Chocolate

[pro-bassoonist]

Prachya Pinkaew's Chocolate (2008) is set to be released in the UK on November 3rd.

Official site and trailer:
http://www.chocolate-movie.com/

Our friends at Twitch:

A word of advice: try and approach Ong Bak director Prachya Pinkaew’s Chocolate - his new martial arts film starring female lead “Jeeja” Vismistananda – as pure spectacle. On that level it is truly astounding. Go in expecting significant plot and character work, however, and you’ll walk away disappointed. The lessons dictated by the narrative weakness of Pinkaew’s Tom Yum Goong AKA The Protector have clearly not been learned. Vismistananda, however, is an immediate physical marvel, a sure fire international action star of the highest order.

Vismistananda plays Zen, the autistic daughter of a Tai woman and Japanese gangster. Her father driven out of the country by a rival gang leader, Zen has been left in the care of her mother, a woman who has tried her best to put aside her criminal past to give her all to supporting her handicapped daughter. It is clear early that like a small percentage of autistic children, Zen is something of a savant. While most autistic savant’s skills lie in the world of math, Zen’s are more physical talents: she has an extremely developed sense of muscle memory. Once she sees something enacted before her she is able to mimic that action flawlessly. And, living next to a martial arts dojo with kung fu and muay thai films – Pinkaew shamelessly intercutting footage from his earlier, Tony Jaa starring efforts – playing constantly on the television, Zen has lots to learn.

Theirs is a quiet life, a simple one even, until Zen’s mother is diagnosed with cancer and needs expensive chemotherapy treatments, treatments they have no hope of paying until a long hidden book detailing old mob debts is discovered and Zen sets out on a violent mission to reclaim those debts in support of her poor sick mother. Throw in a gang of rather unattractive transsexuals and a very underused Hiroshi Abe as Zen’s yakuza father and you have the nuts and bolts of the film.

Weaknesses? Yes, there are several. The plot is wafer thin, character development virtually non-existent. The film lacks significant featured fighters for Zen to square off against and, as such, tends towards simple line-em-up, knock-em-down fights that can get repetitive quickly. And, on a technical end, it dramatically over does the film speed manipulation in obvious and unnecessary ways, I spotted a pair of visible wires and a number of ‘pucker’ marks on clothes where the wire rigs connected, and the fights are occasionally over edited.

Strengths? Vismistananda herself is astounding – making the film speed up much more perplexing – and once the action begins it is absolutely unrelenting. The final fight scene alone – a one versus thirty or so affair that scales the outer ledges and neon signs of a multi story building and sent at least one stunt man to hospital – is absolutely jaw dropping, an instant classic in the martial arts world and one which is, all on its own, more than worth the price of admission.

Do I enjoy Chocolate for what it is? Absolutely. Do I wish it were also just a little bit more? Damn straight. One of these days Pinkaew is going to realize that good script is just as important as a skilled performer to make lasting work, even in the martial arts world, and when that day comes he is going to make an absolute classic but that day has not yet arrived.

Pro-B

[Eru]

awesome!

Region free?

I hope!

[MyCityScreams]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Just watched it's trailer, and I'll definitely be renting this out, at the very least.

[blufan08]

ive seen this. this film is ace she kicks some major ass will be getting this

[Sky_Captain]

Pre-ordered it as soon as it popped up on Amazon.

[pro-bassoonist]

Good morning,

Here are the low-res and high-res trailers for the release. We hope to have a review for it as well.

Low-Res:
http://onlinemoviepromo.com/newplayer.php?id=2661

High-Res:
http://onlinemoviepromo.com/newplayer.php?id=2662

Pro-B

[statikcat]

Wow.. I was about to order an Asian import from ebay. Good thing I saw his. Let's see Ong Bak and Protector next!

[Zyclone]

Originally Posted by statikcat

Wow.. I was about to order an Asian import from ebay. Good thing I saw his. Let's see Ong Bak and Protector next!

Ong Bak is out in france , protector is out in germany and italy

iv'e got the italian release of the protecter there is no english subs and its heavily cut to the point that the movie does'nt make any sense.

[krumlin]

I'm sorry but this movie really sucks. If you like it that's great, but if you have not seen it yet... get your hopes down a bit first!
I loved the original Ong-Back, before the RZA and Luc Besson got there claws on it. And if you are looking for a new movie along these lines "Dynamite Warrior" is fun, but Chocolat was just awful.

[Sky_Captain]

Oh go away, Chocolate destroys crap like Dynamite Warrior. Did the fact that *SHOCK* it actually attempts to have a story offend you?

[pro-bassoonist]

I would like to confirm that the disc is region-free.

Pro-B

[mikejet]

Originally Posted by krumlin

I'm sorry but this movie really sucks. If you like it that's great, but if you have not seen it yet... get your hopes down a bit first!
I loved the original Ong-Back, before the RZA and Luc Besson got there claws on it. And if you are looking for a new movie along these lines "Dynamite Warrior" is fun, but Chocolat was just awful.

These are valid points. The story is worse than Tom Yun Goon. Worse than the original Onk Bak. I would rather deal with an hour of Tony Jaa asking where his elephant is than this jumbled mess.

The other problem with this movie is that, while she is very talented, he range of moves is rather limited to kicking mostly. Tony can do a ton more than she can.

It's unfortunate that Ong Bak 2 is taking so long because the trailer looked amazing.

I would nto recommend people to buy this, it's a rental.

[statikcat]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

Oh go away, Chocolate destroys crap like Dynamite Warrior. Did the fact that *SHOCK* it actually attempts to have a story offend you?

Yeah I agree Dynamite Warrior was a stupid movie (still fun though). Doesn't compare to Chocolate. Plus the stunts and fx were better in Chocolate.. I really thought the ending on the side of the building was done well.

[secsecae]

Pro-B, what about the extras, are they in PAL?
thanks

[Zyclone]

Originally Posted by mikejet

These are valid points. The story is worse than Tom Yun Goon. Worse than the original Onk Bak. I would rather deal with an hour of Tony Jaa asking where his elephant is than this jumbled mess.

The other problem with this movie is that, while she is very talented, he range of moves is rather limited to kicking mostly. Tony can do a ton more than she can.

It's unfortunate that Ong Bak 2 is taking so long because the trailer looked amazing.

I would nto recommend people to buy this, it's a rental.

last time i heard about Ong Bak 2 was that tony jaa was MIA.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by secsecae

Pro-B, what about the extras, are they in PAL?
thanks

I don't have the disc yet to confirm exactly (the region-status however is confirmed by the studio) but the extras are not announced in HD so, yes, they should be in PAL.

Pro-B

[AnimeOnBlu]

Got Mine Today.
4/5 PQ AVC-MPEG4 (not perfect but very close, nice clean picture).
4.5/5 AQ Thai DTS-HD MA 5.1 (doesn't list it on the box - box says DD 5.1)(intense base, nice clarity).
I enjoyed the movie personally. Some of the fight scenes were great as well some truly brutal fighting moves.

Works on both Region A and B machines.
Extras are in PAL. Won't work on Region A players.



Extras include:
Deleted Scenes
Outtakes & Highlights
Trailers
TV Spots
Various other short clips about the Star and other movie aspects.

[richieb1971]

I did a full write up of this on the Europe section, since afterall this release was in UK.

The extras are all PAL except the trailer. IF you have a USA machine the PAL extras cannot be played.

It is region free.

[pro-bassoonist]

The review is up.

Pro-B

[emacs]

i saw Chocolate with 1000+ other people at this screening http://tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/chocolate the region A Blu-ray edition of Chocolate is apparently ready for a February 2009 release http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001L67A3M/