WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
This may seem a little out of left field for a lot of people as the majority of these articles have been about the marvel superheroes. However, you would not have The Avengers if it wasn’t for Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D so I think in a weird way he needs to take pride of place. Also, I would have felt completely wrong doing these articles and leaving such a bad-ass out. Yes, I mean Nick Fury as well as Samuel L Jackson…
A Time To Kill
From the moment this film starts cutting between the two red-necks and Tonya in the shop, I knew something bad was going to happen but I didn’t quite expect what they actually did! Jackson plays Tonya’s father, a distraught and angry man who, following the rape of his daughter, quite openly admits to Jake that he has murder in mind, “You got a daughter Jake. What would you do?” I’m not even angry when he actually does it! But I love the shot just before when all you can see is Samuel L’s eyes and watching them twitch with rage! All of this is in the first 20 minutes! From this point on, his role takes a slight back seat once the trial begins.
Black Snake Moan
From a broken father, to a divorced husband. I’ll be honest, and it may be because of where this film is set, but Samuel’s character of Lazarus is rather similar to that of Carl Lee in the film above. However, there’s one word to describe him in both films and that is intense! I was shocked to find out that not only was Lazarus betrayed by his wife, but his brother too! No wonder he’s so angry! It seems however, that his chance run-in with Rae gives him something to care about, something to help him rise again so to speak. I was confused about the title of this film until about 40 minutes from the end when Lazarus starts singing his song Black Snake Moan.
In case anyone was wondering where the meme of Samuel L in a white vest came from – well the still was taken from this film.
Shaft
I always thought that this was a remake of the 1971 film but it is actually a sequel! But then that is made more obvious when Richard Rowntree makes an appearance. Samuel L plays the nephew to the original Shaft and strangely, he looks younger than in A Time to Kill even though it was made later. Now, we all know it’s not hard for Samuel L to look cool but this is something else. Actually, you look at him and wonder if this is the film that made Marvel say, this is the guy we want as Nick Fury! I haven’t seen the original film but this does have a very ‘70s feel in place so I wonder if they tried to replicate it in some way. Much like A Time to Kill, the underlying subtext of this film is race and the on-screen rivalry between Jackson and Bale because of it is brilliant!
Honorary Mentions
I couldn’t very well write this article without mentioning his subtle, and most likely missed by most, cameo in Kill Bill: Volume One. I mention this specifically because I believe he actually speaks in Volume Two. He’s also clearly a favourite of Tarantino’s as he also appears with larger roles in Django Unchained, Hateful Eight, Jackie Brown and Pulp Fiction. He’s even donned a kilt for 51st State and acted alongside Bruce Willis in Die Hard: With a Vengeance. King of the word mother******, I could go on about his films for days!