Singleton's new 'Shaft' makes cool, solid entertainment.

JAKARTA (JP): John Singleton's Shaft is a rousing, satisfying action- packed film which will keep audiences entertained from start to finish.

The film has a history. In 1971, a film with an all-black cast was released in the United States. No studio wanted to finance the movie, amusingly titled Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, so director-writer Melvin Van Peebles had to secure a US$50,000 loan from Bill Cosby.

The initially X-rated film, telling the story of a black man on the run after beating up white cops who assaulted a black man, gained huge commercial and critical success and reportedly saved its distributor MGM from bankruptcy.

The film's achievement was followed a few months later by Shaft, directed by Gordon …