New Line Cinema has announced they’re planning to do a
reboot of the blaxploitation cult classic Shaft. The original Shaft became a hit as a sort of Black James Bond action flick in
the ‘70s and is probably the best iteration of the blaxploitation genre (aside
from possibly Blacula.) The original Shaft was a strong hit, spawning 2 sequels in Shaft’s Big Score and Shaft
in Africa. Since then Shaft
was remade in the ‘90s starring Samuel L. Jackson as a slickly produced action
flick with a hard R rating. This
new iteration of the character has attracted the creator of Black-ish Kenya Barris as the writer and
the studio has stated they’re aiming for a more comedic tone.
This decision has been met with a pretty wide array of
responses, some have voiced apathy at the prospects of a new Shaft film while others have felt
downright outraged over this approach to the classic character. Me? I’m firmly entrenched in the angry side of the divide, this
strikes me as a thoroughly tone deaf approach to the material with very little
to redeem it to say nothing of setting a really bad precedent.
