Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
International Mission for Shaft !, May 8, 2009
The tagline(s) for the third installment in the Shaft trilogy says it all. "The brother man in the motherland", & "Shaft is stickin it all the way". Shaft is recruited to stop a slavery racket..(Africa to France). Shaft,(Richard Roundtree) is in top form as a hard lovin, hard fightin, detective/spy in this flick. Shaft abandons his "iron" and uses a stick in some well choreographed fighting scenes. Plenty of violence is served up as the man overseeing the slavery racket, Vincent Amafi (Frank Finlay) is aware of Shaft's identity, thanks to a double agent, Wassa (Debebe Eshetu). Shaft also has his hands full with two beautiful women, as he romances lovely Vonetta McGee and beds femme fatale Neda Arneric. (Vonetta McGee) Aleme - is the daughter of the Emir Ramila (Cy Grant) who hires Shaft to infiltrate the international slave trading racket. Shaft will pose as local native, who will make the trek from Africa to Paris to bring down the racket working from the inside. Aleme gives Shaft a tutorial in the tribal customs and the language spoken preparing him for his trip to Africa. She initially resists Shaft's charms, but of course he ultimately wins her over. Plenty of nudity is served up in the last of the Shaft trilogy, including Shaft himself in a nude stick fighting sequence.
The most provocative sex scene would be Shaft's one night stand aboard the slave ship with gorgeous Neda Arneric (Yugoslavian actress). The young, blonde, blue eyed Arneric makes her American film debut as Amafi's mistress..Jazar. In an earlier scene Jazar tells Amafi, she will volunteer to distract Shaft, so that Wassa can take out our hero. During this leg of the journey, Shaft boards the slave smuggling ship that will journey across the Mediterranean sea. After Jazar lays eyes on Shaft, she provides instructions to Wassa on how he must get Shaft to her cabin. Wassa wants to take out Shaft right away, but Jazar blackmails him, thus ensuring she gets to experience "the sex machine to all the chicks", first. That evening, she lures him into her cabin for what turns out to be an incredibly sexy and steamy seduction scene. Arneric is stunning, but merely serves as eye candy to the male viewer, wearing only a teeny weeny blue bikini aboard the ship, and later on, uh em.... nothing. Although Shaft's cover is blown from the beginning of the film, he makes his way to Paris, avoiding several attempts on his life. Once in Paris, he brings down the the slavery racket, as he frees the itinerant workers from bondage. Shaft offers plenty of one liners much like british agent...007. One line is totally hilarious when Shaft is asked if he knows how to ride a camel to cross the desert. His retort, "no ride camel, ride ass". The musical score and more specifically, Johnny Pate's guitar work, spices up some scenes. The Four Tops provide the theme song, "Are You Man Enough". This film definitely has the flavor of a Bond flick as Shaft gets a couple of gadgets for his mission. A definite step away from the first two Shaft movies and last in the Shaft trilogy.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
John Shaft Plays James Bond in Africa, January 23, 2002
Though the second sequel to "Shaft," there's no remaining trace of the first two "blaxploitation" films. "Shaft in Africa" looks more like a big-budget 007 film, and instead of Roger Moore, put Richard Roundtree in the hero's role. The pair of director John Guillermin and writer Stirling Silliphant will definetely reminds you of "Towering Inferno," pinnacle of the "disaster movies" in vogue in the 70s, and "Shaft in Africa" has the same feeling -- it is packed with actions and violence, plus costly set (or shots on location). This time Shaft, in order to stop the modern-day slave trading in Africa, has to endure a chains of brutal attacks from enemies and the scorching heat of Afraica. The globe-trotting story leads him from NYC to Ethiopia, and then to France. And Shaft doesn't forget that he is THE sexy guy; Shaft's love is played by beautiful princess Vonetta McGee, and he even spends a good time with a white girl in bed. If you expect "blaxploitation" films in "Shaft in Africa" you may be diappointed. It is no longer that. The total tone is nearer to films of James Bond (to which Shaft refers briefly) and actions never stop coming on screen between Shaft's one-liners. As far as the actions are concerned, it never lets you down, and you will see unique things here and there that you can find only in the 70s: in one scene Shaft, completely naked, proves that he can do stick-fighting (!). Overall, "Shaft in Africa" is a good action film. Often its violence is excessive, but the film's pace is always slick and Roundtree plays convincingly the cool and sexy hero. There is no more Isaac Hayes theme song, but Four Tops's great song will make you forget that. And don't miss the airport scene in which Shaft has to take a photo with a lion. This lion (of course, he is a real one) is audacious enough to give him a quick, threatening look to him. Shaft (or Roundtree) doesn't look happy about that.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Shaft in Africa, June 12, 2008
The third of the Shaft series and even though not as good as the orginal still not a bad flick.
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