Product Details

• Actors: Dida Diafat, Bernard Giraudeau, Florence Faivre, Lakshantha Abenayake, Sombat Metanee
• Directors: Xavier Durringer
• Writers: Dida Diafat, Xavier Durringer, Christophe Mordellet, François Greze, Véra Belmont
• Producers: Christian Gerber, Linda Gutenberg
• Format: Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Chinese
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Tai Seng
• DVD Release Date: June 27, 2006
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000FDEUZI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #96,560 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Chok Dee: The Kickboxer" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Features include:

•MPAA Rating: UNRATED
•Format: DVD
•Runtime: 105 minutes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "I wanna fight! I wanna fight! I wanna fight!", November 21, 2011

By 

Mike Sehorn "Rezo the Dezo" (APO, AE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chok Dee: The Kickboxer (DVD)

"Chok Dee" is the semi-autobiographical tale of French kickboxer Dida Diafat and his rise to prominence as a muay thai competitor. Diafat himself is passionate about the movie, having used it to cap his in-ring career. Right off the bat, it seems like the film could be a promising combination of Kickboxer and 8 Mile...but sadly, it's neither nor. Director Xavier Durringer has gained some acclaim in his native France but it seems like he couldn't be bothered to do very much when he went to Thailand to shoot a movie. It neither shines as an action film nor as a drama, so fans of Diafat's in-ring matches are really the only viewers I can recommend this movie to; everybody else can afford to watch it on a whim.

The story: at the urging of his mentor (Bernard Giraudeau, Water Drops on Burning Rocks), an incarcerated young delinquent (Diafat, Mutants) develops a dream to train with the Thai boxers of Bangkok. To realize his ambition upon his release, he will need to overcome cultural hardships en route to becoming one of the best fighters in the world.

The copy of the film I saw was a mediocre transfer, so I'll give the surprisingly bland visuals the benefit of a doubt: movies filmed in Thailand are usually bright and fun to look at, but the fact that I didn't notice anything of the sort here may simply be due to my version of the film. Nevertheless, this was only really noticeable during the middle of the movie, on account of it being the part with the least amount of things going on. You'd think that Dida's martial arts training and first stretch of in-ring successes ought to be the most exciting portion of the movie, but in comparison to the speedy, activity-packed opening and closing parts, it's almost boring. Yes, the pacing is arguably flawed, but it doesn't damage the film quality, per se, since the story's still told well enough. The only example of where it really makes a difference for the worst is at the very end, where the script's attempt to shove a major plot twist in during the last five minutes results in a serious downer of an ending.

The movie features six boxing matches, including a montage scene of three or four of them, and to be succinct, these fights are realistic but boring. There's no denying their intensity - Dida's out to show how tough he is even on film, and his onscreen opponents are clearly legitimate Thai boxers who aren't afraid to hit hard - but with the exception of a single one, the fights lack both drama and interesting choreography. Sure, it would've betrayed the film to have a Hollywood-style fight in the middle of a movie that's otherwise played straight, but the action is really just repeat viewings of two guys punching and kicking eachother. At one point, Dida engages in an illegal underground match and for a moment it feels like there's about to be some Ong-Bak-style stuff, but nope - just more of the same realistic hash. Seriously, you can get the same kind of action from an authentic kickboxing match, so fans of this one's fight content are probably also K-1 devotees.

Throughout its 105 minutes, the movie remains mildly entertaining but lacks any sense of gravity. You'd think that at least part of a story that includes xenophobia, intimate student-teacher relationships, sabotage, and social betterment through the fighting arts would feel artistically significant, but I'm afraid most of the movie just passes by like a boat on the river. I don't really care about the romance subplot and none of the characters are particularly intriguing beyond the fact that most of them probably actually exist, so there's really not much for me here. "Chok Dee" is a sound example of a movie that's not bad but not really good either. Know yourself before you buy it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars so damn good!, January 7, 2009

By 

RMT (Oakland CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chok Dee: The Kickboxer (DVD)

Very good movie. What more could you want? Classic martial arts story. Meet master, stand outside in rain until master accepts you, train, meet super hot girl that becomes girlfriend/lover/wife and then become champion.
Played by real Muay Thai champion Dida Diafat, so the fights scenes are awesome.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars getting past, May 4, 2007

By 

mark groleau "martail artist" (wyandotte mi) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chok Dee: The Kickboxer (DVD)

once the story takes over this film gets really,really good!
and i 've seen a lot of horriable martail art films.

and this is quite good, buy it you watch it alot, its like the movie "iron and silk" but better directing and photography