Surprisingly awesome

I am so glad I read some reviews prior to watching, otherwise I would not have made it past the first 10 minutes. A couple of reviews said that things got going at the 30 minute mark, so I stuck it out and wow, very glad I did.

If at all possible, watch the original Thai language version, the English dubbing SUCKS!!!!!!! There is actually a pretty cool story line, but the dubbing was so bad I mostly cringed and groaned thru the first 30 minutes... but, once the ass kicking starts, it doesn't matter so much.

There were 3 stars in this film: the directing, the cast of stuntmen willing to kill themselves for this movie and of course, Jeeja Yanin. For the most part, the directing is spot on... tho alot of it is very hard to watch due to the horrid dubbing. I am sure that if I had seen the orig language version (even w/out subtitles) I would have enjoyed it even more than I did.

The stunts during the ending scene have to be seen to be believed. That was some crazy stuff on the side of the building. Watch the credits for footage of the movie being made to see how dangerous it was.

I've seen alot of martial arts movies in my life, and I think like alot of fans would agree, it is not necessarily the moves a person does, but the intensity they bring to the camera. That is what made Bruce Lee so above and beyond most all others. I was sitting there with my jaw hanging open during the Ice house fight scene when we first really see Jeeja open up and show what she's got, and it is really something special IMO.

Her waif-like appearance is soon forgotten once she goes into 'kill' mode and she shows real power to command the attention of the camera with her eyes, body language and primal war scream she emits.

I have seen also her follow up, "Raging Phoenix" and while enjoyable, sadly it is not as good as Chocolate. Not her fault I think but the directing of the fight scenes just lacked the grittiness that Chocolate achieves.

So, as others have said, despite some of its obvious flaws, Chocolate is a must see and will remain a classic of the genre.