Review: Black Mask (1999)
Michael Dequina
After stealing the show from Mel Gibson and company in _Lethal_Weapon 4_,
it was only a matter of time before American distributors started invading
the vault of Jet Li's Hong Kong work. The first of what is sure to be a
long line of wide American releases is _Black_Mask_, a gritty, hyperstylish
1996 adventure that plugs Li's talents into a superhero yarn. However, as
fun and exciting as the film often is, it is far from Li's best showcase.
That distinction belongs to _Fist_of_Legend_, an electrifying 1994
reworking of the Bruce Lee vehicle _The_Chinese_Connection_ whose American
distribution (through Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder Pictures) was
scrapped. However, it is easy to see why _Black_Mask_ ended up as his
first HK effort to widely reach U.S. screens. It isn't so much that the
film is a diverting entertainment (which it certainly is), but that it is
one of Li's few actioners set in contemporary times. Most of his
high-flying films, from _Fist_of Legend_ to his starmaking
_Once_Upon_a_Time_in_China_ series, were set in period China--not exactly
inaccessible to Yank audiences considering the amount of action in these
films, but a difficult sell nonetheless.
_Black_Mask_ is much more easily marketable: a dark, extremely violent
comic-book-style adventure where Li plays Tsui, a medically-enhanced
supersoldier who escapes the shady outfit that created him. He attempts to
live a quiet existence as a pacificist librarian, but soon he jolted back
to action when his former cohorts have taken to killing off all of Hong
Kong's drug lords. His identity kept a secret under a black mask (hence
the title), Tsui, with the reluctant help of aptly named policeman Rock
(Lau Ching Wan), attempts to set things right.
_Black_Mask_ has much more of a technical sheen than any of Jackie Chan's
fun yet rather crudely produced HK imports. The English dubbing job is
actually competently done (Li doesn't do his own dialogue, but his stand-in
does an adequate job). There is some inventive production and costume
design, as well as some often stunning cinematography. Director Daniel
Lee's strong suit is definitely his visual style, which appears to be
influenced by the frenetic camera techniques of Michael Bay.
While the glossy approach keeps the film never less than visually
stimulating, it also shortchanges the many fight sequences, which, of
course, are what people see Jet Li films for. Granted, no amount of
MTV-style editing can rob Li's acrobatic martial arts skills of their
electrifying effect, but the quick cuts do dilute it a bit. One is left in
greater awe when one is actually able to see what Li can and does
do--without any flashy frills.
But until _Fist_of_Legend_ or any of his better showcases--such as
_Once_Upon_a_Time_in_China_, _Fong_Sai-Yuk_, or _The_Tai-Chi_Master_, the
latter which co-stars _Tomorrow_Never_Dies_ scene stealer Michelle Yeoh--is
made available to the masses (those films are all available, though on a
fairly limited basis, on video), _Black_Mask_ nicely gets the job done as
either a showcase for Jet Li's athletic talents or an undemanding blast of
action and mayhem.
__________________________________________________________
Michael Dequina
mrb...@iname.com | michael...@geocities.com
Mr. Brown's Movie Site: http://welcome.to/mrbrown
CompuServe Hollywood Hotline: http://www.HollywoodHotline.com
__________________________________________________________
Steve Kong
A film review by Steve Kong
Edited by Steve Kong
Copyright 1999 Steve Kong
Black Mask can be described with one word: Gratuitous. The Black Mask is
gratuitous in its use of blood, gratuitous its use of violence, and
gratuitous in its use of the camera. What isn’t gratuitous in the film is
its level of adrenaline.
After a good US introduction with Lethal Weapon 4, it was only a matter of
time before the studio heads in Hollywood started to try to cash in on Jet
Li’s previous films. Jet Li is fast, really fast. Watching his martial
arts onscreen is a joy because it’s not just a matter of enjoying it, but
of trying to keep up with his hands and feet. Pair Li up with one of the
best martial arts choreographers around, Woo-Ping Yuen (who did the
choreographing for The Matrix), and you should have a hell of a film, right?
Wrong, nothing can save this film from the horrible editing and directing.
And although not many Hong Kong films have a good story, most of them at
least have good characters not Black Mask. Put together the bad editing,
directing, and the lack of a good character and the whole movie is nothing
more than repetitive scenes of people beating each other to a bloody pulp.
After the first few action scenes of this it just got boring. The
repetitiveness of the action was a real downer. By the end of the film
during the final show down, when the hero goes up against the evil boss, I
was left to look at my watch and wonder when the hero was finally going to
beat the living daylights out of the evil boss and get the movie over with.
Obviously, there was a lot of money put into this film when it was made in
1996. The production design is tremendously polished, the sets are well
done, the costumes are generally well done, and the level of explosions is
high. None of this saves the film either. Maybe there was a lot that was
lost during the transition from being a Hong Kong film to being an English
film -- sometimes horrible cuts are made to films when they make this
transition -- but, I’m not sure if this is true with Black Mask or not.
The one thing that I liked about the film was the creative casting of the
voice talent. Yes, the lines and the voice acting quality of the dubbing
were terrible, but the actors that the casting director selected were
hilarious. I’m not sure if it was intentional or not, but the choices were
great.
One has to be a huge Jet Li fan to actually pay to see this film. I’m
still annoyed that I paid, even at matinee, to see this piece of bad
filmmaking. A flat, monotonous, and uninteresting film that is all looks
but lacks punch, Black Mask earns the dubious award of being a Skip, Skip,
Skip film. Skip this film at matinee, Skip this film on video, and
definitely Skip this film if it’s being shown at full price.
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