I am a huge fan of the original film in this series, SHAFT--having scored it an 8 and enjoyed every minute of it. Unfortunately, the sequels (SHAFT'S BIG SCORE and SHAFT IN Africa) were major disappointments--mostly due to really bad writing and lots of ridiculous story elements. In SHAFT'S BIG SCORE, Shaft has a gun battle with about a dozen crooks. They have a machine gun and tons of pistols as well as a helicopter. Shaft has a shotgun and a pistol and manages not only to win but shoot down the copter!!! Sadly, it only got worse in SHAFT IN Africa.
The main plot idea isn't bad. A group of concerned officials want to infiltrate an evil mob that sneaks illegal workers from Africa into Europe and treats them like slaves. A timely topic now as well as then. However, having Shaft be the guy to infiltrate was just silly. While the film was set in East Africa, Shaft looks little like one of these people--mostly because almost all Black-Americans trace their ancestry back to West Africa--on the other side of the continent. In addition, he didn't really try to use an appropriate accent throughout the film--only once or twice--and he didn't shave or cut his hair to blend in with the slaves. He simply looked like "Richard Roundtree: Movie Star" amidst the poor unfortunate villagers. Unfortunately, about the only thing going for the film is the action and extreme violence (for 1973). Sadly, even the great tune "Shaft" was gone and the music was rather bland throughout the film!
By the way, although it looked cool, why did Shaft bother to blow up the bunker at the end of the film even though the bad guy and all his men were dead?! It just seemed like a silly excuse for pyrotechnics.
The main plot idea isn't bad. A group of concerned officials want to infiltrate an evil mob that sneaks illegal workers from Africa into Europe and treats them like slaves. A timely topic now as well as then. However, having Shaft be the guy to infiltrate was just silly. While the film was set in East Africa, Shaft looks little like one of these people--mostly because almost all Black-Americans trace their ancestry back to West Africa--on the other side of the continent. In addition, he didn't really try to use an appropriate accent throughout the film--only once or twice--and he didn't shave or cut his hair to blend in with the slaves. He simply looked like "Richard Roundtree: Movie Star" amidst the poor unfortunate villagers. Unfortunately, about the only thing going for the film is the action and extreme violence (for 1973). Sadly, even the great tune "Shaft" was gone and the music was rather bland throughout the film!
By the way, although it looked cool, why did Shaft bother to blow up the bunker at the end of the film even though the bad guy and all his men were dead?! It just seemed like a silly excuse for pyrotechnics.