In the riveting movie, The Black Mask, Tsui Chik played by Jet Li, works as an undercover librarian after the 701 unit which is apart of a super-soldier team is disbanded. The 701 unit is filled with individuals who have been enhanced surgically and are infamous for their ability to withstand pain. Inspector Shek is the only person who has knowledge of Tsui Chik’s background. Working together, the commander and 701 squad try to take control of HongKong’s drug trade, eventually only leaving King Kau. Black Mask is a high-octane action thriller directed by Daniel Lee and starring Jet Li in one of his most iconic roles. The film follows Tsui Chik, a former super-soldier who dons a mask to protect his identity while battling a gang of deadly assassins threatening his city.
Overall relations between the two were pretty cordial, however, everything changed with one failed assassination attempt. All in all, Tsui Chik was becoming more and more involved with the ongoing events and it became crucial for him to put on his black mask.
“Black Mask” Is quite simply an action-packed flick that is chaotic on almost all ends though the movie does manage to somewhat portray dynamism. The first piece of Kato’s green hornet mask that crosses memories is the movie it self’s intertext-integration of memories. Bruce Lee also took on that part in the 1960 series The 701 Squad, which could very well fit into 1992’s spin off but cut scene the “Universal Soldier” craze instead.
The brilliant green film flashes take inspiration from both the original Frankenstein flick and from older movies with crazed professor monsters in them. Producer Tsui Hark’s finger prints are both heard as well as seen in this movie and in reality tv’s editors. While Daniel Lee was not all that good of a director (check his earlier What Price Survival wherein Lee states survival is not so high on the priority) the overall look of the movie was very much Tsui Hark. All this action gets under way having just the right amount of close up action shots.
The ingenuity of Yuen Woo-Ping never fails to amaze for when I am tasked with bringing his vision to life he tells me to use that creativity we all so deeply possess. It’s all rather spectacular when you think about it, the ferocity echoed in crime based shows is perfectly tied together and intertwines well with the plot. But with all of this, villains and antagonists across the board tend to be fatalistic and blood thirsty which makes sense. After all, there is a lot of blood being shed and when he employs characters who are literally immune to pain, an overwhelming number of unconventional deaths result from this.
Anthony Wong seems to fit right into the chaos and enhances it but his performance is slightly questionable when one considers that this is not a category 3 film. His role in the movies is that of a gold toothed sadistic King Kau who is ready to lightly mistreat a woman during the worst times for him. As the lead character in the movie, Ji Li barely speaks and continues to have a lackluster tone throughout the performance.
Under normal circumstances, Jet Li would have fit perfectly into this role; but considering all the other characters in the movie, his role as Tsui Chik, the character who feels no emotions, is defected. In addition to his yawning performance in Hitman, this suggest that he understood his career potential well. Lau Ching-wan portrays Shek, a disgruntled, but rather enchanting character thoroughly well. There is an element that suggests Tsu Chik and Shek might be romantically involved, added just to get a quick chuckle at the expense of the audience; but they would set out to make an ideal romantic duo than the one seen in the film.
Karen Mok is an outstanding actress with an impeccable sense of comedic timing, however, she is unable to save the role of Tracy. Tracy is shown first as a woman who just suffered a breakup and is quickly instructed to pursue Tsui Chik. The way she is “saved” by Black Mask and then later develops what could be described as “Stockholm Syndrome” is not suitable and the chemistry between the two does not seem necessary either. The character as a whole feels more like an afterthought than an integral element of the story.
It is an annoying character and definitely not something that one would want to see as bearing the essence of the characters instincts. The supporting female character of Tsui Chik who is a part of the 701 Squad is played by Francoise Yip and she has a much more commendable role. A deadly femme fatale who possesses both tragedy and greatness in equal measure.
“Black Mask” is absolute chaos that weaves throughout the strands of Hong Kong cityscape seamlessly which can only be found in the best of the films from Hong Kong’s golden period. The movie has Anthony Wong doing what he does best along with a group of other talented people working behind the scenes and it surely is entertaining. View the kinetic, hyperactive combat that we probably haven’t had the opportunity to observe before and, regrettably, probably won’t ever experience again, something that should not be missed whilst ignoring a few of the main roles.
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