Black Mask 2: City of Masks

It's this movie, it stinks. I don't even know what to say. I bought this crap because I liked the first one a lot and figured it can't be that bad since the first one is no masterpiece. This movie is a steaming pile of dung. It is worth a rent just to see how bad it is but don't get ripped like me and buy this crap. I have to admit though, I laughed more during this movie than most comedies.

The original "Black Mask" was a gritty HK action film starring Jet Li. For the sake of Part 2, "City Of Masks", the exclusion of Li can be forgiven. Nothing ELSE can be, though.

First of all, the main plot consists of Black Mask (even though he GAVE UP crimefighting at the end of the first film) taking on a bunch of Pro-Wrestlers - yes, Pro Wrestlers - who have been infused with the DNA of animals... like a squid. No, I'm not kidding about the squid!

You would expect really fast-paced Martial Arts along the lines of those found in the first, but what you find instead are a bunch of oddly designed fight scenes involving animalistic people. In other words, people with semi-human bodies and prosthetic animal heads.

Tsui Hark and Yuen Wo-Ping were helming this project, which is really a major letdown considering that Hark is responsible for great movies like "Time and Tide" and "The Legend Of Zu". Wo-Ping is probably best known for his fight coreography on "The Matrix." The main problem here is that you have two great HK directors trying to do what they can with a poorly slapped-together American Movie idea. Simple as that.

Don't watch Black Mask 2. Please. If you did, I would hurt you - but odds are the movie beat me to it.

Brain-hurtingly awful action sequel from previously well-respected Hong Kong director Tsui Hark. What he thought he was playing at with this monstrosity is anyone's guess. I can only imagine that he rounded up the most clueless people he could find to consult on the matter of which red-hot global fads he should incorporate into his latest vision, and came out of that meeting with "wrestling" and "Power Rangers" scribbled on a Post-It note. Because that's basically what it is. The actual martial arts bits are pretty inconsequential - as is anything established in the original Black Mask, apparently.

While I personally reckon I've seen worse, I will always remember Black Mask 2 as being the film that plunged a hardy co-viewer into a fog of stress for an entire weekend and drove him to claim that "it was so bad it actually made me ill".

ugh, and i mean UGH. dont see this, avoid at all costs. its a mix between the batman beyond "splicing" episode and universal soldier (the first black mask at least had real kung fu). altho porn queen traci lords shows us she can still kick ass, as seen in first wave and blade.

in this movie, jet li ran away, and for good reason, some fool picked up his role and took it, as best as he could i guess, he did look good. all that style was lost when he spoke tho. no wonder this came straight to video. get some real jet li movies if you want kung fu, or get universal soldier 1 if you want some killing soldier story...

I had pretty much heard nothing good about Tsui Hark's English language sequel to the Jet Li vehicle Black Mask. That coupled with the fact that most of Tsui Hark's films since Chinese Feast have been disappointing and largely incoherent, there wasn't much reason for optimism. (I used to be a huge fan of Hark's films but I couldn't even sit through Legend of Zu). Black Mask 2 is a comic book flick that recalls, sometimes self-consciously, other bigger budget Hollywood flicks such as X-Men, Spiderman and The Crow. I don't see any reason why fans of the genre wouldn't enjoy this. It's very fast paced, genuinely goofy and mostly fun. It's even got a decent script, at least compared with the impossible to follow Time and Tide and Legend of Zu, which made me think Hark had completely lost any story-telling abilities he had once possessed. The wrestlers turning into monsters might make more sophisticated viewers wince, but this seems to be aimed at a solidly adolescent audience, and anyone who finds entertainment value in pro wrestling or in rubber monster fare like ULtraman or Power Rangers should get a huge kick out of this. Don't watch expecting a classic like Once Upon A Time IN China and you will likely have a good time.