Why is this Thai film so named as “Chocolate”? I still have no clue. Maybe I was too absorbed into the hot, explosive, fast paced, bone cracking, humanly impossible fighting sequence, I walked out of the theatre (at 1.30am) feeling shocked and awed unable to process anything like: Where or who is the chocolate? And our Asian movie marathon continues.
“Chocolate” does put something new onto the table. The most obvious of all is to have a young sweet heroine (“Jeeja” Yanin Vismistananda) as the main character fighting (and cracking) against gozillian men. I personally welcome this aspect of femininity in a popular Thai action genre because it draws emotion and feeling and sympathy towards the heroine. Besides, a heroine is allowed to cry when the plot calls for. With a male main actor, the action is usually coupled with a dose of humor (like the Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan’s movies or the Thai actor Tony Jaa’s “Ong-Bak” and “Tom Yum Goong”). With a female actress, it opens up doors of vulnerability that seldom seen in a genre dominated by men.
Collaboration with a Japanese counterpart in a Thai movie, I think, is pretty fresh (don’t you love the hot pair of Thai-Japanese couple?). And it does expand the mode of combat to include the long Japanese sword as well.
“Chocolate” has devoted the first 30 minutes to develop the character of an autistic girl from conception to discovering this awesome fighting skill of hers. The next 1 hour is packed with intensive fight scenes that made the audience screaming “ouch” all the way.
“Chocolate” does not have the old-fashioned scene repeat in different angles as the same pair of director choreographer did for “Ong-Bak” and “Tom Yum Goong”, which to me is good. It is still what it is: a Thai action film that won’t satisfy your intellectual mind but will certainly get your adrenalin flowing. I personally would love to see more of “Jeeja” in the future. Perhaps a pair up between her and Tony Jaa. Here is the trailer.
PS. I read from a Thai that in Thailand, it is darn hard to collect money from those who owe you. They will have no problem relating to this film.
26 replies on “Chocolate – That Thai Girl Can Fight!”
She was eating those chocolates, remember?
Those M&M-like thingies.
Whoa! I saw it at Shaw Balestier last night. Awesome!
The injuries suffered during the filming was horrifying. I trust that you did watch the rolling credits at the end?
CSC – Ah! Those M&M-like thingies! Thanks for pointing it out. I certainly didn’t make that connection, not sure why.
Oh yes, I don’t think anyone would miss the “bonus material” because they show it right after the end of the movie. And man … I forgot to mention in my review that those stuntmen and the medical team surely earn my kudos!
heee heee…from a person who never heard of this movie (aiyyaaaa…what can be new from me!)..i’m thinking “chocolate” reflects the dark-tanned skin tone of this lady fighter? Is this being objective ?
Tigerfish – I personally think that there are many open interpretations. Initially I also thought that she *is* the chocolate (erm … not on skin tone but on the personality). But some readers pointed out that it could just mean that she loves to eat chocolate.
Oh well …
Really don’t understand the title to the movie. After watching you also don’t know why it’s called chocolate. So misleading, I was going to watch just for its name. It’s my favourite snack. 🙂
ECL – Ha ha ha … that works too. But I doubt if you will see much chocolate on the screen. You may love the girl-kick-ass scenes though …
Wow! This movie looks very cool…. Hmm, I may catch it if I have the time! 🙂
JT – It does look cool, doesn’t it? I was attracted by the trailer too. Some of the moves are so humanly impossible.
I wanted to watch that show!!!!
Kiat – Oh gosh, how was your trip! See how you are being spared from this crazy Asian Movie Marathon of mine. Yes, you should watch “Chocolate”.
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I was deciding between chocolate and speed racer today, and I decided to watch Speed racer, the movie rocks my socks!
Lani – Hey, because “Speed Racer” doesn’t seem to have a good review, I give it a pass. So, it is that good eh?
Girl-kiss-ass… sounds a bit porn dun ya think? 😉 I think you meant Girl-kick-ass! Lol…
Darkspore – What pair of good eyes you have! See, I really need an editor for my site … lol.
yeah…. u like fast cars? The movie is more than just fast cars, it has humor as well…. great entertainment! don’t miss it just becos of the bad reviews…
Lani – Oh, I love fast cars! And I love humor too! Hmmm … let me see if I can convince my Movie Review Squad to watch this instead of “Jones” or “Sex” … ha ha ha.
Perhaps I should bag myself with enough chocolate bars to outlast the movie “Chocolate”. Review said that it took 4 years to film the movie but still ended up with an uninteresting storyline. Well my suggestion is Chocolate should stuck some M&Ms into the villians’ noses, so that it can bring out the theme of “chocolate”
Ghim Seng – Ouch, I think you really dislike it eh? Well, I guess this movie swings to the other extreme of pure action and has done a good job on that. Much like some video games that are pure combat in nature and some with deep story lines. Not something for everybody ya?
Oh no no..I thought since it’s called ‘Chocolate’, I should enjoy a variety of chocolates while digesting the movie, should be quite fun! I’m in for the raw, bare-handed lethal blows, but with 4 years of production, the producer has forgotten to improve the storytelling? But we can see Thai filmmakers are pretty fast on their learning curves. Will find out tonight.
Ghim Seng – Hey, how went the show? You like it? Ya, the storyline is a bit flimsy. But I thought it is better than the previous two. 4 years in the making?! That’s a long time!
I just finished watching the English sub DVD. Wow. If you’re a fan of the GWG sub-genre, you will love this movie. Jija convincingly lays waste to dozens of thugs with her lightening quick moves and fluidity. Great fight choreography as always from a Thai film with an above average story for the genre. I think they were referencing the fact that Jija trained for four years with Tony Jaa and others to prepare for the role. You could definitely tell that she had a strong Taekwondo background, but she picked up the muay thai excellently.
Casey – I honestly can’t tell Taekwondo from Muay Thai … ha ha ha … but some of those seemingly humanly moves are much credited to the choreography and the actual actors and actresses. I wonder if they speed up the shots during post production as the clips from the “making of” video look a bit slower. Or maybe I was too excited by the sound effect.
Jeeja is wonderful!!!.. i like very much this movie.. although i haven´t subtitles in spanish!! (i´m from argentina!)
Leo – She is, isn’t she? I think there are more action than dialogs. Loving it. Do you get to understand the story?
(Welcome to my site, all the way from Argentina!)