9/10
If you loved "Shaft", you will like this modernized flick that is a retrospect of it
5 May 2013
Warning: Spoilers
When everyone in the 1970s was introduced to the film "Shaft", it gave a great example of the African-American action hero--a cop or ex-cop who is destined to take out the bad guys. All of this inspiration from "Shaft" comes in "A Low Down Dirty Shame". Like "Shaft", "Low Down" has a cop or ex-cop, as well as action-packed sequences, like gunfights and fist fights, and this modernization from the former flick made "A Low Down Dirty Shame" make its positive impact.

But there are a few twists. Keanon Ivory Wayans plays the role of Shame, who is actually an investigator who has ties to the DEA and retired as a cop. And instead of the common .38 revolver, his favorite service weapon is the 9mm Beretta. He has his sidekick, a friend named Peaches (played by Jada Pinkett at that time before she became Jada Pinkett-Smith). Shame runs his own private investigation business.

So, as the story unfolds, a DEA mole named Sonny invites Shame to take on a mission to capture Ernesto Mendoza, a Mexican narcotrafficker who had a strong romance interest with character Angela Flowers, who was attempting to try to beckon Mendoza to turn himself in.

The start of this focused on Shame's remembrances with Angela in the past. He mentions that she wears Covenant perfume, and basically goes on the mend to find her exactly. He does find her in one of the apartments with a bit of a police trick, and calls Sonny to try to get her to turn Mendoza in to the authorities, but regrettably, Angela said that she was on the run because a potential hit by a drug gang is imminent. This is when Sonny drops the ball but not at her...Angela was tipped, and Shame knows this. They escape the apartment as the drug gang comes in to try the death wish attempt...they confront the armed gang, and was able to escape with their lives.

At Ernesto Mendoza's compound, the gang comes back home along with Sonny, and Ernesto gets upset. Sonny then rails at Ernesto that what he did will put Ernesto in trouble...and Shame was the main fly in the ointment for all of the trouble. Ernesto then does a knife slash on one of the gang members--the one who messed up the hit on Shame and Angela, and orders Sonny to get Shame.

Then, Shame arms himself to the death to try to reverse the tide. He starts by forcing a low-level member of Ernesto's drug gang, Luis, to tell where Mendoza is. Little did Luis did not know that he ran into a White Supremacist rally to find that out. With that psychological torture, Luis was able to tell Shame where he was--at a nightclub. And he does. He likes to do tricks to get what he wants.

Another scene I liked was the confrontation between Sonny and Angela at the shopping mall. Sonny had his gun drawn at him after Angela found the drug money. She is forced to step away and Sonny realizes that the money was real. Then, taking out of a page from the "James Bond" movies, Angela undresses her top, and reveals a full-figured black bra. But Sonny was smart, deciding not to take Angela's trick, but despite that, another ugly surprise..Angela then displays a gun from her back but Sonny did not even realize it...he gets hit several times as Sonny was about to use his gun to fire him back. Then a coup-de-grace shot by her finishes him off. So she killed Sonny so she can get the money.

The final fight between Mendoza and Shame was something. Shame finally brings Mendoza down after a fight that resembled a dirty street fight and Muay Thai martial arts....and arrests him but the loud bang from a bullet kills Mendoza...but it was Angela who did it, not Shame. Now, she is going to kill Shame but from behind, Peaches, with her karate skills, was able to finish off Angela before Angela could kill off Shame.

Then, you hear Peaches' love for soap operas as the movie is about to approach the final credits. So basically, when I flash back, Peaches loves television so much--that's the reason why she loves soap operas.
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