Shaft (2019) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Tim Story

Starring:  Samuel L. Jackson, Jessie T. Usher, Regina Hall, Richard Roundtree, Alexandra Shipp, Matt Lauria, Avan Jogia, Lauren Velez, Isacch de Bankole

The 2019 version of John Shaft is making up for all of the fun he missed in the 2000 version, where he was ultra-serious about taking down the bad guys.    So much so, he chucked his police badge at the wall like it was a Chinese star.   In the present day one takes his catch phrase, "It's my duty to please that booty," much more to heart.

I'm at odds with myself about Shaft.    It begins in 1989 and in terms of spirit and the title character's outdated views on the treatment of women, Shaft stayed in 1989.    This is the type of action movie Arnold Schwarzenegger would've relished starring in, minus the borderline misogyny.    We witness prolonged gunfights with its participants using hand cannons as weapons, and the cops have the decency to stay away until long after the necessary villains have been disposed of.    There are numerous scenes in which John Shaft Jr. (let's call him J.J.) (Usher) rolls his eyes and corrects his father after the old man spouts off another old school view of sexual politics.    And Shaft II (Jackson) is so bad, he walks across the street heedless of oncoming traffic knowing full well the cars will slam on the brakes and give him the right of way.    I don't think the motorists know he is JOHN SHAFT, Harlem legend, but instead don't want to be booked on vehicular manslaughter charges for running him over.    So they stop, as any prudent driver would do.

Shaft is ridiculous, yes, but it embraces its ridiculousness, especially the throwaway line about how Shaft's father, John Shaft Sr. (Roundtree, the original Shaft from 1971) pretended to be his son's uncle in the last incarnation.    Why did they pretend to be uncle and nephew when they are father and son?    If it's explained, I missed it.   No matter, that minor sticking point is dropped and the three generations of Shafts confront the drug dealing villains who use an armed forces veterans center, a mosque, and a grocery store as fronts for their illegal activities.   

I won't go too much into detail about how J.J., an FBI analyst, reunites with his estranged private eye father to investigate the suspicious death of J.J.'s best friend, who had ties to all three of aforementioned fronts.    Shaft II is long divorced from J.J.'s mother Maya (Hall), and both Shaft II and Maya have pulled off the amazing trick of managing to go from 1989 to the present without having looked as if either has aged a day.   Maya and Shaft II still have a thing for each other, it seems, as does J.J. and his lifelong friend Sasha (Shipp), who has kind of, sort of friend zoned J.J., but licks her lips when he displays his aptitude with shooting guns.

Still, Shaft moves along swiftly with energy and a certain swagger.    Despite its negatives, which rear their ugly heads in retrospect, I was tempted to give Shaft three stars simply because it reminded me so much of the fun action thrillers of my teenage years.    But, I hedged, and I'll go with 2 1/2 stars, which truth be told is a whole lot better than I anticipated giving Shaft when I walked into the movie theater.