Director Prachya Pinkaew brings us a whole new female fighting sensation in the making, JeeJa Yanin, but is it another Ong-Bak or an overly earnest disappointment like Warrior King?
Well, the good news is Pinkaew has ditched the self-conscious ‘message’ of Warrior King (known as Tom Yum Goong in most other territories) for a script that has a far greater sense of it’s own ridiculousness. Forget the fate of elephants or village Buddhas, Chocolate is a lot more focused on action, and if it can’t quite ditch the sentimentality (how many Asian films can?) at least it’s a lot more fun.
JeeJa stars as Zen, a slightly autistic young girl with a love of M&M’s and a fear of flies, has developed an amazing ability to catch tennis balls thrown at her without even looking. She can has an uncanny ability to mimic any martial art move she sees, whether from the Muay Thai Academy next door to her home, or from films. (Which films? Why Ong-Bak and Warrior King, of course!)
When her mother, Sin (Amara Siripong) falls ill, Zen and childhood friend Mangmoom (Pirom Ruangkitjakan) decide to collect on some debtors they find in an old book of Sin’s in order to pay for her much-needed drugs. What neither realise is that Sin had been the girlfriend of Thai gangster Number 8 (Pongpat Wachirabunjong) until she fell for Japanese yakusa Masashi (Hiroshi Abe, Tokyo Raiders), Zen father. A relationship that forced Sin into hiding when Number 8 found out, and quickly reveals her presence to him again.
Naturally none of the debtors, all affiliated to Bangkok’s gangs, are willing to pay up, and Zen finds herself literally having to fight to get the money back, from icehouse to warehouse to butchers, but she soon proves a match for them. All of which leads a thrilling finale between Zen and Number 8 and his men, set against the ledges and balconies of a multistorey building.
In lead JeeJa, a child champion of Taekwando and tutor from the age of just 14, Pinkaew has found himself a new muse who, if not quite as physically dynamic as Tony Jaa, builds on her smaller size and scale for inventive fight choreography, leaping through gaps and under coffee tables that Jaa wouldn’t be able to. And if Yanin’s acting ability is as limited as Jaa’s, then the autistic angle means she doesn’t have to try as hard, nor does the film rely so heavily on her. Good thing too, but then when was a martial arts movie about good acting…?
(It’s probably just as well Pinkaew has found a new star, as Jaa has moved on to directing Ong-Bak 2 himself – technically not a sequel – which is due for release later this year. See more information about it here.)
The real deal is how a film delivers on the action, and here you won’t be displeased. Like Ong-Bak, Chocolate is return to more energetic, unwired style of Jackie Chan in the mid-80s. Like Chan in films like Police Story, Panns Rithikrai’s (Born To Fight, Warrior King) choreography makes use of everyday items Zen’s character finds around her, like lockers and slabs of meat. And with a Chan style closing credits sequence, you can see just how much of the bone-crunching was for real!
As you might expect, the crude storyline is little more than an excuse to lead into set pieces, and if the film takes a while to get there, they more than make up for the wait. These include an icehouse scene that pays tribute to the one in Bruce Lee’s The Big Boss, a hot and unpleasant meathouse brawl, a Kill Bill inspired Samurai sword fight, and the pièce de résistance – the showdown along the side of a building. The later is an exception slice of film, as the combat swiftly becomes more of a live-action old school platform game, with everything bar the barrels thrown down. Donkey Kong, bring it on!
In fact, perhaps the only real disappointment is in the duals with real Muay Thai boxers – yes, you are supposed to know how dangerous they are, but the fights themselves are just a lot less interesting.
As with Ong-Bak, there’s something rather likable in the grimy, dirty, sticky way that Pinkaew films his home country. – the absolute opposite of the glossy, almost slicker than Hollywood style of Hong Kong movies nowadays. Like the Tuk Tuk scene in his previous film, Pinkaew delights in incorporating characters and ideas that could only come from Thailand, like the gun carrying ladyboy gangsters.
Chocolate is a thoroughly enjoyable movie, full of references to keep teh martail arts crowd happy – just leave your brain at the door and the plot holes behind, like the fact that Zen’s parents Sin and Masashi don’t seem to have aged despite the passing of some 16(?) years. The stars performances are fine, though too much dialogue is in English – even though this really is the natural universal language between Thai and Japanese. At least this time Pinkaew doesn’t compound his mistake by moving most of the action to Australia as he did with Warrior King. (You can’t help but surmise Pinkaew really, really wants to crossover to Hollywood!)
Chocolate is on limited release in London cinemas from 24 October, and released on DVD and Blu-ray on 3 November.
DVD details
Distributor: Cine Asia (UK)
The DVD will include include: Breaking The Mould featurette; Step By Step featurette; A Star Is Born featurette; Fighting Talent featurette; The Stars Of Chocolate featurette; Real Fighters featurette; Deleted Scenes; Outtakes and Highlights; Training Workshop; Power Moves (Easter Eggs); TV spots; Trailer Gallery.
