The ‘Kato-esque’ Black Mask brought to fame by Jet Li is back in the sequel Black Mask 2: City of Masks – this time with Andy On playing the part of Black Mask.
So the movie starts off with the evil Dr Lang (a very early role of Scott Adkins) who is, like Black Mask, a super soldier – considered to be the best alongside Black Mask. Under the control of Zeus, Dr Lang must bring Black Mask in to become an assassin.
But back in the real world, there’s this huge wrestling show taking the world by storm, and all of the wrestlers have been genetically modified in a similar but more primitive way to Black Mask. When one of the wrestlers goes crazy and loses control of himself, Black Mask swoops in to save the day. So naturally this wrestling corporation wants a piece of Black Mask for their shows.
All the while Black Mask is trying to find a cure for his genetic modification, which has left him unable to feel emotion. So he seeks out a young doctor to try an help him, while fending off the wrestling corporation and eventually the evil Dr Lang.
Cheap & Nasty…
…is what best describes this film.
It has some early appearances from current martial arts actors Andy On and Scott Adkins, who have since made some terrific work, but it also utilizes the talents of Tobin Bell (the bad guy from the Saw movies) and fights are choreographed by one of the best in the business – Yuen Woo-ping. Yet it just seems to fail on so many levels.
The story is a little flat, but not so far from anything the original classic had in it, but the look and tone of the movie are what kill it. Really bad CGI and mutants as opponents for Black Mask just seem a little too comical to be believed. On top of that you’ve got Dr Lang who looks like a mad scientist who never takes off his big chunky goggles and talks to Zeus – who appears to be a giant encased brain (I could be wrong).
Scott Adkins plays Dr Lang
Andy On looks every bit the part though, he’s a fit guy and has a good on screen charisma (for the part). Seeing Scott Adkins was quite funny however. With his current status being elevated from Expendables 2 & Universal Soldier and his dedicated following and hype behind the character of Boyka – seeing him as a bald goggle wearing scientist was quite humorous. Even his voice seemed pretty tame, not intimidating at all.
All in all there’s some good names and great talent but the direction and final ‘overall picture’ was lacking.
The Action & Martial Arts.
This movie makes use of Wire work and CGI – tools to polish off a scene and sort of ‘fill the gaps’ on an impressive, already existing performance – except this movie did it the other way around!
CGI and Wire work were everywhere to be seen and made the action scenes extremely unexciting, with the occasional flash of martial arts talent being sprinkled thin over the top. It was pretty disappointing after the first Black Mask movie.
The fights are watchable however, with the odd fight being not too bad.
Ultimately this movie looks very much pumped out, without much effort being put into it which is pretty disappointing. While some may enjoy it – most will not.
On DVD –
Region 1 (US & Canada)
Black Mask 2: City of Masks
Region 2 (UK, Europe, etc)
Black Mask 2 [DVD]
