Explosive
Summary
A comic book styled action film with cutting edge martial arts, over-the-top, can’t-believe-what-I’m-seeing violence, Black Mask has aged remarkably well and there’s a real likability factor here, thanks to Jet Li’s casting and the razzle-dazzle acrobatics and wirework. Eureka’s new two-disc limited edition Blu-ray release of Black Mask is a revelation for fans of the film and for anyone (like me) who’d only ever seen the chopped US version.
Plot: A genetically modified super soldier tries living a simple life, but his past catches up to him.
Review: A group of genetically modified men and women with incredible upgrades to their bodies, including speed, agility, and the ability to not feel any pain disperse from the lab from which they came after the government shuts the program down. Supposed to have been destroyed, the test subjects – including Tsui Chik (Jet Li) – try living their lives away from controlling eyes, but years later their creator begins collecting them to either destroy them or have them join him on his quest to cut all loose ends. Tsui takes a job in the most inauspicious places as possible in Hong Kong: as a librarian in a local library. He fools everyone with his meek position, and he even manages to make friends with the nerdy staff, including a young woman who has been unlucky in love her whole life, but she begins to crush on Tsui because the guy is just so darn nice! Meanwhile, a detective known for his over-the-top methods, a cop who goes by the name of “Rock” (Ching Wan-Lau), has been all over the place lately trying to get to the bottom of a series of ghastly deaths perpetrated by some Hong Kong baddies whose swathe of carnage somehow leads him to discover that the government created these super soldiers. When Tsui’s and Rock’s paths collide, Tsui hides his secret identity with a disguise: the Black Mask hero who has an unstable and volatile past! Also in the mix is Black Mask’s super pupil, a beautiful assassin (played by Francoise Yip) whose powers are being yoked by the man who “created” them, and her mission is to find and kill Black Mask!
A comic book styled action film with cutting edge martial arts, over-the-top, can’t-believe-what-I’m-seeing violence, Black Mask has aged remarkably well and there’s a real likability factor here, thanks to Jet Li’s casting and the razzle-dazzle acrobatics and wirework. The movie has a sizzling, moody style and a wild plot that defies all logic and sensibility, but the film exists in its own science fictional world that feels like a graphic novel or a cyberpunk fever dream. I remember seeing the heavily edited USA release in 1999 in a theater and being overwhelmed and confused by the version that was released, and I was extremely disappointed by it. It was the first movie with Jet Li I saw after seeing Lethal Weapon 4 in a theater, and it blew my mind, but for all the wrong reasons. Watching the complete Hong Kong version for the first time for this review was almost like watching a brand new movie, and it made “sense” to me, and while the film goes crazy with the action and violence I very much appreciated how the film took its time telling its wacky story with the right amount of character development, and so forth. Daniel Lee’s direction is really energetic and goes all-in with style over substance, but for its time and place in Hong Kong cinema and martial arts adventures, it delivers the goods.
Eureka’s new two-disc limited edition Blu-ray release of Black Mask is a revelation for fans of the film and for anyone (like me) who’d only ever seen the chopped US version. Containing multiple cuts of the movie, including the complete Hong Kong release, an export version (the US cut), the Taiwan cut, and a version that incorporates all the versions into one other version, this release is clearly the ultimate release of Black Mask. The 2K restoration makes the movie feel like brand new, and as if that wasn’t enough there are multiple commentaries, trailers, bonus features, and just a heck of a lot of extra content to round out the wealth that this release offers. A solid release all around.
Bonus Materials
- Fully uncut Hong Kong version presented in 1080p from a 2K restoration
- Original US version presented in 1080p from a 2K restoration
- Original Cantonese Stereo and optional DTS-HD MA 5.1 (Hong Kong Version)
- Optional English subtitles, newly translated for this release
- Brand new audio commentary on the Hong Kong version by Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival)
- Brand new audio commentary on the US export version by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
- Brand new interview with stuntman Mike Lambert
- Brand new interview with film critic Andrew Heskins (easternKicks.com)
- Brand new interview with Leon Hunt, author of Kung Fu Cult Masters: From Bruce Lee to Crouching Tiger
- Reversible sleeve featuring original poster artwork
- Archival Making of featurette
- Trailers
- Disc 2 (Limited Edition Bonus Disc): Alternate Taiwanese cut of the film | Extended version of Black Mask featuring all the unique footage from the various releases of the film re-inserted