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Shaft
2019 111 min United States of America R 18+
★5.8
Action, Crime, Comedy, Mystery
Director: Tim Story
Trailers
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Teaser
Teaser
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Description
JJ, aka John Shaft Jr., may be a cyber security expert with a degree from MIT, but to uncover the truth behind his best friend’s untimely death, he needs an education only his dad can provide. Absent throughout JJ’s youth, the legendary locked-and-loaded John Shaft agrees to help his progeny navigate Harlem’s heroin-infested underbelly.
Budget:
$30M
US Gross:
$21.36M
Worldwide:
$21.36M
Starring
Samuel L. Jackson
Actor
Jessie T. Usher
Actor
Richard Roundtree
Actor
Key opinion
Shaft (2019) is a divisive action-comedy that serves primarily as a nostalgic vehicle for Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Roundtree. While some viewers enjoy its lighthearted generational clash and classic blaxploitation homages, others criticize its thin plot, uneven tone, and repetitive character archetypes.
| Acting | Samuel L. Jackson brings a reliable, charismatic screen presence that anchors the film, even as he relies on established archetypes. | |
| Theme | The generational dynamic between the three Shafts provides a fun, albeit predictable, thematic bridge between 1970s aesthetics and modern sensibilities. | |
| Screenplay | The plot is widely regarded as thin and unoriginal, relying on formulaic crime-drama mechanics that feel lazy or underdeveloped. | |
| Humor | The humor is a polarizing element; while some find the non-PC, chauvinistic jokes and intergenerational banter entertaining, others find them crude or forced. | |
| Pacing | The two-hour runtime is a point of contention, with some finding the pace brisk and enjoyable, while others feel the story is stretched thin and suffers from unnecessary extensions. |