2019’s Shaft is a sort of reboot/sort of sequel to the 2000 movie of the same name, which was in, itself, a sort of reboot/sort of sequel to the 1970s trilogy of Shaft movies. Enjoying the briefest of cinematic runs, this iteration was really a straight-to-Netflix affair. Which doesn’t always mean that a movie is bad, but the odds would indicate a mediocre offering at best.
And 2019’s Shaft is very much a mediocre offering. Essentially a series of finely woven cliches, it never troubles itself with a coherent plot or character development.
Had there been a more immediate follow-up to Samuel L Jackson’s outing as Shaft in 2000, the franchise might have been reborn in a more credible way, but it seems unlikely there will be too much demand for a further entry in the series after this pedestrian effort.
Score for Christmasishness
I included the 2000 iteration of Shaft in a previous annual countdown for fairly tenuous reasons, but the Christmas credentials of the 2019 entry are more dubious. There are a few brief scenes showing the youngest member of the Shaft family opening inappropriate gifts from his estranged father. Insofar as there is a narrative to follow, those scenes are quite possibly pivotal. Although the plot would be paper thin with or without them really. Nonetheless, given that there are Christmas trees on screen for a few brief moments, the 2019 version of Shaft deserves its place on my list, even if it deserves no other accolades.
James Proclaims! 