SYNOPSIS:
Yakuza Masashi falls in love with Zin, the lover
of a Thai underworld figure. They ere forced to separate with
Masashi being sent back to Japan and Zin to continue staying
in Bangkok as a single mother. Brought up single-handedly
by Zin, their daughter Zen is autistic in nature. She is compensated
with agility and picks up Muay Thai through watching television
programs and from observing the trainings taking place at
the Muay Thai academy next door. Zen becomes an obsessive
fighter who excels at catching fast-flying objects. When Zin
is diagnosed with cancer, Zen has to fight her way through
to collect money from her mother's debtors to raise her medical
funds. In fear that her daughter will be in danger, Zin contacts
her father Masashi...
MOVIE REVIEW:
This reviewer remembers the days when this Thai movie was
being screened in local theatres. He couldn’t stop making
fun of the silly title – who could resist coming up
with silly jokes with a title like “Chocolate”?
Especially for an action movie which tells the story of an
autistic girl who becomes a lethal fighting machine whenever
she becomes angry?
The
story isn’t anything to shout about: Because of a certain
traumatic experience when she was young, our heroine becomes
autistic but you know God is fair when she becomes blessed
with powerful Muay Thai fighting skills. And because she loves
her cancer stricken mother dearly, she sets out on a quest
to hunt down the ruthless gangs that owe her family money.
You
can see how the filmmakers have conveniently come up with
an excuse in the form of a story plot for the protagonist
to fight, kick, box and punch throughout this 90 minute movie.
And because Jija Yanin, the female Ong Bak (another Thai action
movie title which never fails to tickle this reviewer) of
this picture, executes her role so well, you’ll overlook
the obvious marketing scheme of the filmmakers to milk money
out of action movie fans.
Directed
by Prachya Pinkaew of the Tom Yum Goong (the third Thai action
movie title which makes it to this reviewer’s list of
hilarious movie titles) fame, this picture is rated NC16 (Violence)
by our friends at the censorship board – so you know
it means serious business when it comes to the action scenes.
Save for the melodramatic moments when Yanin has to act like
an autistic person (the typical change in tone and eye twitches)
and her slight wardrobe malfunction (those baggy floral pants
are a hoot), the action sequences are immensely enjoyable.
The spot on choreography and the painful looking punches and
kicks will please anyone who loves his (we presume the demographics
are mostly male) movies roughed out with grit and action.
The
movie also features some nice cinematography, where well thought
through shots are executed by the camera crew. No action movie
would be complete without the outtakes during the end credits.
Here you’ll get about five full minutes of them. Like
those Jackie Chan movies, you’ll get to see the crew
slug it out on set and shedding some painful blood –
no wonder the DVD tells us in Mandarin “No computer
generated effects; no body doubles; every punch to the skin;
every move can be deadly”.
Okay,
this reviewer wouldn’t want to make this woman angry,
she definitely means business, no matter whether her love
for chocolate (cue colorful chocolate beans spilling onto
the floor) is one of the most ridiculous ideas for an action
movie ever.
SPECIAL
FEATURES:
This Code 3 DVD contains a Trailer, an 8-minute
Making Of which is presented in Thai and
you get to hear how Yanin has to grapple between fighting
and acting, and a Photo Gallery.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The
disc has a pristine visual transfer which makes the action
scenes very vivid and captivating, while the audio is presented
in its original Thai track or a dubbed Mandarin track - a
shame there are no English subtitles though.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING:
Review by John Li
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