There has been a lot of anticipation and expectations
after Jija Yanin’s explosive debut in Chocolate. Her action skills harkened
back to the glory days of Hong Kong’s Girl with Gun’s actresses and it was
a pleasure to revel in her knockdown scenes of precise mayhem. Unfortunately,
I don’t think those expectations will be met in this truly weird mess of
a film. In martial arts film I think the saying “keep it simple stupid” applies
rather well – keep the plot and the characters fairly basic but make the action
sizzle and sway because that is what we are coming for. Instead the film
makers weave a bizarrely convoluted and silly plot that only detracts from
the main purpose of the film – seeing Jija kick ass. The other major flaw
in the film – at least from my perspective – is that it is almost an ensemble
piece with Jija being the lead character but often subordinate in the action
sequences. The film does showcase some other terrific talent leading one
to ponder whether the martial art’s film capital has shifted from Hong Kong
to Bangkok – but I wanted wall to wall Jija and that was far from the case.
Jija’s character Deu is an emotionally erratic
drummer in a rock band who flies off the handle one time too many and is
booted from the band. She takes to the bottle and in one drunken night a
group of bad guys tries to kidnap her for their nefarious purposes. She is
rescued though by Sanim, a sad eyed martial arts expert in a terrific scene
in which he is attacked by multitudes of high jumping razor sharp roller
bladders out for the kill. She is carried back to his ramshackle headquarters
where she meets two of his cohorts – Dog Shit and Pig Shit (Bull Shit shows
up later, no kidding) – and soon thereafter another good fight breaks out
as they are again attacked by villains after Jija. Their mix of break dancing
and martial arts is entertaining and Jija becomes a main prop in their fighting
off the bad guys. So why do the bad guys want Jija so badly? Her smell apparently.
The Jaguar Gang is in the business of finding women with a special pheromone
that emits an odor that is sexually addictive. And they have Sniffers who
walk through crowds sniffing for the few women who have this quality. For
years they have been kidnapping girls and one of them was Pie, Sanim’s bride
and another was the wife of one of the Shit’s (sorry can’t recall which one)
who was a Sniffer for the cops.
Jija of course decides that she wants to join
the group and learn their specialty – a form of drunken martial arts in
which their bodies are fluid and they have no fear. She not surprisingly
learns quickly but never really gets all that good until she truly feels
her body filled with pain and sadness. This final fight which takes place
in the freakish rabbit hole underground lair of the main villain, a lithe
supple black female, is pretty terrific but it was a long time to wait for
the producers to finally let Jija show her stuff. I came away still full
of awe for Jija and also realizing in this film that she can play very cute
if she wants to – but generally thinking this was a missed opportunity to
further her career and to establish her as the Queen of Action. Maybe next
time. Just let her kick ass from the start, guys.
My rating: 6.5
(written up 8/09)
Postcript: 2019
Watched this again some 10 years later and slightly amended a review I wrote back then.
