Black Mask

Black Mask 1996
Director: Daniel Lee
Writers: Tsui Hark, Koan Hui, Teddy Chan and Joe Ma
Starring Jet Li, Ching Wan Lau, Karen Mok, Francoise Yip and Kong Lung

Jet Li is one of the premier names in the modern martial arts films toady and I think he is only eclipsed by Tony Jaa. Black Mask was the first Li film I had seen after his American debut in Lethal Weapon 4 and I was mesmerized by the way he moved in that, that I went looking for other films of his and the first 2 I found were this and Fist of Legend. Everyone should know Fist of Legend is a masterpiece, but I also have a special place in my heart for this one. It is a film with some great action scenes and is also very funny and witty. The characters of Li and Lau really make this film. The banter these two convey to each other is priceless. The fight scenes were choreographed by the same man who did the fight sequences for the Matrix films, Woo-ping Yuen. The film has a very comic book superhero feel to it and that really works to its advantage.
The plot basics are this, Michael (Li) was a test subject of a secret program to create super soldiers and after the program was scrapped he went into hiding and is now working as a librarian, making no waves and is friends with a hard nosed cop, Rock (Lau). Everything is nice and quiet for Michael until, a vicious string of gangland murders have the tale tell signs of his former comrades in the program. Michael decides to take action, but does so in disguise wearing a black mask, and the papers dub him "The Black Mask". Soon his former compatriots discover he is around and want to bring him back into the fold. Michael will have none of this, so the Commander (Lung) sets a trap for him using his friend Rock and it is now up to Michael to save him and put an end once and for all to his sadistic comrades.
This is a great action film that starts heavily charged and doesn't slow down till the end credits roll. Lee's directions is great, he has a eye for great action scenes and stages them well. He also is very good with the character scenes, even when there is no action you are rooted to the screen. The script is very good as well, it uses all the standard devices of the super hero genre very well. Though it also use the characters very well and you actually empathize with them, not always a easy thing to do in a action film. The cast is great, Li and Lau have great chemistry and I especially love the scene in the bathroom where Lau tries to get Li to fight. Mok was very funny as the romantic lead for Li too and Lung is very despicable as the main heavy of the story. The action and fight scenes are staged flawlessly and you are mesmerized with every move that hits your eyes. It is a shame that Li never did another film for this series, as I would have loaded to have seen more. I think the best action scene in the film is where he is both fighting his ex lover and trying to save his new romantic interest at the same time. It was amazing how well choreographed that sequence was. I highly recommend this for martial arts fans and fans of films in the super hero genre.
This one gets 4 out of 5