'Shaft' Trailer: Three Generations Of Shaft Deliver Three Times The Action
Get ready for three times the Shaft. The long-dormant Shaft franchise is getting a new sequel from director Tim Story (2005's Fantastic Four, Ride Along) with actor Richard Roundtree back to reprise his role from the original 1970s blaxploitation movies. But this time he's accompanied by Samuel L. Jackson back as his nephew, John Shaft II, from the 2000 sequel, as well as the youngest member of the family is Jessie T. Usher (Independence Day: Resurgence). The three generations of Shaft unite in the first Shaft trailer, which you can watch below.
Shaft Trailer
It's been 19 years since the last Shaft sequel saw Samuel L. Jackson taking on the title role as the nephew of Roundtree's iconic '70s blaxploitation hero. And the latest Shaft film follows that tradition of bringing back the series through a long-awaited sequel centered around new member of the family, this time played by Jessie T. Usher. Usher plays JJ, aka John Shaft Jr., a cybersecurity expert and MIT graduate who can only solve his best friend's untimely death through some old-school tactics taught to him by his father and great-uncle.
We got a first look at the three generations of Shaft uniting in an image released in December, but it's different seeing them in action together. The three men may seem wildly different, but Jackson says that they share a few more things in common than a last name. "He's always that tough but fair, well-dressed cynical guy with the right one-liner," Jackson said. "All of those things work to make somebody cool across the generations. It's enduring. We don't have a lot of heroes, so the ones we have, we hold on to."
Alexandra Shipp (X-Men: Apocalypse), Regina Hall (The Hate U Give), and Cliff "Method Man" Smith also star in Shaft.
Here's the official synopsis for Shaft:
"Shaft" is the next chapter in the film franchise featuring the coolest private eye on any New York City block. JJ, aka John Shaft Jr. (Usher), 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 (Jackson) agrees to help his progeny navigate Harlem's heroin-infested underbelly. And while JJ's own FBI analyst's badge may clash with his dad's trademark leather coat, there's no denying family. Besides, Shaft's got an agenda of his own, and a score to settle that's professional and personal.
Alex Barnow (The Goldbergs) and Kenya Barris (Black-ish) write the screenplay for Shaft, which may or may not end up debuting on Netflix internationally two weeks after its theatrical debut.Shaft opens in theaters on June 14, 2019.