Having not been particularly knowledgeable when it comes to this particular genre, this film came as a complete surprise to me. Not in a particularly good way either. Coming off like some insane take on UNIVERSAL SOLDIER, BLACK MASK sees a librarian don the mask of the title - which incidentally looks like a piece of corrugated cardboard - and fight off a large number of enemies. Extremely cartoonish, this plays like a comic strip which is useful as it's impossible to take anything that happens seriously.
The moment Jet Li's character opens his mouth, it all goes downhill. For here we have an incredibly awful piece of dubbing work which just about ruins any credibility the movie may have had. And as the film shifts haphazardly from scene to scene, barely bothering with cohesion and sometimes cutting scenes off when they are only halfway through, you think all hope is lost. Then come along some bizarre fight scenes which almost make the whole enterprise worthwhile.
Forget Hollywood action - this is something different. Jet Li (a hissable villain in LETHAL WEAPON 4) convinces as a superhuman mainly due to his ability to do lightning moves and stunts that, for a normal person, would be impossible. People jump all over the place, kick each other, shoot and explode things in rapid succession. A love interest appears only for her to be in mortal danger from the baddies (yawn). The final battle is a real show-stopper. It's just a shame about what happens when the fighting stops. I don't quite know what I watched, but I'm not in any hurry to see it again.
The moment Jet Li's character opens his mouth, it all goes downhill. For here we have an incredibly awful piece of dubbing work which just about ruins any credibility the movie may have had. And as the film shifts haphazardly from scene to scene, barely bothering with cohesion and sometimes cutting scenes off when they are only halfway through, you think all hope is lost. Then come along some bizarre fight scenes which almost make the whole enterprise worthwhile.
Forget Hollywood action - this is something different. Jet Li (a hissable villain in LETHAL WEAPON 4) convinces as a superhuman mainly due to his ability to do lightning moves and stunts that, for a normal person, would be impossible. People jump all over the place, kick each other, shoot and explode things in rapid succession. A love interest appears only for her to be in mortal danger from the baddies (yawn). The final battle is a real show-stopper. It's just a shame about what happens when the fighting stops. I don't quite know what I watched, but I'm not in any hurry to see it again.