The title of this Cannon release should've been COP WITH A REALLY BAD ATTITUDE. Supposedly the triumphant return of Chuck Bronson, some critics have even called this "his best since DEATH WISH." I wouldn't go that far, but KINJITE is worth seeing if you like Bronson and violence (which are usually synonymous... except in last year's MESSENGER OF DEATH).

Chas plays a Los Angeles vice cop who has a tendency to get carried away. For instance, right after the opening credits he anally rapes a would-be pederast with a foot-long dildo before taking the guy in for booking. I'm thinking he might lose his pension, but nobody at LA Police Central seems to care.

The idea of an out-of-control cop who meets out street justice to scum he can't arrest is certainly not a new one. However, when the cop is the grizzled, ever-so-macho Bronson this old format has the potential to be damned entertaining. The problem with KINJITE (a Japanese word for "forbidden subjects") is that director J. Lee Thompson doesn't know how to direct an action film. Let me rephrase that, he doesn't know how to direct at all. A good director could've made this a kickass film, but some of Thompson's action sequences could be mistaken for scenes from a Bergman film.

However, when has poor directing ever made a difference in Hollywood? The sub-plot about a Japanese businessman and his family is somewhat humorous and the dildo scene only warms the audience up for more out-of-line things later on. The one thing I can say about KINJITE is it does have balls.

Overall, it is the best Bronson movie since ASSASSINATION which really isn't exactly high praise, but what do you want for nothing? This thing gets points for sheer audacity.