Chocolate
January 6th, 2008Prachya Pinkaew, the director of Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong, has a new martial arts flick coming out titled , oddly enough, Chocolate.
Apparently, Prachya Pinkaew and martial arts star Tony Jaa had a bit of a falling out, so instead of Tony Jaa, we have newcomer Nicharee “Jeeja” Vismistananda (pictured above).
(Gotta love those Thai names.)
I love Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong. Going solely on the quality of the action sequences, both movies rate a 5. (If you’re not a martial arts movie enthusiast like myself, they’re probably closer to a 3, maybe even a 2.)
Keep in mind, I try my best to watch these films shortly after their overseas theatrical releases, in the original Thai with subtitles.
The American releases (Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior and The Protector stateside) are often severely edited down, so much so that the stories – which weren’t very strong to begin with – are barely recognizable, missing significant plot elements and with inaccurate translations, rendering them mostly unwatchable.
I haven’t actually watched either film in its entirety since watching it the first time even though I own unedited versions of both films; when I show the movies to friends, I simply skip to the kick-ass action sequences.
If you haven’t seen these two movies, watch them, but try to get a hold of the original, unedited Thai releases.
Here’s the trailer. It’s a bit odd, especially in the beginning, but the cool martial arts action makes up for it.
