RZA is best known as the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan, but he also has a history of working in film. The New York rapper has composed scores, produced movies and TV shows, and even co-wrote and directed his first movie, “The Man with Iron Fists” in 2012. He returns to the director’s chair with a new action thriller, “One Spoon of Chocolate,” as writer and director. This new film tries to work in the same mode of racial revenge fantasy that “Django Unchained” did masterfully. While “One Spoon of Chocolate” contains some epic action sequences, the writing fails to tell an engaging story.
“One Spoon of Chocolate” lays all of its cards out on the table pretty quickly. The movie opens by showing a Black man senselessly assaulted by a group of racists before having his organs harvested. It is immediately obvious that this film is a commentary on racism and exploitation of Black men in America. After this inciting event, the story follows an ex-convict, Unique (Shameik Moore), as he is paroled and requests to be transferred to Ohio where he can reunite with his cousin, Ramsee (RJ Cyler). It’s revealed through a conversation with his parole officer that Unique is a man willing to fight for justice, serving three tours in Iraq and going to prison for defending his neighbor against her abusive husband.
Superb Action and Flight Choreography
Once Unique arrives in Ohio, he and his cousin are quickly threatened by a gang of racists and are barely able to escape after a scuffle. But as the two are out with their girlfriends later that night, the group is found by the gang of racists and is assaulted once again, barely escaping with their lives. However, matters only escalate once the police get involved and it is revealed that the violent, organ-harvesting racists are embedded in every facet of the town. Unique is faced with a decision: will he seek revenge on the villainous racists that plague the town, or will he run away to safety?
There are several things the movie does well. When it comes to the action sequences and fight scene choreography, the film certainly excels. RZA himself trains in Shaolin Kung Fu, and his love for martial arts is obvious in all of his work; this film is no exception. There are several sequences that are exciting and satisfying, as Unique is portrayed as a master fighter and survivalist. There are also many moments that feel influenced by Tarantino’s hyper-violent maximalism, where it borders on absurd hilarity. However, the fight scenes alone aren’t enough to keep the movie engaging.
The film’s anti-racist intentions are clear, but the virtuous nature of the thesis is not enough to save the story from some glaring writing issues. One of the most apparent problems is how predictable the plot points were. The audience is quickly shown that there is a gang of hateful men harvesting Black men’s organs in this town, and when the righteous protagonist arrives in the same town, it is apparent what will follow. At no point does the film throw any curveballs or introduce any subversive elements to keep the audience engaged.
Hollow, One-Sided Villains
One of the largest weaknesses of the film is the writing of the villains. A well-written antagonist can be interesting for many reasons. They can have nuance, demonstrating morally ambiguous or psychologically convincing motivations. If they are meant to embody pure evil, they can be brought to life by a good performance or by gradual character development. Unfortunately, “One Spoon of Chocolate” does very little with its villains. They use baseball bats to beat up Black men and harvest their organs for money. Very little is shown of the logistics of the criminal operation, and the men that are shown are shallow racist caricatures, mere vessels of hateful violence.
An action thriller doesn’t necessarily need to challenge its audience or demonstrate philosophical depth to be successful, but at nearly two hours, “One Spoon of Chocolate” struggles to keep its audience engaged. During the action scenes, the film is great, but those are infrequent enough that the film can’t stand up on its unimpressive writing, inconsistent pacing, and predictable plot points. RZA’s legendary status as a creative certainly isn’t going anywhere. If anything, his love for martial arts bleeds through the screen in the choreographed violence. While the last 30 minutes were an action-filled spectacle, the rest of the movie lacked compelling storytelling.
