Brandon Inada's Blog

Been a long, long time since I heard any news about this movie.  Here’s the link to the original post I wrote last January. 

I’m really looking forward to seeing this movie when it comes out.  Chocolate looks pretty promising.  And there haven’t been very many martial arts movies coming out lately.

Thoughts?

Prachya 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.