While there are some laughs spread throughout both the original 1971Shaft and the John Singleton-directed reboot from 2000, neither film was really overtly comedic. It seems that the newest film in the franchise—and the third one to simply be called Shaft—is leaning hard into the comedy, and that's sure to rub some fans the wrong way.
Both Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Roundtree are back for this go around, along with franchise newcomer Jessie Usher as the third generation John Shaft, son to Jackson and grandson to Roundtree. But this John Shaft has a millennial sensibility, afraid to use the "n word" and do many of the other great things his forebears embraced wholeheartedly.
My biggest reservation with the film is that it comes to us courtesy of cinematic criminal Tim Story, the man behind many an awful movie including the mid-aughts Fantastic Four movies. He is likely the reason for the lightened tone and without alegitimately goodfilm to his name, it's hard to take him seriously as a director.
At the same time, it's hard to deny how much fun it is to see Jackson and Roundtree back in action, not to mention Regina Hall, who has been on fire for the last year or so, starting with Support the Girls. Also, as this red band trailer shows, the film will be loaded with violence and profanity, but there's also "Brief Nudity" listed among the film's ratings reasons, so let's hope it's of the female variety.
Shaft hits theatersin 9 days, on June 14.
