Hey, you want to know what never fails to put a spring in our step when it shows up on our Spotify shuffle? If you guessed Issac Hayes’ “Theme from Shaft,” you’re damn right — it is, without a doubt, one of the coolest fucking theme songs in the history of cinema, and it is totally inseparable from one of the coolest movies of the ’70s.
Hell, we didn’t even hate the Samuel L. Jackson-starring sequel that hit theaters 20 years ago (especially when we got a post-American Psycho Christian Bale doing what he did best at the time as the film’s villain), but we don’t know if Tim Story’s comedy-heavy take on this franchise is really doing any it any favors. Warner Bros. dropped a trailer for the sequel/reboot/whatever on Thursday, and boy, we don’t really know what to think about it.
Take a look:
Well, at least Richard Roundtree still looks like a badass nearly 50 years after the original Shaft hit theaters. Still, this kind of dumb comedy — well-known to viewers if they’ve had the misfortune to endure Story’s Fantastic Four movies — doesn’t really jive with what we want from a Shaft movie, especially if it’s going to do the stupid “millennials have to learn how to be badass because the social media makes them into chickens” stuff.
Here’s a synopsis:
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 duster, there’s no denying family. Besides, Shaft’s got an agenda of his own, and a score to settle that’s professional and personal.
Shaft hits theaters on June 14.
Featured image by Kyle Kaplan via Warner Bros. Pictures.