Review: Pure impolitically correct R-rated fun.
It is true that the story of this film is one we have seen a bunch of times in recent years. However the story is not the reason to watch this movie, as the film is more concerned with humor, characters and action. It delivers quite well on each of these fronts. This is an extremely funny movie and I found myself laughing out loud through most of it. True, this humor is not for everybody. There are many impolitically correct jokes. The Samuel Jackson, Shaft is not PC at all, often spouting offensive stuff, that it is shocking to hear in a movie from 2019. Beyond just that the offensive talk is played for laughs and the movie never truly condemns them for it either. This is sure to turn many people off from this film, but despite this it was often really funny. It is hard to describe why the jokes here are just as funny as they are not PC. However I think much of this comes from the fact that the humor seems to derive from the characters rather than the filmmakers. There is never a moment when it feels like the filmmakers are trying to make a point with this, but rather that they want to do something that makes them laugh. That is one of the best things in a comedy, when you get the feeling the filmmakers cracked themselves up with these jokes. Of course this is an action comedy, so action is just as important as comedy. The action here is excellent. The action is over the top and is to be taken as seriously as the comedy. Again one gets a sense that the filmmakers had such fun with these scenes. Both the humor and the action are greatly helped by the characters being fantastic. Hearing Samuel Jackson's Shaft spout something very offensive or vulgar would not be as funny if we didn't have Jessie T. Usher's Shaft complete unbelief at what he is hearing. Similarly the action scenes (especially the climatic one) manage to fit in many character moments.
This movie sets out to be nothing but pure fun, and it successeds very well. This may not be a movie for everybody, but it is an excellent movie regardless.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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