This movie is fantastic! Another masterpiece from Prachya Pinkaew, the guy who brought us the action masterpieces Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong -aka- The Protector. The martial arts choreography is simply superb. The same old fights you've seen in a million other movies (especially American Hollywood films filled with so much Karate and pro boxing garbage with only straight punches and usually no kicks or very weak straight kicks) pale in comparison with the diversity that this film offers in terms of different moves. You will be in awe at the acrobatics the human body can do while doing free form Muay Thai.
I wouldn't say that this movie rips off other movies, but you can tell that the director has learned from the best by studying the legendary films of Bruce Lee. The scene in the ice factory made me think of Fist of Fury, but the fighting and choreography wasn't at all the same. I thought Protector actually was a rival for Enter the Dragon which I think is one of the best action movies ever. Protector was almost entirely non-stop fighting with about 15 minutes of dialogue in between. Now that's what I call an action movie! The scenes with the elephants are really awesome too! With Chocolate, the director seems to be going back to what he was trying to do with Ong Bak, which is to have a compelling story to be the back-drop to give the movie more flavor than just strictly action scenes.
This movie is an improvement by finding the middle ground and having a developed story as well as fight scenes that seem like an eternity, although at times (having known some autistic people myself) I find it difficult to believe that an autistic girl could move like that. I suppose it could be possible maybe. Maybe that wasn't really what was wrong with her, but the translation came out that way. This is way better than any other movie that has come out this year including the recent Donnie Yen release. The main girl Zen (Yanin Vismitananda) is very talented.
The first section of the movie was pretty much just an extended montage, it could probably be cut entirely out of the film and it would still be awesome. Maybe just edit for time and keep essential details. The story was a good attempt at being serious and tragic (which is what drama is all about, study your Greeks) and the cinematic experience was compelling and well acted even if the premise seems a little unrealistic. I highly recommend this movie to fans of action and martial arts films! The final act, where the heroine takes out dozens of guys is simply amazing. Combine her Muay Thai and then throw in some Japanese sword fighting by her dad and then go back to the boxing, what a brilliant original idea!
Don't listen to those other commentators, they have no clue what they're babbling about, this film in no way rips off Kill Bill! There is a major distinction: in Chocolate the martial arts are real (even if sometimes it's just acrobatic gymnastics), and in Kill Bill the martial arts on the part of the heroine are fake as hell. If anything, both movies borrow from many old films where one person faces off against many. You could take for example any number of Japanese samurai films or Chinese kung fu movies like Bruce Lee's Chinese connection, where he has to fight a whole bunch of guys at once. There are so many of these types of scenes it's impossible to believe that this movie "ripped off" other movies, especially when it's a different style. How many Thai boxing films have you seen? Well Ong Bak, The Protector, and Chocolate take Thai boxing to a whole new level cinematically. You should not complain, these are some of the best action movies ever made!! High marks for being an amazing piece of action choreography and also having the sense to add tragedy which was well acted and turned out looking rather good, even if it seemed somewhat unrealistic in concept at times.
Hollywood is so pathetic these days with their endless happy endings. Real life is tragic, tragedy in film reminds us of our human mortality. I don't understand why all these Hollywood films these days never learned from Shakespeare who stole all his material from the Greek plays and myths. I know they were taught to study Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet and the like. But all you ever get is happy endings. It seems like it causes delusions of grandeur in some Americans that everything is going to be a happy ending because they saw it happen in the Hollywood movies. Whereas real life doesn't work that way. Everybody doesn't live and lovers aren't all reunited for the finale kiss before the credits roll.
The ending of chocolate was very smart in that there was death and then afterwards was a sort of morbid happy ending where life goes on without the loved one, but sadness is inevitable, undeniable, and unshakable in the wake of losing the loved one.
I wouldn't say that this movie rips off other movies, but you can tell that the director has learned from the best by studying the legendary films of Bruce Lee. The scene in the ice factory made me think of Fist of Fury, but the fighting and choreography wasn't at all the same. I thought Protector actually was a rival for Enter the Dragon which I think is one of the best action movies ever. Protector was almost entirely non-stop fighting with about 15 minutes of dialogue in between. Now that's what I call an action movie! The scenes with the elephants are really awesome too! With Chocolate, the director seems to be going back to what he was trying to do with Ong Bak, which is to have a compelling story to be the back-drop to give the movie more flavor than just strictly action scenes.
This movie is an improvement by finding the middle ground and having a developed story as well as fight scenes that seem like an eternity, although at times (having known some autistic people myself) I find it difficult to believe that an autistic girl could move like that. I suppose it could be possible maybe. Maybe that wasn't really what was wrong with her, but the translation came out that way. This is way better than any other movie that has come out this year including the recent Donnie Yen release. The main girl Zen (Yanin Vismitananda) is very talented.
The first section of the movie was pretty much just an extended montage, it could probably be cut entirely out of the film and it would still be awesome. Maybe just edit for time and keep essential details. The story was a good attempt at being serious and tragic (which is what drama is all about, study your Greeks) and the cinematic experience was compelling and well acted even if the premise seems a little unrealistic. I highly recommend this movie to fans of action and martial arts films! The final act, where the heroine takes out dozens of guys is simply amazing. Combine her Muay Thai and then throw in some Japanese sword fighting by her dad and then go back to the boxing, what a brilliant original idea!
Don't listen to those other commentators, they have no clue what they're babbling about, this film in no way rips off Kill Bill! There is a major distinction: in Chocolate the martial arts are real (even if sometimes it's just acrobatic gymnastics), and in Kill Bill the martial arts on the part of the heroine are fake as hell. If anything, both movies borrow from many old films where one person faces off against many. You could take for example any number of Japanese samurai films or Chinese kung fu movies like Bruce Lee's Chinese connection, where he has to fight a whole bunch of guys at once. There are so many of these types of scenes it's impossible to believe that this movie "ripped off" other movies, especially when it's a different style. How many Thai boxing films have you seen? Well Ong Bak, The Protector, and Chocolate take Thai boxing to a whole new level cinematically. You should not complain, these are some of the best action movies ever made!! High marks for being an amazing piece of action choreography and also having the sense to add tragedy which was well acted and turned out looking rather good, even if it seemed somewhat unrealistic in concept at times.
Hollywood is so pathetic these days with their endless happy endings. Real life is tragic, tragedy in film reminds us of our human mortality. I don't understand why all these Hollywood films these days never learned from Shakespeare who stole all his material from the Greek plays and myths. I know they were taught to study Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet and the like. But all you ever get is happy endings. It seems like it causes delusions of grandeur in some Americans that everything is going to be a happy ending because they saw it happen in the Hollywood movies. Whereas real life doesn't work that way. Everybody doesn't live and lovers aren't all reunited for the finale kiss before the credits roll.
The ending of chocolate was very smart in that there was death and then afterwards was a sort of morbid happy ending where life goes on without the loved one, but sadness is inevitable, undeniable, and unshakable in the wake of losing the loved one.