Director: Daniel Lee
Year: 1996
Rating:
7.5
A futuristic, stylish vehicle for Jet Li as he nears his exit to Hollywood. This would have fit in fine in Hollywood – other than all the Asian actors of course. It seems that popular opinion has dealt a slight thumbs down on this Jet Li vehicle, but I was totally caught up in the cartoon like feel, the story, the designs and the action scenes. There is a huge amount of wirework taking place, but I thought it was imaginatively done if more than excessive. It is Yuen Wo-ping doing the choreography and it is bonkers at times. Jet was doing films with more and more wire work and getting further away from his classic martial arts beginnings and there are a lot of purists out there who did not like this. I prefer the real thing myself as in Fist of Legend but clearly from his get-up that is Kato like this sets out to be a Super Hero film and so within that world this is fine.
Jet Li is in a group of experimental fighters called the 701 Squad who have been physically and genetically altered to be perfect killing machines that can feel no pain. They also seem to have great strength and kung-fu skills. It is being done "in a country north of here" - leaving little doubt who that is. But higher ups have decided to cancel the program and to terminate the squad after a few went crazy. Li is able to break out by killing a large number of soldiers and he escapes to Hong Kong where he takes on a new identity as Chui Chik and life as a quiet librarian who works with Karen Mok and he becomes good chess playing friends with ultra-tough policeman, Lau Ching-wan. Jet thinks to himself "He is called the Rock. Dark and hard, true to his name". No wonder Mok thinks they are gay. Not that she is keen on Jet though her fellow librarians are pushing her to go out with him and then brush him off before he dumps her. She says "But he is a piece of wood. A real nerd". His acting maybe is woodish but still boyish and charming. Clearly, she didn't pay that much attention to him because later she never can figure out that the Black Mask is Chui Chik though she spends hours with him. Come on girl. A mask doesn't hide that much. A pair of glasses on the other hand does the trick.
Over thirty drug lords and their minions have been killed and in rather gruesome imaginative ways. One might cheer this but the cops still have to investigate. One drug lord (Henry Fong Ping) is captured by the killers and for reasons that seem really extra mean has a bomb planted next to his heart. On the inside. The cops with Rock leading the way get to the last drug lord still alive in Hong Kong. King Kau played with relish, a ponytail and a gold tooth by Anthony Wong. Wong must love these sorts of roles and he always takes it to the limit. He has a woman strapped up in bondage and when his lair is attacked he decides that is a good time to start licking her. Well, why not. She is Francoise Yip and is one of the killers. The old razor in the mouth trick. Chui Chik has realized that the killers must be his old friends from the 701 who also managed to escape. A class reunion of sorts. But instead of using their powers for good or at a minimum becoming movie stuntmen, they want to take over the drug trade in Asia and are well on their way to literally wiping out the competition.
So he digs out his black mask and cap and goes
into action to save his friend Rock. A few times. Eventually Rock, who is
clearly smarter than Mok, figures out who the Black Mask is and they work
together - after of course having the initiation of fighting each other.
There are a number of action set pieces in the film - all well done though
again highly exaggerated with wires bouncing around like pin balls, very
quick editing which is necessary in a film like this and lots of bad guy
gadgets. The Black Mask has a few of his own. It is good dumb fun and a solid
set of actors - Lau Ching-wan is very charismatic and Mok is . . .well annoying
but I got used to her. Fancoise is lovely - in the film she had been a student
of the Black Mask and he had saved her life so there is that connection between
them - even as she tries to kill him. The leader of the squad is Patrick
Lung Kong, director of a few classic Cantonese films in the 1960s - Teddy
Girls, The Window and The Story of a Discharged Prison. He is suitably evil
here with tinted glasses and long scraggly hair. It is produced by
Tsui Hark and directed by Daniel Lee who has directed some decent films -
one of my favorites in fact - What Price Survival. Here he makes usage of
tinted blue coloring in many scenes to give it a unique look. Until recently,
the only version I had was the American dubbed version. It was great seeing
it with subs and a fine quality video.
