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Jet Li behind a black mask? Does that work? I think it does. It's not the greatest movie ever made, but it's a fun little action b-movie that you get here.

The emphasis is clearly on the word "b-movie"! You can't watch this movie expecting a Hollywood Blockbuster. Or anything that would resemble a logical story. It is quite literally a "no-brainer". I have criticized movies for being no-brainers before. Why did I rate this one higher? Because I see it in the context. For example, Black Mask 2 is a "no-brainer" ... but there is nothing there that is entertaining. Here you have some jokes that work, but more importantly you have good choreographed action scenes. All of that is missing in the sequel (if you can call it that ...)

The story would never win awards, but that's not what it's about... the script was just entertaining and suspenseful enough to make room for the incredibly choreographed fight scenes. Who needs a story with fighting like that? Really, it's worth watching for that reason alone. IF you can handle the gore, of which there is a LOT... none of it done realistically enough to be tough to look at. I gave it a 7.

In Stand By Me, Vern and Teddy discuss who was tougher, Superman or Mighty Mouse. My friends and I often discuss who would win a fight too. Sometimes we get absurd and compare guys like MacGyver and The Terminator or Rambo and Matrix. But now it seems that we discuss guys like Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and Jet Li. It is a pointless comparison seeing that Lee is dead, but it is a fun one. And if you go by what we have seen from Jet Li in Lethal 4 and Black Mask, you have to at least say that he would match up well against Chan. In this film he comes across as a martial arts God.

Black Mask is about a man that was created along with many other men, to be supreme fighting machines. Their only purpose is to win wars that other people lose. They are invincible in some ways. Now that is the premise for the film, but what that does is sets up all the amazingly choreographed fight scenes.

Jet Li is a marvel. He can do things with and to his body that no human being should be able to do. And that is what makes watching him so fun.

Besides the martial arts in the film, Black Mask is strong with humour and that is due to the chemistry that Jet has with his co-star, the police officer. They are great together. But to be honest. if anyone is reading this review, they want to know if the film is kick ass in the action department. And the answer to that is a resounding YES!!! Lots and lots of gory mindless action. You will love this film.

This is probably the movie that made Jet Li well known in the States. The mask obviously reminds you of "Kato" in Green Hornet, and that homage alone was enough to secure this as one of the classics of Hong Kong martial arts movies.

A genetic experiment to create super soldiers is deemed a failure. All are ordered to be destroyed. One of them survives, and finds a peaceful life as a librarian until the old acquaintances shows up to finish their job.

The production of this movie is not its good part. It reminds you of the dingy atmosphere of '70s Hong Kong movies. But the idea is brilliant, and casting little known Jet Li at the time for the lead was a spectacular success. He really is believable as genetically enhanced super soldier. Very young Karen Mok plays an unwitting hostage to Li, and adds sideline to the story.

This genetically enhanced soldier scheme continued with other movies such as Huk Mau (Black Cat), which is in the same vain as this movie, with also "Black" as part of its title.

With fantastic moves like this, who wouldn't be a star ! Jet Li became the premier super star from this point on, which still is on going.

Back then they didn't really have any hong kong superhero movies so Black Mask was something that stood out. It manages to be a superhero movie that knows it's unrealistic and embraces some of the campiness. It also had some R-rated looking scenes so it's not like a kid's superhero film. Jet Li and his co-star Sean Lau has good chemistry and really pulls off the action scenes.

I can't understand why they decided to release this film to introduce the American audience to the dynamo that is Jet Li. Fist of Legend would have been a much better choice. Anyway, Black Mask isn't terrible, but it certainly isn't great either. The final fight sequence is well staged by Yuen Woo Ping who went on to coordinate The Matrix. But the English release suffers from rough editing and dubbing. (I'm begging the Hollywood studios to release these films uncut with subtitles.)Jet Li shows his characteristic charisma in the title role and Francoise Yip has a cool but brief role as the female 701.

Black Mask has a strange goth style that adds some interest but it is overloaded with gun battles and explosions. More focus on Li's fantastic physical skills were in order. Black Mask is a decent film but do yourself a favor and pick up Fist of Legend if you want to see a tremendous film that really shows Li's skills.

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.

Once a part of 701 squad, an elite group of super-soldiers/assassins surgically altered to feel no pain, Tsui Chik (Jet Li) now works as a librarian; but when the remaining members of 701 squad (whose number include the rather gorgeous Francoise Yip) turn to crime, bumping off drug lords to corner the narcotics market and stealing police files to sell to other criminals, Tsui Chik takes on the guise of superhero 'Black Mask' to fight his former comrades.

Black Mask is a frenetic comic-book martial-arts actioner from director Tsui Hark, a rather chaotic film with a plot that makes very little sense but which still succeeds in being highly entertaining thanks to a huge helping of silliness, loads of insane wire-enhanced fighting (choreographed by Yuen Woo Ping), and a fair amount of gore.

Amongst the craziness on offer: characters are blown to pieces, crushed under vehicles, killed by razor edged CDs, and hack off their own limbs to escape capture; Jet Li has a brief but very impressive battle in a graveyard and also performs an jaw-dropping kung fu routine using a high voltage cable as a weapon; and crime-lord King Kau (the brilliant Anthony Wong) is sent his daughter's severed legs in the post!!!

One more thing... if possible, try to find a subtitled version of the film—the dubbing is atrocious.

Jet Li, is one of the best hand to hand combat fighters in the world. He has been for over 20 years and he puts others in the genre to shame. While he is big in Asia, he is almost unknown here in the US.

Black Mask is supposed to be a breakout movie for him, but it fails horribly. First of all, it is dubbed. While it may have camp value (the dubbing isn't even close and it is flat in tone), it seems inappropriate for the ordinary movie viewer. Secondly, the director in this movie, Daniel Lee, does a horrible job. He cuts scenes so fast, at times, you don't know what's going on. Other times, the camera shakes and wobbles. Fans see Jet Li's movies for the fantastic martial arts. However, the director edits the scenes so fast that you don't even know who's who half the time! Other times, a scene is left hanging (ie Li is beginning to cut a hole in the floor of a jeep, while the badguys arm their guns, two seconds later, both Li and the love interest are already under the car!) Other scenes are so improbable, that they cross over the point of being completely ridiculous (killer CD roms? Just give him Throwing Stars!!!!). Li, needs a director who is less prone to machine gun cutting and more to creating a cinematic mise-a-scene. The added rap/techno music goes from being okay to intrusive. The plot has possibilities but are all squandered by cartoonish characters that take away from any credibility that this movie strives for. And are we really to believe that the love interest would not recognize Simon, because he has a half mask on? Wouldn't the hair, lower jaw, or voice give it away?

If you want to see a Jet Li movie, try Iron Monkey or his classic Shaolin Temple. This disjointed mess is a complete waste of time.....2/10

What more could I say? The Americans totally hated it because the U.S. cut was so bad, although you could detect the underlying goodwill in it.

Talking about the U.S. theatrical release(along with the newly released Blu-ray Disc version), it's faster and tighter than HK cut, the background musics were all changed from the dark, grim HK musics to Hip-hop musics; and there were a lot of gruesome scenes cut out. Though, the dubbing was a notable job given that they tried to capture the original actor's voice and tone. But, the problem is Hak Hap(Black Mask) the movie was designed and meant to be dark, grim, super-disturbing and totally gruesome. Very unfortunately the U.S. release just skimmed the cream they wanted, which in return completely changed the movie's undertone(HK release was rated 18+) to be even more comical and amateurish.

Now let's talk about the original HK release. This movie is like a hidden gem, a prototype for the whole "matrix" tide and era. The fighting scenes are totally awesome even the camera works were a bit "old-school" among HK movies. However the style the movie created was a unique blend of Kungfu and pop culture. With all the leather, black costumes and decorations, this movie features a batman-like superhero in a black mask against a run-of-the-mill gang of multinational super-soldiers lead by a punk heavy metal rock star boss. Yes it sounds like imaginations of a retarded child, but it works. It's so impressive that the whole movie's gonna give you nightmares featuring foreigners fighting a bloodbath battle in leather coats. In year 2002 they made a sequel which had a PG-13 rating, but without Jet Li and Liu Qing Yun. And you know how bad that was because Li and Liu were the core characters in the movie and had strong personalities and an interesting friendship. And, did I happen to mention Francois Yip? Her roundhouse kick was totally cool, even cooler than the villain boss because she didn't use a stuntman for all the fighting. Did I mention she was also smoking hot? Anyway, there are a lot of things to like about the movie.

However, the movie also suffered from a lot of problems. First off, it's a mediocre script made at its best potential, which means this production team deserved a better screen-writer. There are a lot climaxes in the entire 100 minutes but they often felt like far-fetched and don't totally make senses to the audiences(US version was even worse because all the character developments were cut). Anyway, you can't ask too much out of a comic-inspired action movie. Also, this movie is entirely improper for children. I won't recommend it to you if you are less than 20 years old. It's saturated with disturbing contents including blood, gore, sado-maso costumes, extreme brutal violence and so on. Along with the style of the movie, it can be called a wet dream for heavy-metal rock music fans and action fans. (the U.S. cut was milder, but if you want to see it, see the HK release for what it is.) 7/10. Status: inspiring, hidden, undervalued, adult.

Lame, cliched superhero action movie drivel. I had high hopes for this movie, and the genre of HK buddy cop actioneers is one that i don't despise, but very rarely do i see a storyline as trite and ludicrous as this one was. This would have been forgivable, as it always is in these kinds of movies, when the action compensates, unfortunately, it did not. The action does carry the trademark surreality and over the top nature of HK action, but it's not very involving, obscenely gory, and in fact often completely incoherent (perhaps this is due to re-editing for american release, it does show signs in many places of patchwork). I was very disappointed.

I have no idea why this flick is getting such a bad rap by so many IMDb users (Some are saying it's his 'worst movie ever.' What?? Haven't any of you seen Cradle 2 The Grave?) My favorite criticism is that the plot is totally stupid, and just an excuse to hang all of the action sequences on. Duh! What the crap were you expecting from a Jet Li movie? Did you honestly believe that someone thought up the story, then just loaded it up with action? Of course not! Black Mask is awesome, wall-to-wall action throughout nearly it's entire running time. It's also deliciously gruesome, and we get plenty of severed limbs, decapitations, and creative ways of watching the bad guys (and quite a few innocent people, too!) get slaughtered. Most of Li's other martial arts films are nursery-school when compared to Black Mask; there is no holding back on the gratuitous violence, bloodshed, or action sequences whatsoever! And that made me a happy camper. Again: if you go into a Jet Li movie expecting magnificent dialog and an intriguing plot, you are going for the wrong reasons. Black Mask is probably my favorite of his movies (though, beware of the horrendous dubbing).

Jet Li puts in a good performance as the genetically altered superhero who is just trying to be a normal guy, until his old unit become his enemy. This film has some of the worst, fasttrack dubbing I've ever heard, but if you can see past it, there is a semi-decent martial arts film underneath. The fight scenes have been superbly choreographed and the script is none too bad, as far as Chinese action thrillers go anyway. At times it is disturbingly gruesome, at others it can be quite serious, and then again there are a few parts where you will definitely just laugh! A well rounded martial arts flick, that provides you with everything you want, need and expect from Jet Li. Fast kicks, hard punches and dirty combinations as well as an impressive final showdown fight with the unit Commander. Highly entertaining and good visual ride.

Jet Li stars in this wire-fu actioner effort as a super trained commando type unable to feel pain or emotion who escapes from an evil master to live a normal life. Drawn into using his skills once more to defeat his old squad he must also protect his new found friends.

I liked this movie it's not the best Jet Li has done but it's good entertainment and has some good if slightly outrageous fight scenes. The bad guy is good value for money and seems to have stepped right out of a comic book, Francoise Yip is also very effective is Li's one time comrade. However Li's friends sometimes get in the way of the action and the Tracy character is fairly irritating (how often did i wish she'd get shot so we could move on with the movie!). The tough guy cop is quite funny in places but overall its about a 7/10 movie.

7/10 - Good action solid plot and overall a fun film for any martial arts fans.

Horrible dubbing. Cheesy overworked plot. Story that's been done and done and done. Implausabilities abound. Plot holes large enough to drive a cliche through. But MAN those fight scenes were incredible! If you go in looking for a serious piece of cinema, you'll leave unhappy. If you can't laugh at how horribly some of the humor flops, you'll be disappointed. If you go in to see Jet Li kicking butt -- something he is incredible at -- you WILL be happy. Scale: 1 to 10. I give it a 7, simply because I said, "WOW!" so many times.

Version: Magna Pacific's R4 DVD - English dub

Somehow 'Black Mask' earned a spot on Civic Video's "Best buy" stand, with big stickers on the DVD case announcing it was a "hot hit" and only $10. I get the feeling that they were actually trying get rid of the copies they had in stock. I would have been a sucker for this ruse, had I not enjoyed this awesome tale of super-librarians and crazy super-human bad guys.

Jet Li plays Michael, a test-subject used a secret government project to create a group of super-soldiers known as the 701 Squad. When the project is canceled, the 701 Squad escape, but Michael is separated from the others and goes into hiding. He ends up working in a library, as a SUPER LIBRARIAN OF DEATH! Not really. Michael convinces everyone that he is a geeky, helpless librarian. One of his best friends is a detective, Inspector 'Rock' Shek (Ching Wan Lau), who finds himself working on a case involving a gang systematically eliminating Hong Kong's drug-lords. Michael realizes that this gang is the 701 Sqaud, who have seemingly turned to the dark side. Donning a black mask, Michael becomes the super-hero Black Mask (he is so creative) and vows to stop the 701 Squad. For Super-heroic reference, his black mask is a better disguise than Clark Kent's glasses, but covers less than Batman's mask. I guess some super-heroes don't take the whole secret-identity thing too seriously.

So what we have is a comic-style plot that has been used many, many times. There is nothing new or innovative about it. It is interesting enough, but who would actually watch this for a plot? It does seem like a futile exercise. The dubbing isn't all that bad - it isn't all that good either. It just kinda sits in between being a bad dub that you can laugh at, and a good dub that you can actually appreciate.

What 'Black Mask' does possess, is action awesomeness. All movies about super-heroes reaping vengeance and what not need action awesomeness. 'Black Mask' sees Jet Li and Ching Wan Lau wandering around and generally kicking arse, having their arses kicked, and then kicking arse again. Awesome. The movie features some cool action sequences, with the debut of the Black Mask towards the start being the one that stands out against the rest.

'Black Mask' is a good action movie, and a better action movie than Michelle Yeoh's 'Silver Hawk', but 'Silver Hawk' is just more entertaining than Black Mask. Check out 'Black Mask' is you're a fan of Jet Li, or Hong Kong action films in general - 7/10

Typical HK, really lousy, but with parts you absolutely must see. I loved it! As my wife said, "If you liked 'The Matrix', see this movie and you can see what Yuen Wo Ping can do with actors who are used to performing on wires." Really, you should see the 1999 re-mix in a theater on a big screen; it knocked my eyes out. And please leave your 8-year-olds at home. Please. You know who you are.

Tsui Chik/Simon, a quiet librarian, is actually an ex-Special Forces super soldier. He is friends with Inspector Shek Wai-ho/Rock, a detective with Hong Kong Police, with whom Tsui Chik frequently shares conversation over chess. Tsui Chik learns his old commando unit, called 701, is still active, murdering gangsters and police in a grasp for power. Tsui Chik dons a black domino mask and bowler hat like Bruce Lee's Kato from The Green Hornet, becoming a masked vigilante to stop his old unit, inadvertently coming into conflict Shek Wai-ho/Rock and the police.

Black Mask isn't something you watch for the story, there's a minimum of it. There's just enough to let you know who the good guys and the bad guys are. There's also a tiny amount of romantic subplot thrown with a co-worker and a former squad member of Tsui Chik's introduced to give him a more personal reason to fight the good fight. Jet Li is at his best, his jaw-dropping on screen fights are like no one else, including the legendary Bruce Lee and contemporary peer Jackie Chan.

I'm commenting on the american release of hak hap/black mask rather than any of the others, partially because this is the only i have seen and the fact that they couldnt have made the movie worse for an american audience.

Hak Hap is your standard HK film (although a bit colorful one), which generally people watch for the action only and dont expect any epic storyline or intense character development. My problem of the film is that the dubbing was absolutely terrible, and the fact that the "americanized" rap soundtrack felt completely irrelevant to the atmosphere and scenes. Once watching this film you will realize how such a simple thing as the soundtrack can enhance a movie or completely break it. Due to the terrible dubbing and soundtrack i give this film a 4/10, if a subtitled import were availible,7/10 would be more appropriate.

In closing, just throw on a bay city rollers or airsupply CD, put the video on mute while making your own soundeffects and it will be -much- more entertaining than the english dubbed version. not a bad film otherwise for HK fans.

OK, before I write this comment, I just want to make it clear that I do like jet lee. Onward. I think the black mask should go down in the hall of fame of all time horrible movies. It's been about 5 years since I have seen the movie, and I still remember the horror as if it were just a week ago. It's like trying to forget something as traumatic as walking in on your parents. The acting was terrible. From what I remember the special effects were not that good ( at best) and the movie was originally shot in another language, so you know what that means. Words and voices that don't match the lips and people. I think having to sit through one of those two hour times share sales pitch's would be less painful than having to sit through this movie again. So please remember kids, when it comes to the black mask, just say no.

I really enjoyed this movie and it was a little difficult do that when your brother is making stupid comments in it ever 30 seconds. But this movie I enjoyed, mostly because I'm used to the usual HK action films. Most of the films like this are don't watch it for the story line, watch it for the mindless action. And mindless action is right. You get to see Jet Li Jump, spin, kick, punch, shoot, make impossible jumps and dodge countless bullets. It's true that this movie was released to a broader audience after Li was in Lethal Weapon 4. That is one of the reasons the ratings on this movie dropped. Most people were probably expecting to see a movie that was as polished as a North American film. But you need to remember most HK film budgets aren't nearly as high as a North American film, and the style in a HK action film is usually very different usually requiring in wire work in a lot of them. If you want to see a good action film you should see this just try to ignore the dubbing.

My rating was an 8.

While not Jet Li's best effort, Black Mask is a decent, fast paced action flick which has its merits.

The incredible martial arts sequences are definitely the best part of the film. Lots of punches, kicks and spectacular aerial displays take up the bulk of the film and are a treat to look at. Combined this with the expected explosions, gunfire, non-stop bad guys and smashing glass, there is plenty of chaos for the action fans.

Judging from the dubbed version, Jet Li gives a fairly decent performance. While not as memorable as some of his other films such as Once Upon A Time In China, he gives a decent performance. The supporting cast isn't spectacular but are adequate enough.

Unfortunately, the dubbing is rather appalling. While you can get the gist of the storyline, it's pretty obvious that large chunks of crucial dialog related to the storyline are left out. While there's not too much storyline to follow in this action fare, it's still disappointing all the same.

I was however, laughing non-stop at the dubbing of Commander Hung, played by Kong Lung. It is definitely the most (unintentionally) hilarious dubbed voice i have ever heard. It's worth renting this just to hear how funny it is.

Overall, I recommend this to Jet-Li fans and most action fans. If you're not one or both of these then you would probably be best advised to steer clear. It sells for dirt cheap here in Australia ($5-$8 depending where you shop around) but it's probably worth getting the authentic version if you want the best experience.

Be warned though, it is rather violent (expect to see limbs being taken off and crushed and a fair amount of blood) so beware if you're faint hearted.

I give it 6.5 out of 10.

The movie was awful. The theater was dead with silence 'cause everyone was embarrassed to be in there watching such trash. I think someone gave Jet Li a lobotomy and made him perform a script with dialogue written by a five year old. The martial arts are 'ok', but when put next to the Jackie Chan movies and "The Matrix" you're better off seeing one of those.