Customer Reviews

Chok Dee: The Kickboxer

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"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.

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.

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

Dida Diafat is not a known name in the United States. He is a French former world champion in Thai Kick boxing, who emigrated to Thailand and became the first non-Thai to win numerous Thai fighting titles. In CHOK DEE, Dida plays himself as Ryan, a former French prison inmate who has learned the rudiments of Thai fighting from an older inmate. Upon his release, Ryan flies to Bangkok to try to enter a school of kick fighting. He is refused entrance since he is a non-Thai. The bulk of the film is how he convinces the school's trainers to enroll him and once having done so, prepare him to fight in competition.

The problem with CHOK DEE is that the director did not know whether to film a KARATE KID with Dida in the Ralph Macchio role, a ROCKY with Dida as Sly, or even KICKBOXER with Dida as Jean Claude Van Damme. The result is a gritty pastiche of all three. That is not necessarily a bad thing either, so long as Dida would have been permitted to take center stage as the focus of action. Instead, they muddled the plot by introducing a number of subplots that worked at cross purposes with an otherwise strong performance by the surprisingly frail looking Dida, who can truly act better than he can fight. In order for a martial artist to resonate with the audience, he needs a worthy opponent. Look at Tong Po, the villainous Thai fighter from KICKBOXER, who pushed JCVD to his limits. In CHOK DEE, Dida's opponents were interchangeable and I had a hard time keeping straight one from the other. What I liked about Dida is that he limited his fighting mostly to the ring where he engaged in sanctioned bouts with rules. Tony Jaa, by contrast, another Thai movie martial artist fought numerous street thugs in a manner that distracted attention from fighting one on one and redirected it, Bruce Lee style, to one on many. Dida has natural dramatic talent and he has a future in film, even if that future has no punches or kicks in it.

I have been leery of ordering this movie from time to time but I finally ordered it. It is o.k. and it has a nice story line. The fight scenes were great!!! just not enough of them. Chok Dee has a lot to be desired but you have to admire his perserverance and dedication to learning the art of Muay Thai and boxing. His seriousness to learn and compassion to his friends are truly to be admired as well. This movie is good in a lot of aspects that is why I give it a 4.5. Some won't agree and will be very critical but they know that this is an alright movie.

HEY IF YOU ARE FAN OF THAILAND MOVIES AND EVERYTHING ABOUT THAI BOXING THIS MOVIE IS FOR YOU THE FIGHTS ARE NOT EXTRAORDINARY AND NOT SO MUCH VIOLENT BUT THE STORY IS GOOD

AND THE TIME GOES SO QUICKLY THAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE A CHOK DEE 2 BUT I DON T KNOW IF THEY WILL DO IT

SO YOU CAN BUY IT NO PROBLEM IT IS A VERY GOOD MOVIE