaft II gets just as much screentime as Jesse T. Usher’s JJ or John Shaft III, and they bounce off each other well, setting the second act up right while keeping the energy and tone lively and engaging. Though the humor is almost entirely the “old head not understanding today’s generation” humor, they are able to make it surprisingly funny, with Shaft II’s way of doing things proving to be just as effective if not more so than JJ’s way of doing things on plenty of occasions, or the two finding a common ground but in a twisted way. The biggest example is Shaft II knowing he recognizes Bennie from somewhere and pulls out his “Puerto Ricans I don’t trust file”. When JJ calls him out for having a racist-based catalogue system in his files, Shaft sarcastically asks, “Ain’t that how the FBI does it?”, leading JJ to admitting he’s kind of right. JJ is still given a chance to instill the “new school” way of thinking and why Shaft II can’t get away with certain things, but Shaft II also proves time and time again why certain situations call for the old school methods. It’s a give and take, but it’s not as groan inducing as some other similarly themed films. With Story’s Shaft, the mild action comedy is one of the very few in today’s era where the younger character is proven to be wrong or misguided a lot of the time due to his inexperience in life and in law enforcement. It’s a respect thing, and there is no one who deserves more respect in New York City and specifically Harlem than the legendary John Shaft, whether it’s the original or his son. In these streets, you have to do things with a bit more edge to either get your message across or gain ground in a case. JJ hasn’t learned this yet because he tries to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, which is why he gets his ass kicked by Manny and his crew, gets sent to the ground by Bennie in the back office of the El Super Mercado Fantastico grocery store, and his camera trick fails in the elevator in the climax, though he’s able to rectify the last part with some off-the-cuff thinking.

Sometimes, you need to turn it up. In the grocery store scene, there’s no way they get as far as they do with Bennie without Shaft shooting her phone and her purse (“That was ostrich!” – “I don’t give a fuck!”). On a side note, I’m mad at myself for not seeing the obvious comparison between Jackson’s Shaft and Morpheus from The Matrix sooner like Bennie jokes about here. How did I miss that?

Anyway, it’s a joy watching Shaft II making sure JJ knows he messed up again, which in turn makes it funnier when JJ gets a couple of licks in like Shaft II panicking when Maya calls, leading JJ to comment “Look who’s being a little bitch now”. Putting on one of his best comedic performances in years, Jackson’s John Shaft II, now being rightfully retconned as the original Shaft’s son rather than his nephew, carries the weight of the movie on his back, with his older character having trouble relating to the new school mindset on how to go about life. A majority of the entertainment is directly rooted in the charismatic Jackson, as he has now become a better balance of who John Shaft should be, an ass-kicker and a ladies’ man. He didn’t entirely figure it out or have time to in Singleton’s movie, as he was more of a loose cannon badass who would get women passively. Here however, they figure out the balance. Shaft II still has the crazy eyes and is the “equal opportunity ass-whooper” he needs to be, but the character has now shifted to become a total ladies’ man with an undeniable aura that even his ex-wife and JJ’s mother Maya can’t resist being tempted by (“You gonna break a brother off?). At first, it felt like a total role reversal, as the elder John Shaft was the low-key ladies’ man in his old age in Singleton’s Shaft and Shaft II was the reckless hot head. In Story’s Shaft, Shaft II has evolved into becoming more of this ladies’ man character than the original Shaft. When Roundtree’s Shaft finally appears in the third act, he’s all about the action and has weapons all over the house, as if the writers only watched Shaft’s Big Score! and were asked to write his part immediately after watching it while taking the actor’s age into account. It just doesn’t feel like a natural progression for the character considering how subdued and laidback he was when we saw him last.

Then, they lazily explain his motivation for joining the fight after literally just meeting his grandson seconds before by having him just say they can’t have that type of fun without him and how he’s bored. What a cheap way to bring back an icon! Details like this only get a pass because of how funny the movie is, how entertaining both guys are regardless of how their personalities are written, and how awesome the climax is where we get to see three generations of Shaft kick ass for the first and last time onscreen.

Though Samuel L. Jackson is still no Richard Roundtree, he’s made John Shaft II his own thing entirely, which he does deserve credit for. Shaft II just kicking Bennie’s door open before comically apologizing “Oh my bad”, apologizing to Maya and ruining the moment with his advances before laughing to himself knowing she’s thinking about it after the door slams, or ordering VSOP for him and Ron and angrily staring at Ron when he asks for a glass of chardonnay instead are just slivers of Jackson being just as great from a comedic standpoint as he is an action hero. In private, JJ gives Shaft II credit to Sasha, admitting how funny he is and “You should see the way the people in Harlem react to him. He’s like a legend”. Both statements are very true. Still, we’d be remiss in not noting the disappointing use of Roundtree’s John Shaft, as he was given even less screentime than he had in the movie’s predecessor. It’s the film’s biggest missed opportunity. Despite being billed as one of the main characters and even being featured on the poster, he doesn’t actually show up until the third act. Why couldn’t he be featured earlier? There’s no reason as to why his role as the grandfather of the family wasn’t a bigger part of the narrative. If anything, it could have been even funnier, with him having a close relationship with JJ and Maya instead and him helping mend the fence between JJ and Shaft II. It could have been something similar to what he did in What Men Want. Roundtree could have easily played the middleman who has to talk sense into both of them, while either having fun himself or giving serious life advice due to all the knowledge he has gained over his many missions since the 1970s. Remember, he was still active in 2000, and the film ended with Shaft II joining Shaft’s detective agency.

There’s a lot that could have been talked about between the three besides just banter (“You’re my grandson? I haven’t been able to see you since your daddy drove your light-skin ass way the hell upstate. Only you could be a worse father than I was”). The chemistry he had with both men was natural. They only scratched the surface with how they utilized him in this sequel. His house having the 70s decor inside and Robin Harris playing on the TV was a nice touch too, though I have no idea what the joke was about Shaft never locking his doors and not believing in such a thing. Regardless, getting to see John Shaft be as ready as he was to go to war on the spot was the nostalgia kick we were all looking for (“I’m laughing cause you all thought you was gonna do this shit by yourselves”). I loved it when Shaft II vaguely explains the gig as, “Oh, drug kingpin, military scandal, bad guys holding Junior’s girl hostage. You know, the usual”. Watching the elder John Shaft who has seen and done it all calmly sips his scotch mumbling “Usual shit, yeah” was just great. The two callbacks of Shaft and the others doing the classic burst through the glass like he did in the original Shaft and him flipping off some cars in traffic just like he did in the opening of the original did not go unnoticed. The man still has it and always will.

Nevertheless, the casting of Jesse T. Usher doesn’t click as much as we’d hope as fans. He’s very likeable and his casting does fit with how the character is written. In addition, despite having the potential to be an annoying new age protagonist pushing against the heart of franchise, he finds a way to still come off as a genuine and kind-hearted guy. His goofiness, his inability to connect with women, his lack of a fashion sense, and his anti-gun stance make him the Anti-Shaft, which is where all the humor of the movie stems from as Samuel L. Jackson’s John Shaft II can’t comprehend how much JJ’s mother Maya influenced his life and how he turned out. However, there is still a key fact we’re forgetting about. At some point in the story, a change has to be made in the face of danger where JJ embraces the family name and becomes the new era’s Shaft, a man worthy of being given the torch to lead the series into the future. Really, it’s not like he sucks or anything, but be honest with yourselves. Do you see him hypothetically carrying the torch of Shaft into the future since that is the goal of this film? Of course not, and that’s why it’s a problem. When this reality is taken into account, newcomer Jesse T. Usher feels miscast. Again, he portrays the character well when it comes to the lame stuff, but when it’s time to become John Shaft III, he trips over himself in the guise of comedy. We all can appreciate the production taking a chance on a new guy instead of picking a sure thing, but this casting director doesn’t understand the basics of the job. You don’t learn to become John Shaft, even if the character is written as such. You either have the essence, or you don’t. It’s how they landed on the inexperienced actor in Richard Roundtree in 1971. He had “It”.

Jesse T. Usher has this energy like he lost out on the audition to Detective Pikachu to Justice Smith, and since he was the runner-up, the casting director decided to put him in Shaft instead.

They try to save it where JJ shows he can actually shoot a gun when the restaurant is infiltrated while he’s on his date with Sasha, but it’s an hour and thirteen minutes into the film. There’s only 35 minutes left in the movie at that point! There are simply not enough moments like this to convince the viewer he’s the man who can take over for Richard Roundtree and Samuel L. Jackson. His charisma is fitting of a comedy, but he needed to show enough flashes of potential to either call back to Roundtree’s ultra-smooth action hero or Jackson’s violent ass-kicker. All he needs are traces to show there is some semblance of John Shaft within him. He doesn’t need to be a flat-out copy, as he does need to be his own man, but he still needs to retain elements to the previous characters because that’s how you do this sort of story arc and franchise continuation correctly. Making him a complete loser until the final half hour of the movie in an effort to be different is forgetting what made Shaft special in the first place. Despite the newcomer pulling off the long leather duster in the epilogue, it’s more or less because his co-stars’ aura rubs off on him rather than Usher actually earning the respect and love of the fans. Being a nerdy data analyst with a background in the unsatisfactory martial art from a cinematic perspective in Capoeira, Usher never fully crosses over in the eyes of the viewer, even getting his ass kicked for a majority of the climax as well. The goal by the end of the movie should be for the viewer to think to themselves that the Shaft saga will be in good hands for years to come. The main actor should be the reason we are willing to come back. Though there wasn’t a sequel to John Singleton’s Shaft from 2000, this was the thought coming out of it. Sadly, the same feeling isn’t found in Tim Story’s Shaft. Without the movie being so Samuel L. Jackson heavy, it’s hard to say if this sequel would have succeeded at all. At best, we see the old Shaft and smile knowing he’s still got it. We see John Shaft II and smile, appreciating his contributions in bridging the gaps between the three vastly different eras of the franchise.

When it comes to John Shaft III, we squint at the screen commenting, “I don’t know… He’s okay I guess.”. It’s not easy in trying to find who will be the torch bearer for a revived IP trying to recapture former glory, as Disney found out with their mishandling of everything regarding Daisy Ridley’s Rey in the Star Wars sequels. By the end of Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker, my literal reaction after all four years of madness was, “She’s okay”. If that’s the reaction garnered after three attempts at building a successful character arc, something failed along the way. In Shaft‘s defense, Jesse T. Usher’s JJ only got a singular try and got the same middling response. Again, he’s a likable actor, but there is a certain level of gravitas and movie star “It” factor needed to earn the role of John Shaft. He doesn’t have it.

The action sequences aren’t as good as 2000’s Shaft, but they are close, with the double shootout scene at the fancy restaurant with Shaft II, Maya, and a screaming Ron being interspliced with JJ and Sasha’s was very good, and the climax where the original John Shaft comes out of retirement to help was everything. It was 50 years in the making, and it meant the world for us fans. With Roundtree now gone, it means that much more all these years later that we were able to see the actor play such a key role in the finale. As stated before, he should have played a bigger part in the narrative, but we’re thankful we got as much as we did.

This franchise will never be the same without him though. That’s for sure.

Alexandra Shipp is always a bright spot in a supporting role and is just as likable as the protagonist in some ways, though the Sasha character does kind of overstep a bit in criticizing JJ’s father in Shaft II to the extent she does. There’s a fine line between being a caring friend and knowing the hardships their friend faced and stepping over the boundary by talking about someone’s family. Sasha was pushing it in that dinner scene commenting, “Well I’m happy your dads funny, but it doesn’t make up for the fact that he abandoned you when you were a baby and wanted nothing to do with you”. It’s like WOAH! Chill with that! Who the hell do you think you are talking about that man’s family?! Also, when she escaped her restraints and “ran” to the elevator to try and get out of the building in the third act, she was barely jogging at best. It’s like she didn’t understand the severity of the scenario at all. It was comical and completely takes you out of the moment. Banter between Regina Hall’s Maya and Jackson’s Shaft II was consistently amusing though. Her yelling into the mirror in the bathroom due to Shaft II’s presence driving her up the wall was one of the funniest moments of the movie. Other comedic gems that kept the pacing up in a strong fashion were detours like the Uber driver butting into their conversations and mishearing them, accusing them of trying to kill Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Ron just being ridiculous in general. They should have made him Maya’s regular boyfriend from the beginning or rewrote him as JJ’s stepdad. Leland Jones’s delivery was hysterical (“… just somebody who destroys everything he touches and never seems to go away” – “Oh, he’s a contractor”).

Maya having enough of his cornball shtick was gold.

Ron: “So, Maya and John Shaft have a baby together. You know they say that cat Shaft is a bad mother–“

Maya: “Shut the fuck up!”

On a minor note, when would a cop EVER let a citizen use the computer in their car? Even if John Shaft II knows everyone, this was the most questionable moment of the entire film, and that’s saying something.

Another major positive is the real-world consequence the film depicts like JJ getting the FBI accused of Islamophobia for being the motivating factor behind the raid of the mosque and little being found, and Vietti adding that they haven’t even looked into the shootout he was involved in or the illegal search of the bank records. It’s a reminder that this isn’t some bullshit action movie where they throw authenticity to the wind. Sometimes, they do have to deal with the consequences of their actions. It’s like John Shaft II trying to act all cool throughout the movie, but JJ pointing out how he had a choice a long time ago between being his father and being Shaft, choosing the latter. It’s an eye-opening line in a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

After a 19-year layoff from John Singleton’s franchise best, the 2019 Shaft sequel is a genuinely funny and entertaining continuation of the series, even if it lacks in the key categories the saga’s most famous for such as its style, intensity, or coolness factor. Even so, it respects what came before it, pokes fun at it as well as the culture of today, and it has enough of a balanced attack to maintain old fans but also gain some new ones in the process. There is some charm to the newer and younger cast, but what stops the film from seeing its potential is the main actor and “new” Shaft not being able to convincingly take the throne away from the franchise’s previous two kings. He may wear the jacket well, but Jesse T. Usher stands beside them in the kingdom with several feet of distance in-between. Nevertheless, I still have an open mind. As a massive fan of Shaft, I am willing to stay on board if there is a better script circling to save John Shaft III’s character arc to evolve him and the next production into something more fitting of the series. There is still time to fix it. However, us Shaft fans just have to hope and pray that we can see the sequel within the next five years instead of another twenty.

Is that too much to ask?

No matter when the sequel happens or if it does, please don’t ever remix the “Theme from Shaft” like Quavo’s god-awful song to end this film. Certain movie themes should NEVER be touched, and Isaac Hayes’s Oscar-winning song is one of them without question.