Chocolate - The Movie

Is Chocolate a great movie? It's hard to say. Perhaps it is best to judge it as “best-in-class”. The class being kick-ass, Thai-fighter, martial-arts movies.

The movie is produced in Thailand so nearly everyone speaks Thai. Some Japanese and even some English shows up in the script, but very little. The version I watched was subtitled in English. If you have never watched a movie with subtitles, I encourage you to try this one. You will learn that they do not get in the way, and reading them becomes nearly invisible after a while.  With a high-action flick like this one, even getting frustrated with the subtitles doesn't detract from the real reason you're watching it: the fight scenes.

Zen Fights Bruce Lee Style

The film centers around a young, autistic girl who is able to mimic the martial arts styles she sees on TV. This was a first for me and a very cool concept. Some reviews say the script is nothing spectacular. I would temper that by saying it is enjoyable. It is definitely better than the typical Hong Kong, dojo revenge flick script. I was fascinated by it. It carries the viewer well between fight scenes.

One of the first battle scenes takes place in a room filled with ice vaguely reminiscent of The Big Boss. To complete the homage, Zen (the main character) fights using Bruce Lee's boxing style. Throughout the movie, she adopts and integrates various other fighting styles, including Jackie Chan's. It's fun to watch her style improve as the fights get more intense.  And, believe me, it gets intense.

So, even if you don't like the script, the action is great fun. Zen reminded me of River Tam of Firefly and Serenity, only with more action. Perhaps she is what I wanted to see in River. Who knows? I can only say, “Don't listen to me. (Not that anyone does.) Just watched it.”

Maybe swing back by afterward and whisper your thoughts in the stone giant's ear...or carve them in his leg if you prefer.

(Did he say TIE Fighter?)

Tired Incredible Plot Devices

Several movies and television shows that are considered to be great have implemented some tired old plot devices that break the movie's threshold of credibility. Perhaps first, I should explain what I mean by threshold of credibility.

Every show establishes for the viewer some understanding of how it's world works.  If we are watching a scene in space, we understand that the forces of gravity work differently than the way they work on earth.  If we are watching the far past, we know that cars should not be present, etc.  This threshold of credibility reaches into the psychology of individuals, physical interaction with the universe, acceptance of supernatural presence, etc.  When a show violates its own establishment of this understanding, then it has crossed the threshold of credibility. This happens in most movies and many TV shows I have seen. It is a moment when the observant viewer says to himself, "What the heck?" That moment when 30 seconds of the story line is lost because the viewer is suddenly back in the present world trying to map the event back below the threshold of credibility.

This pondering is not so much about everyone of those events. Some are forgivable. Rather, it is about those that happen over and over again. There are two that bug me.

Close Range Gun Face Off
Two battling opponents end a major scuffle each pointing a loaded gun at the other.  If either one pulls the trigger, the opponent is clearly dead.  The moment is presented as if each is afraid to move for fear of killing himself. It is meant to create tension.  Often, it leads to the protagonist being tied up and put into the belly of the whale.
Script Writers: Will you please stop doing this? If we are to believe our protagonist and antagonist are ready to kill each other, this is not how to do it. The action of pulling the trigger happens so fast that the other will not have time to react. The one who is most ready to kill (usually the antagonist) will pull the trigger first. This is not a hostage situation. I could buy a moments hesitation, but one of them will die. Sadly, however, you writers are too lame to come up with a better plot device. Please try. We viewers are tired of seeing this one.

Last Minute Catch From Free Fall
Someone is falling under normal gravity. A few feet before they hit the ground either they are caught by a flying superhero, or they catch themselves in some feet of heroics. The moment is meant to have us fear for the fate of the character we are presumed to love. It is meant to provide that breath-holding nick-of-time rescue.
Script Writers: How many times do you need to read movie reviews before you get it? It is not the fall that kills you, it is the sudden stop at the end. It does not matter if that sudden stop is provided by the street or the arms of a superhero or the rung of a ladder.  The substance the falling individual hits must have some elasticity. Will you please take that into consideration and have your heroes work within the bounds of that reality, or change the reality in some way that makes what you are doing believable?

I know nobody hears this, especially film makers. But, at least now it has been said. If anyone cares to whisper his own favorite overused violation of the threshold of credibility, know that the stone giant is listening.

Requiem For Neil Armstrong

My hero is dead.

Now that some time has passed and everyone has said his piece about the death of Mr. Neil Armstrong on August 25^th, 2012, I have had time to process my thoughts on his passing.  In spite of some harsh words I posted back in January of 2011, Mr. Armstrong was my hero.  I suppose it isn't so much the man that I respected but everything he represented.  I was born too late to enjoy the moonshots as they happened. I was only three years old when mankind first made his mark on the lunar surface.  But, the static excitement of the moment was still arcing in the air in my preteen years. I fully expected that lunar travel would be the norm when I reached my current age.  With Neil's passing, I acknowledge that my childhood dream will never reach fruition. I'm stuck on planet Earth.

My life at times is marked by interesting coincidences.  This is yet another one of those times. On the weekend prior to Armstrong's death, I visited a used bookstore. It is a quaint shop to which I go not to find a particular book, but to discover something new.  Among my finds was a book by Dan Simmons called Phases of Gravity. The book centers on a fictional lunar astronaut from the Apollo program. It takes place in the late '80s—after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. I haven't finished the book, but so far, it seems to be a lament to the loss of the lunar program. It seems a fitting requiem for my hero.

I would have liked to have spoken to him. I would have like to have met him.  A friend once asked me what I would say to him.  I didn't know then, and maybe I don't know now. But to shake his hand would have been an honor. I am saddened by his death.  And, I am saddened that I will never follow in his footsteps.