So I was over at my friend's house one weekend and we were watching a bunch of crappy movies, and on one of the DVDs -can't remember which title it was, but it was released by Magnolia Pictures and Magnet- there was this trailer that caught my attention. The basic story was about this ass-kicking Asian girl who was getting her revenge on a bunch of people who wronged her, or so I thought...I really couldn't remember because I was mesmerized by this hot little Asian girl who was kicking some major ass in the trailer. I didn't really pay much attention to the name of the movie, but I remembered thinking "Man...I really want to see that movie" and then I promptly forgot about it until a few weeks later. My friend and I were out at chain DVD and Blu-ray store that specializes in selling mostly used product that other people trade in -betcha can't guess which one I'm talking about-. So anyway, there we we're checking out their selection of used Blus and I suddenly remembered that trailer, but as I said before, I didn't remember the name. He couldn't remember either, but not to worry, he breaks out his smart phone and he does a Google search for recent martial arts flicks with female stars and he finds a trailer for a movie call Chocolate -not to be confused with that chick flick Chocolat starring the very popular Johnny Depp-. He shows me said trailer and asks if that was the movie I was thinking of...and it was. So we checked to see if this place has it, and not too surprisingly they don't. But another nearby BIG BOX store, whose employees wear blue Polo style shirts and khaki pants, did. So we rushed right over and bought it.So what exactly is this movie called Chocolate about? My original interpretation of the trailer was only partially correct...she is a hot Asian chick and she kicks a ton of ass in it. However the revenge aspect was off. The actual plot is simple: real-life, human anime looking Yakuza man and hot Thai dragon lady crime lieutenant fall in love, but both of their organizations kinda hate the fact that they are together. So they split up and go their separate ways, but not before she ends up pregnant. She decides to leave her life of crime behind and raise their autistic offspring -dragon lady smoked a lot and this of course caused some defects- on her own. She gets a normal job at a restaurant and somehow adopts a homeless boy who gets picked on by all the local bullies because he's fat and has bad acne. As our heroine Zen grows up -eventually into Jeeja-, she watches the young, neighbor boys practicing the deadly martial art Muay Thai in the courtyard of the housing complex her family lives in, and she starts mimicking their moves. She also loves watching old Tony Jaa movies and playing martial arts fighting games. Flash forward a few years and both she and her adopted brother Moom are in their mid teens and he's hustling for money on the streets by taking advantage of Zen's incredible speed, agility, and talent of catching balls flying at her head.So as it turns out, all those years of smoking have caught up with the hot Thai dragon lady and she gets cancer. But alas they are very poor and cannot afford treatment. So one night while Zen is playing video games, Moom finds the dragon lady's old collections book from back when she was still a mafioso, and he opens it and sees that a whole bunch of people owe her some serious cash. So he and Zen go visit these people to ask if they can pay their debts to the dragon lady so they can use the money for her cancer treatment and much high jinx ensues. Basically all of those years of studying Muay Thai from afar pays off and Zen goes on a rampage to get "Mommy Money." So why is the movie called Chocolate? Well the only thing I can figure is that Zen loves these little M&M type candies a whole bunch. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine. The plot of the film may come off as pretty weak, but trust me, it is well worth your time to watch...if nothing else than to watch the lovely Jeeja Yanin kick some ass!

JeeJa Yanin makes for one of the strongest and most believable heroines I've seen in an action film in a long, long time. On top of having screen presence and natural acting ability, she can kick some major ass without even breaking a sweat. Case in point."Chocolate" is full of dazzling fight sequences that are as brutal and hard-hitting as they are well choreographed and coherent. They get more and more creative as the film goes on before reaching a chaotic climax that takes full advantage of the actors' physical abilities.The story is a dramatic one, dealing with Zen's (JeeJa Yanin) quest to get the money that is owed to her family by various gangs in order to pay for her dying mother's hospital bills. Zen has a problem of her own. She is autistic and emotionally unstable. She is able to use this to her advantage, though, as her reflexes are incredibly precise and more advanced than the average person's. She spends some of her time watching martial arts movies, and she's able to pick up on the various moves she sees in the film, which carries into her own move set.I haven't read too deeply into the issue of autism, but the film seemed to treat it with care and respect; nothing came off as laughable.The film's photography has a washed out look that I wasn't necessarily the biggest fan of, but I suppose it works in the long run, given the film's moody subject matter and melodrama.Another thing I liked about the film was the severe lack of slapstick and goofy humor. I've seen to many martial arts films that are full of this sort of thing, and it usually comes off as more annoying than funny.Director Prachya Pinkaew also made such martial arts flicks as Ong-bak and The Protector, which are somewhat modern classics in the Asian film community. I haven't seen them yet, but if they're as well put together as Chocolate, I see no reason why I would dislike them.Despite the film's many strengths, it was hard for me to find it amazing. It's probably because I've already seen movies like this and was expecting something truly groundbreaking for the genre. Either way, it works.JeeJa Yanin is undoubtedly the film's greatest assets, and it'll be interesting to see what future projects she takes on. Hopefully they take full advantage of her talents more often than not. Seeing her fight, I was reminded of past female martial arts experts such as Yukari Oshima (My personal favorite) and Moon Lee. She even has a similar look to these women. So it's great to see a somewhat younger version of them living up to their legacy.Well, fans of the director's other work and martial arts films in general should give this a look, if only to witness a fresh new talent with a bright future ahead of her.

Maybe I let the hype affect me, but this movie is nowhere as good as it sounds. The main girl toe-kicks her way through about a hundred people. Yawn. She threw probably 6 punches in the entire movie, very few knees, hardly any elbows. It's hard to make a 90-pound girl's punches look powerful, which is why films usually have a fighter girl use a ridiculous amount of kicks in an effort to authenticate her supposed ass-kicking ability. Well, this film does exactly that. It just about put me to sleep. The part where she starts imitating Bruce Lee was so embarrassing for me to watch that I almost turned it off.The best part (read: only memorable part) was the fight out on all the high-rise architecture, that was outstanding. Everything else was like watching Olympic Tae Kwon Do. You could do a lot better than this.

Without divulging the plot or the ending, I want to share my thoughts about Jeeja Yanin, so that people will know what they are getting. Her father died when she was young, 11 or 12, and given that she was a gold medalist in Tae Kwon Do as a child who had achieved 3rd level Dan, (equivalent to Black Belt) she helped support her mother and brother by becoming an instructor of TKD at age 14. She auditioned at age 18 for a small part in Born To Fight, and was noticed by filmmaker Prachya Pinkaew, and action stunt trainer Panna Rittikrai, when they decided she was special enough to make an entire film for. This girl quit University studies and trained for this film for four years. She trained under Rittikrai, the mentor of Tony Jaa, and Jaa himself. She trained for 2 years in preparation and 2 years while making the film. She also studied the symptoms and behavior of autistic children, staying with them and working with them, and reading up on everything she could in available literature and film on the subject, including Rain Man, etc. In addition to this, she had to overcome fear of heights (you'll see why) and subjected herself to constant injury, including life risking stunts. Watch the movie and enjoy her spectacular debut, and remember that you were there when a star was born. Enjoy the fact that she is a very special person, who put heart and soul into making the movie.