One Spoon of Chocolate

One Spoon of Chocolate tells the story of a veteran and ex-convict named Unique. Seeking a fresh start in a small town, Unique moves in with his cousin, Ramsey, in Ohio. Unfortunately for him, something insidious is happening in this town; young Black men have been mysteriously disappearing there. And, when Unique becomes  targeted by a group of local racists, he has no choice but to fight back against these violent and bigoted acolytes.

Now, that premise is an inherently interesting one - especially since it sounds a bit similar to Jordan Peele's Get Out - but One Spoon of Chocolate is nowhere near as sharp or as stylish as it should be.

To be fair, RZA's sense of direction is perfectly fine. I'm not really familiar with his past work - both as a rapper and as a filmmaker - but he seems like a fairly competent director. Unfortunately, the film doesn't really live up to it's full potential. 

The movie is clearly trying to be a fun and modern addition to the blaxploitation genre, but it lacks the substance and satire that one may usually find in a blaxploitation film. The plot is definitely on the right track, the movie just doesn't have enough humor, heart, or thematic weight to help elevate the plot.

To be fair, the film does include a scene that tries to say something about how a little bit of one thing can make a big change, but the movie fails to follow through with that message. I mean, if Unique is meant to represent the change that comes to this small town in Ohio, then it's a shame that we don't get to witness said change.

Because, despite the fact that the runtime feels unnecessarily long, the movie actually ends rather abruptly. The action sequence that the narrative builds up to is pretty decent, but the story doesn't properly wrap up for some reason. So, by the time the film cuts to black, Unique doesn't get a proper sense of closure. And that lack of character growth does make the entire movie feel unsatisfying. Which is disappointing.

Unique is an interesting character with a lot of pent-up anger. But the film doesn't spend much time exploring his psychology, so we don't get to learn why Unique is the way that he is. Which is a shame.

Shameik Moore does his best to bring the character to life, but the script definitely fails to provide him with some meaningful depth. But, as someone who is only familiar with Moore's voice work on the Spider-Verse films, I can't deny that I'm glad to see him in a leading role like this one.

The rest of the cast is also decent. RJ Cyler and Paris Jackson make for some interesting side characters, but there aren't many other memorable performances here. I mean, Michael Harney and Harry Goodwins do give us some cartoonishly evil performances as the main villains, but I wouldn't say that they're particularly good... or memorable.

So, while I like the general idea of RZA's story here, I can't deny that I left the film feeling really unsatisfied. The script is disappointingly thin, the characters aren't as fleshed out as they should be, the social commentary isn't as strong or as satirical as it should be, the plot is incredibly messy, and the runtime is way too long.

All of which means that One Spoon of Chocolate would not get a recommendation from me.