Director Prachya Pinkaew is out to prove that anything Hong Kong cinema can do, Thailand can do better. His case in point is Chocolate; a jaw-dropping martial arts spectacle with so much energy, you could bottle it and sell it to caffeine addicted students. The only side-effect being that it’s lean on plot and character development. But when the action is this astonishing – where fists, feet, guns, knives and swords all fiercely meet in the middle – you haven’t the time to mess about with a fiddley plot, now do you?

Chocolate is structure somewhat like a video game, albeit one that’s being played by Quentin Tarantino. The first fifteen minutes needlessly is spent introducing the film with a montage sequence, which unfortunately hasn’t a ‘skip’ button. It’s a misleading preamble; it takes on a self-serious attitude, before spending the remaining duration blatantly being anything but. All it really exists to do is provide a just motive for the endless kung-fu induced bloodshed that will make even the best Hollywood martial art films look about as exciting as doing your laundry in comparison.

Who is at the center of such carnage? An autistic teenage girl named Zen, of course. Obsessed with chocolate and watching martial art movies, Zen  (JeeJa Yanin) unleashes her exceptional fighting ability to forcibly collect money from a bunch of shady mob-tied businessmen in order to fund her mother’s (Ammara Siripong) cancer treatment. Continuing the video game metaphor, each battle is a level-up from the last; the new location presents greater obstacles, the seemingly endless number of henchmen wield deadlier weapons and the boss battles proves to be more difficult than the last. While I’m no connoisseur of martial art’s cinema,  the action within each ‘level’ is handled with such matchless style, it never ceases to be a breathtaking spectacle to behold.

Panna Rittikrai’s (Ong-Bak) choreography is staggering; he makes sure no object within each unique setting goes unused. In her first film, 24 year-old JeeJa Yanin is a revelation of the martial arts as Zen. Her remarkable fluidity is captured exceptionally well by Pinkaew, whose questionable direction during the opening sequence truly comes into its own when it comes time to deliver the action. Which is all we really came for, anyway.

Verdict:

Chocolate, like the confectionery it’s named after, is a rich delight for the senses. It might not have much in the way of a plot, but the exceptionally choreographed martial art sequences will keep you perched on the edge of your seat as though someone has spilled their drink all over the rest of it.

[rating: 4/5]

Buy on Amazon:
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Chocolate screens apart of the 2009 Bigpond Adelaide Film Festival.

Unfortunately, all sessions for Chocolate have since passed. 

For more reviews and features from the Bigpond Adelaide Film Festival, visit the page devoted to our coverage  here.

Follow the author Anders Wotzke on Twitter.