Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects
Collapse
X
Collapse
-
Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects
Released by: Olive Films
Released on: October 26th, 2015.
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Cast: Charles Bronson, Perry Lopez, Juan Fernandez, Peggy Lipton, James Pax
Year: 1989
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
J. Lee Thompson and Charles Bronson made a lot of movies together but rarely did they dive head first into full on exploitation movie territory like they did in their 1989 film for Cannon, Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects. It would be the last time Thompson and Bronson would make together, but it would prove to be unforgettable!
Bronson plays an L.A. cop named Crowe, a crotchety guy who seems upset about the way society is going to Hell. He's also not all that keen on Asian immigrants. Crowe is not a particularly enlightened man but he is, however, a good husband to his wife Kathleen (Peggy Lipton) and a good father to his daughter Rita (Amy Hathaway). As the movie begins we learn how Crowe is getting fed up with lowlifes and pimps while at the same time are introduced to a Japanese business man named Hiroshi Hada (James Pax). He seems like a nice enough guy but when given the opportunity, he doesn't mind letting his hands wander in the presence of a pretty lady. He knows he can get away with this in Japan because it would be in poor form for a woman to make a scene over something like that, but really, he's a bit of a lowlife, a Japanese variation on the type of guy that Crowe gets so riled up about.
As Crowe and his partner take down pimps and lowlifes and sexual predators aplenty, Hiroshi and his family wind up being transferred to Los Angeles. Hiroshi tries his lecherous ways shortly after his arrival on, who else… Rita. Bad move. Crowe finds out and flips his lid, bringing down the full fury of the L.A.P.D. on the perp. At the same time, a pimp that Crowe has been doing his damnedest to get off of the streets snatches Hiroshi's young daughter, leaving only one man able to assist him…
Infamous to those in the know as 'the movie where Charles Bronson shoves a dildo up a guy's ass,' Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects was marketed as a crime movie but this is exploitation fare through and through. From the opening scene where a scantily clad Nicole Eggert plays an underage hooker through the scenes of bad, bad dudes doing bad, bad things to Hada's young daughter this is a film that absolutely wallows in sleaze. The whole movie is set in Cannon Films' America, the America where, around every corner in every major city, there's a rapist or a mugger. The America where justice stems not just from the barrel of a gun, but from a little bit of good ol' fashioned prison rape too. An America concerned not with 'reality' but with creating the ultimate danger zone wherein movie goers can live out their own vigilante fantasies vicariously through an everyman like Bronson. It might not be realistic or politically correct but it sure is great in its own over the top way and realism be damned, even at this point in his career, having officially hit old man status, Bronson fits right in. He owns the place.
The rest of the cast are fine. Peggy Lipton and Amy Hathaway are both plenty likeable here and they do fine work. James Pax is a little more interesting though. His character is predatory, he likes young girls and he intentionally puts himself in situations where he can take advantage of them, which of course puts him at odds with Bronson's Crowe. Pax plays the part well, bringing a seriously lecherous vibe to his part that contrasts perfectly with the supposed wholesome family man that he wants others to see him as. Pax flips this duality on and off like a light switch, he makes it look easy and he delivers pretty great work here.
Thomspon was never the flashiest of directors but he was reliable. That reliability works here. Kinjite is glossy, nicely paced and well shot. There's understandably an emphasis on the sleazier set pieces (Cannon knew better than anyone during their boom years that sex and violence sell… maybe Cannon's filmic America wasn't so far off the mark after all) but the whole thing looks good. Lots of nice colors, some great locations used, and yes, that infamous scene where Charles Bronson shoves a dildo up a bad guy's rumptus. There's no real redeeming message here, the sleaze is the sleaze for the sake of the sleaze, but if it's trash with a glossy sheen, it's fun to watch even if the rape scenes are unpleasant (as rape scenes should be).
Video/Audio/Extras:
Olive Films presents Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects on Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 1.85.1 that, generally, looks pretty good. Detail is much improved over the DVD release from a few years ago and color reproduction feels more natural here even if some scenes look a little flat in that department. The film is as grainy as you'd want it to be but not to the point of detriment and aside from a few tiny white specks here and there, you won't find much in the way of actual print damage to complain about. Black levels are okay but not reference quality while skin tones look nice and natural, there's no evidence of any noise reduction having been applied here.
The English DTS-HD Mono track on this disc is also fine. The score sounds good, the dialogue is easy to understand the levels are properly balanced. There are no issues with hiss or distortion and everything comes through cleanly and clearly. As this is an older mono mix you obviously can't really expect much in the way of channel separation or fancy surround action but for what it is, this older single channel tracks sounds just fine. No alternate language options or subtitles are provided.
Extras are slim, limited to a static menu offering chapter selection and a theatrical trailer for the feature.
The Final Word:
Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects wasn't made for Oscar consideration. This is Thompson and Bronson giving Cannon the kind of exploitation fare that made them the kings of eighties trash-action cinema, but it works. Olive's Blu-ray release, like most of their output, is light on extras but it looks and sounds nice making this one worth the upgrade from the previous DVD release.
Posting comments is disabled.
Categories
Collapse
article_tags
Collapse
- album review (218)
- album reviews (274)
- arrow video (271)
- blu-ray (3225)
- blu-ray review (4140)
- comic books (1392)
- comic reviews (872)
- comics (988)
- dark horse comics (484)
- dvd and blu-ray reviews a-f (1969)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews G-M (1711)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews N-S (1757)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews T-Z (878)
- dvd review (2512)
- idw publishing (216)
- image comics (207)
- kino lorber (385)
- movie news (260)
- review (318)
- scream factory (279)
- severin films (295)
- shout! factory (537)
- twilight time (269)
- twilight time releasing (231)
- vinegar syndrome (496)
Latest Articles
Collapse
-
Released by: Severin Films
Released on: April 30th, 2024.
Director: Lee Frost
Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
Year: 1969
Purchase From Amazon
Hot Spur – Movie Review:
Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but...-
Channel: Movies
03-22-2024, 11:53 AM -
-
Released by: Mondo Macabro
Released on: April 9th, 2024.
Director: Max Pecas
Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
Year: 1985
Purchase From Amazon
Death Squad – Movie Review:
Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual...-
Channel: Movies
03-22-2024, 11:46 AM -
-
Released by: Quality X
Released on: February 28th, 2024.
Director: Chuck Vincent
Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
Year: 1982
Purchase From Amazon
Roommates – Movie Review:
Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:10 PM -
-
Released by: Blue Underground
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
Year: 1970
Purchase From Amazon
Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:
Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:07 PM -
-
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Saul Bass
Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
Year: 1974
Purchase From Amazon
Phase IV – Movie Review:
Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:02 PM -
-
Released by: Radiance Films
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
Year: 1969-1972
Purchase From Amazon
The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:
Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this...-
Channel: Movies
03-13-2024, 11:30 AM -