Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects

This is the last movie that Charles Bronson made before the death of his second wife, actress Jill Ireland. At 68 and with a string of mediocre action thrillers littering his 1980s output, this sleazy cop movie turned out to be one of his better efforts of the decade. Bronson plays vice detective Crowe, a racist veteran of the force who has grown weary of seeing the scum of Los Angeles dragging innocent children into prostitution and drugs. A parallel storyline follows visiting Japanese businessman Hiroshi Hada (James Pax) who struggles to adapt to American values and soon after arriving loses his young daughter to slimy pimp Duke (Juan Fernandez). Crowe has already had run-ins with Duke, so when he is assigned to find Hada's daughter, the stories merge with tragic results. Bronson is still trim and performs well as Crowe, with several good action sequences. Largely maligned as an actor because he underplayed his leading roles, Bronson always fit this type of role because you could believe that he actually does the things he is portraying. There is a nice little scene involving an ethnic event where Crowe vents his frustration on some startled Japanese that speaks volumes about character motivation. Juan Fernandez is exceptional as Duke and makes his character truly evil. Veteran British director J. Lee Thompson does a fair job of keeping the movie plugging along and has a great set piece at the end of the movie involving a crane and crashing automobiles. The subject matter isn't as exploited as it could have been, but it's still pretty rough and loaded with nudity and violence. Bronson fans won't be disappointed and even non-fans (like my wife) enjoyed it.

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 !!

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!

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.

It's been a couple days since I watched it, and I just had to let it sink in. Fans of the Bronson/Thompson pairing will know what to get (being no restrictions within a Cannon production), but for some particular reason it didn't hit home for me. Well not straight away. This is probably the pairs' most daring work (yeah more so than "The Evil That Men Do (1984)"), and fittingly the last they would make together in a technically well-made fable. What ruffled a lot of feathers when this came out was the exploitative topics at hand (child prostitution, repressed sexual desire and drug addiction), and the way they were handled and brought across. They are gruelling, stomach churning and sleazily downbeat, but never did it struck those cords with almighty, gut-busting force. The ugliness of these facets definitely creeps in, but the emotional drive while being there, feels quite thin with an uneasy and bitter underbelly taking hold.

Thompson's sufficiently polished direction (though a more raw edge to it would've been better) paints a rotten, grimy and scummy texture through heavy atmospheric vibes than anything visually punishing. Gideon Porath's leering cinematography streamlined the feature. For a Bronson film, action makes little head-way. Quite strange, but its slow going pace lets the basic premise evolve, with its two separate stories eventually interlocking with each other with a neat slice of irony and karma, which made the material not so predictable and largely authentic. However don't worry too much, as Bronson does gets his hands dirty, just the way we like it too. Serving out his 'own' unpleasant justice in few memorable sequences!

Some might say that Bronson in the latter end of his career (mainly through the 80s) made a living out of the same character and motivation. But an earnestly scathing script, helps give Bronson something interesting to work with (even a bit of western and eastern cross-culture differences plant themselves in early, and play a bigger part to story's progression) and makes for a weathered, but righteously hard-hitting performance of a multi-facet character. In support; Juan Hernandez's seedy pimp is a disturbingly slimy portrayal and James Pax's square Japanese businessman with an uncontrollable sexual urge effectively counter-punches Bronson and Hernandez's characters. None of these are clean characters, even though Bronson has the badge. He shows his insecurity, of the subject and uses it to make his actions justified. In the lesser co-starring roles is an exceptional Peggy Lipton as Bronson's wife. Perry Lopez is good in the loyal, but tired cop partner. An imposing Sy Richardson plays one of Hernandez's goons. Amy Hathaway shines as Bronson's on screen daughter and Kumiko Hayakawa impresses with a movingly gusty turn as the young kidnapped girl. As for Greg De Belles' funky music score, I found it sloppy and unsuited instead of sapping bleakness. I just wanted the musical pieces to get under my skin.

The dark, unsparing perverse tone doesn't make it enjoyable entertainment. However it really does linger on the mind, and holds a steady curiosity to it.