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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Chocolate (2008)

Chocolate (2008)

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Released 9-Sep-2009

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Martial Arts Featurette-Making Of
Gallery-Photo
Theatrical Trailer
Trailer-Eastern Eye Trailers
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2008
Running Time 88:49 (Case: 90)
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Prachya Pinkaew
Studio
Distributor

Madman Entertainment
Starring JeeJa Yanin
Hiroshi Abe
Pongpat Wachirabunjong
Taphon Phopwandee
Ammara Siripong
Dechawut Chuntakaro
Hiro Sano
Aroon Wanatsabadeewong
Anusuk Jangajit
Nattakit Teachachevapong
Kittitat Kowahagul
Thanyathon Seekhiaw
Pirom Ruangkitjakan
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $29.95 Music Nimit Jitranon
Rochan Madicar
Korrakot Sittivash


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None Thai Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Thai Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes, outtakes during end credits

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     Beautiful Zin (Ammara Siripong) is the mistress of a Thai gang lord who falls in love with Masashi (Hiroshi Abe), a Japanese man, during a turf war between the Thais and the Japanese yakuza. As part of the peace settlement Zin is banished from the gang and Masashi is required to return to Japan, not knowing that Zin is pregnant. When Zin gives birth to Zen all is not well. Zen is autistic but as she grows up she starts to show signs of enhanced hearing and excellent reflexes. Her only friend is a bullied boy named Moom (Taphon Phopwandee) who Zin takes in. Zen, now a teenager (Jeeja Yanin), is very interested in the martial arts being practiced in the area near her house and she also avidly devours kung fu programs on TV, absorbing many of the moves she sees.

     When Zin becomes ill and needs expensive medicine and chemotherapy, Moom finds a list of the names of businessmen who owe Zin money, and sets out to collect. When they prove reluctant to part with any cash, Zen is able to use her martial arts skills to persuade them. This however draws Zen and Moom ever deeper into the world of the Thai mob and to the attention of No .8 (Pongpat Wachirabunjong), who believes that Zin is again intruding in gang affairs. Zin makes contact with Masashi, who returns to Thailand, and the stage is set for a violent and bloody confrontation.

     Chocolate, from Prachya Pinkaew, the director of the marvellous Ong Bak, is another Thai action film with stunts done for real. This time, however, it is a diminutive young woman, Jeeja Yanin, who gets to strut her stuff against a wide range of bad guys – and very impressive she is too. Indeed, many of the action sequences are absolutely amazing, with long flowing uninterrupted takes showing the athleticism and skills of both Jeeja and the numerous stunt performers who well and truly earned their money. Although there are some sequences with knives or poles, and one with samurai swords, the action in Chocolate is firmly in the kung fu tradition of Hong Kong martial arts greats Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao with jumps, spins, tumbling, punches and high (very high) kicks all done without wires and for real. The climactic fight sequence across the side of a building, with stuntmen falling and bouncing off scaffolding and awnings before they crash into the ground is heart in the mouth stuff and it is no surprise, as shown in the outtakes during the final credits, that a number of the performers, including the star, were hurt in the various fight sequences.

     After the first 30 minutes, Chocolate is basically action overload, but it is a credit to Jeeja Yanin that we do care. Not only is she a wonderfully athletic fighter, she looks great and, as the autistic Zen, says very little but allows her eyes and expression to reveal her thoughts. Ammara Siripong as her mother is also good, but of course in a martial arts film it is the action, not the acting, which is the draw. If you like old fashioned martial arts updated for a new era such as Ong Bak, you will love Chocolate. It mixes incredible action sequences with a better plot than Ong Bak and introduces the wonderful skills of the diminutive Jeeja Yanin. The reputation of Thailand’s action cinema continues to grow.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     Chocolate is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, the original theatrical ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced. While not one to show off the home theatre the print looks pretty good.

     Colours are mostly natural but quite muted. In a number of sequences there has been a deliberate decision to adjust the colour palate; in the fight in the ice works a blue tone is dominant and the fight in the meat processing plant carries a red tone throughout. Within these choices, skin tones are accurate, sharpness on the soft side, and contrast somewhat varied. However, blacks are solid and shadow detail fine.

     I did not notice any film or film to video artefacts.

     The English subtitles are in a yellow font. There is no obvious spelling or grammatical errors.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is a choice between Thai Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps and Thai Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kbps. The DVD cover indicates a Thai 5.1 dts track but this is not included.

     Again, the 5.1 track is not reference quality but it does the job. There is some English dialogue which is hard to hear clearly and it is not subtitled. Sections of Japanese dialogue (which were subtitled) seemed clear enough as did the Thai dialogue, although not speaking any Thai I cannot say for sure. Effects, such as kicks and punches, were fine, and the surrounds were active for music and some effects. The sub woofer use was quite aggressive, mostly supporting the music.

     I did sample the Dolby Digital 2.0 track; it was slightly louder and sharper, but of course with less separation and depth.

     The music style was Asian pop and rock that was an effective support for the film. The song lyrics were not subtitled so I have no idea what they were, or if they were relevant to the plot.

     Lip synchronisation was occasionally off but was not distracting.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Making of Chocolate (8:54)

     This is two segments joined together; one is basically an extended trailer, the other shows some behind the scenes fight segments, including injuries, plus interviews with director Prachya Pinkaew and star Jeeja Yanin.

Stills Gallery

     15 movie stills. Silent, use the remote to advance.

Theatrical Trailer (1:55)

Eastern Eye Trailers

     Trailers for other films from Madman: Grandmaster Ip Man (1:25), 13 Game of Death (2:15), Black Belt (2:06), Crows Zero (1:42) and Ong Bak 2 (2:45).

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     The Region 2 UK version includes 6 featurettes (approx 45 minutes in total), 6 deleted scenes, outtakes, training workshop footage, 4 TV spots plus trailers. There are various releases in Thailand with extensive extras, but there does not appear to be English subtitles for the feature or extras. At this date I cannot find any record of a Region 1 US release. The UK release seems the best.

Summary

     Chocolate is another Thai action film with stunts done for real. This time it is a diminutive woman, Jeeja Yanin, who gets to strut her stuff against a wide range of bad guys. The action sequences are amazing, with long flowing uninterrupted takes showing the athleticism and skills of both Jeeja and the numerous stunt performers who well and truly earned their money. The climax across the side of a building, with stuntmen falling and bouncing off scaffolding and awnings before they crash to the ground is heart in mouth stuff. .

     The DVD has good video and audio and a minor “making of”, although the extras cannot match the Region 2 UK edition.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S350, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 42inch Hi-Def LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE