Shaft

Shaft might be the most unpretentious movie ever. It never aspires to be anything other than what it is: a bad-ass, street-wise version of the private eye that gets a small case that leads to something way bigger. There are no characters arcs, no growth, no insight or moral or metaphor, and it never has any intention of bringing you those things anyway. It’s here for one thing only: for Shaft to be Shaft. And that’s okay. I’m not gonna ding a movie for that. Some elements of Shaft are definitely dated, like the camera work, the private eye with the frienemy relationship with the cops, and women being there either as eye candy or plot devices. Those are products of the times it was made in. But some elements that are of the time contribute to the movie positively; the African-American experience at that point in history feels authentic. And the way New York is portrayed isn’t a glitzy lane of glamour; traffic sucks and will run over pedestrians, the streets are dirty, there’s tons of porno theaters, and it’s just overall got a lived-in feel. So, yeah, it’s a good watch. Not a great one, but I don’t need everything to be a home run. This did its job, and I’m okay with that, and I think the movie is okay with that too.