Shaft, les nuits rouges de Harlem

“Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks? Shaft!", says the film’s theme song. Shaft was the first one, he brought the blaxploitation genre to the world of cinema, he brought a black hero who has women falling into his lap like on a treadmill, who’s not afraid of blacks or whites, who, when needed, is appropriately aggressive yet smart. And it was a hit with black young boys from the suburbs who flocked to the film in droves. Yet the film's reputation is a bit ahead of its quality. I was expecting more wisecracks, more sex (2 girls in the whole film? - Shaft you’re disappointing), more action and more violence (three smaller action sequences don't pull it off). Even so, it's interesting, if only for the great atmosphere of early 1970s New York, the period clothing, the cars and the black junkies dealing. And the white population plays an irrelevant second fiddle, as it should be in a proper blaxploitation flick. (23/11/2016)

This picture simply lacks the intensity that would captivate you and keep you on the edge of your seat throughout. Although it is an action film, it is actually very slow-paced and plot-wise simpler, which also means that it doesn't really work as a thriller. Shaft is definitely an interesting character, but I don't see their potential being fully utilized here. (23/04/2015)