Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects

Ninth and final collaboration between J. Lee Thompson with Charles Bronson, it was also Jack Lee final film before retirement and the last one Bronson made for the two cousins of Cannon Group, Menahem Golan & Yoram Globus, "Kinjite - Forbidden Subjects" was a return to the action / crime / thriller genre, a territory covered by the duo in several films before, from "10 to Midnight" ('83) to "Murphy's Law" ('86), after the more mystery / 'whodunit' oriented, "Messenger of Death", made the previous year.

Bronson plays his usual cop on the edge to be acting above the law (he was in full Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" mode here), this time chasing a pimp who is forcing minors into prostitution, played by the forever baddie Juan Fernandez ("Salvador", "Crocodile Dundee 2") in an one more sleazy performance, who kidnapped the 12 years old daughter of a yuppie japanese businessman (James Pax from "Big Trouble in Little China") new in town. After his own daughter was molested (ironically by the same oriental) during a bus ride, Bronson's feel of bigotry towards the japanese who are taking L.A. grow bigger, but his sense of integrity and the fact he's father of a teenage girl himself, makes him on the loose through the city's underground to find the missing child.

The movie deals with several relevant issues, such as cultural differences, hidden sexual desires and the execrable child prostitution ring, but ultimately (and unfortunately), it doesn't balance them well, cutting the plot to pieces to acommodate a Charles Bronson's action vehicle, and it was a shame, because the material was there for a great 'serious' crime / drama film such as Paul Schrader's "Hardcore" ('79) or William Friedkin's "Cruising" ('80).

The budget seems even shorter than "Messenger of Death" due to Cannon's financial bankrupt around '89, and some of the shots look cheap enough to be the "made for TV" film of the week and not even the cinematography is that good in this one, but Jack Lee & Bronson compensate it with more fights, more gunshots and more action, including an over-the-top big finale that all the Bronson's fans will be pleased.

The shocking subject of the movie, and its infamous, not showed but suggested, scenes it may be too exploitative for some mainstream public back then and even now, that's why Jack Lee, probably with conservative Bronson's aval, shot them in a more "light" tone, instead of going too nasty or visually sordid.

Besides Bronson, Fernandez and Pax, the supporting cast features several well known faces such as the beautiful & future "Baywatch" mermaid, Nicole Eggert, in her debut film; Perry Lopez ("Kelly's Heroes", "Chinatown" & "Death Wish 4") playing Bronson's partner; Sy Richardson ("Straight to Hell") as the pimp's henchman; Amy Hathaway & Peggy Lipton, playing respectively, the daughter & wife of Bronson's character and even cameos from Alex Hyde-White ("Biggles - Adventures in Time", "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", "Pretty Woman") & Danny Trejo ("Runaway Train", "Heat", "Desperado", "Machete").

In short, "Kinjite - Forbidden Subjects" isn't the best of the Jack Lee Thompson / Charles Bronson pairing, neither is the worst, but works as the last hurrah from both veterans together, from the Cannon Group before bankrupcy, and the 80's Era of the OTT / cheesy / full of witty on-liners, action films.

I give it a 6 !!

This is a pretty good movie, it is disturbing, dark, and depressing but these are things that happen in real life. We can't hide from these things, the movie is exposing the lifestyle of these scum and the man set out to destroy them. It's not Bronson's best movie but I thought it was pretty solid, I give it a 7.5/10. This movie is pretty underrated, it's such a good movie that touches on sensitive topics. People need to seriously stop being sensitive all the time and realize that the movie meant to expose these criminals. You can't just rate a movie low because it's depressing or doesn't fit your ideal world. the movie is about crime and that is what was shown here, you knew what you were getting into when you were going to watch this movie. You did read the synopsis, right?

Overall a pretty solid film, not the best but certainly not the worst.

With more holes than a sunken U-boat, and more cheese than a medium pizza, Kinjite still manages to entertain those who are fond of Bronson, or those who are fans of the more gritty action films of the era. The film has strong moments, but it also suffers at times from overly lazy dialogue, direction and overall storytelling, and it's hard to forget the painfully bad 80's music in this film. The fight scenes are also far from great, however there is enough grit, sleaze and action to make the film a worthy watch for many. The film is undoubtedly a fairly confused morality tale, or perhaps a morality tale within a confused society is the better way of describing it? In the end, the film does rely on a sort of karmic justice to satisfy it's audience, and to a decent degree, it works, at times however it just leaves us asking some very strange questions. There are a few parts that don't really make sense. Of other note, there is an early but very small appearance by Danny Trejo in the film, as well as a decent performance from a very young Nicole Eggert, as well as a strong performance by the little known but hard to take your eyes off of Amy Hathaway. Worth a look for some, but not to be touched with a ten foot pole by others. My rating... 5.5/10.

This thrilling picture titled Kinjite (which means "to forbid" in English) contains suspense , noisy action-packed , intrigue , thrills and lots of violence . The meaning and relevance of this movie's title is that it refers to subjects such as sex, child molesting, prostitution which are forbidden topics in Japanese culture . It deals with the cop Lt. Crowe (Charles Bronson , he was about sixty-seven years of age) who takes on a pimp (Juan Fernandez) and a slimy hoodlum (Sy Richardson) whose speciality is recruiting adolescents including the daughter of a Japanese business man (James Pax). The lieutenant married to Kathleen (Peggy Limpton) has a teenager girl (Amy Hathaway) and is helped by another policeman (Perry Lopez). He then stalks the baddies and takes the law into his own hands , acting as judge , jury and executioner ; searching vengeance on crooks , pimps making the neighborhood safer and bumping off delinquents and street scum.

This standard Bronson movie is full of action , thrills, and disturbing scenes . Bronson in his usual stoic acting displays efficiently his weapons such as ¨Harry the Dirty¨ and killing mercilessly nasties . This is the last movie Charles Bronson made for Cannon Films and it represents the tenth and final of ten teamings between producer Pancho Kohner and star actor Bronson . It's certainly thrilling , though the morality may be questionable , even in this time, as the spectators were clearly on the Lt. Crowe Bronson's side . Disagreeable scenes and loathing theme as abuse of children with terrible end . Screen debut from Baywatch's Nicole Eggert as a teen prostitute and Danny Trejo as an inmate in a final brief appearance -almost extra- . Unappropiated and anti-climatic musical score composed by means of synthesizer .

The fare was badly directed by J. Lee Thomson , in his last one , he previously had a nice track record in the English cinema from 1950 until 1961 , directing good Western (McKenna's gold , White Buffalo) and all king genres as Sci-Fi (Conquest and Battle of planet of apes), terror (reincarnation of Peter Proud, Eye of the devil), adventures (Flame over India ,Kings of the sun, Taras Bulba , Tiger Bay) and Warlike (Guns of Navarone, Von Braun , Chairman , The passage) . His two biggest successes turned out to be ¨Guns of Navarone¨and ¨Cape Fear¨. Thereafter , the filmmaker's career subsided in a morass of slickly realized but middling films . He moved into the field of international spectaculars , at which point his filmmaking seemed to lose its individuality . J. Lee Thompson working from the 50s in England, finished his career making Chuck Norris (Firewalker) and Charles Bronson vehicles (Caboblanco, Evil that men do , Messenger of death, Death Wish 4 : Crackdown, Caboblanco, St Ives). Rating : Below average . Lousy results for this disagreeable thriller that has many depressing failures.

OK, this isn't the best movie ever made, but it does have some positive qualities. Nicole Eggert has a medium to small size part, but looks GREAT! This was the stage of her career where she looked the very best; long before the Gen-X style took her over and she got those ridiculous breast implants. Amy Hathaway is also in this movie as Charles Bronson's daughter. She is very beautiful - though a bit young in this. Don't take it too seriously and enjoy the eye candy!