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Black Mask

Black Mask

List Price: $9.98
Your Price: $9.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: cool, cheesy, and fun!
Review: Being mainly a fan of old horror and sci-fi B-movies, I was a bit skeptical when a friend suggested I borrow this movie from his collection and watch it. Overall, the movie turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The hip-hop soundtrack works a lot better than one would expect, and the cheesy, badly acted dubbed dialogue is of the same type that you would expect from a Godzilla movie. The movie also has its share of twisted violence and gore. It's much cooler and more imaginative than that of The Matrix or any run-of-the-mill Schwarzennegar movie. If there is such a thing as a modern B-movie, this is it. I definitely recommend it.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Nope !
Review: Honestly I fell asleep watching this .. Black Mask didnt do Jet-LI Justice ..And I dont want to waste any breath for detail.I rented FIST OF LEGEND after and I was quickly revived! If you need to complete collection then buy.. But for watching it more than once I think not.....

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: good fights, nice try at a plot.
Review: good fights and all but the film just doesn't piece together, the editing was crappy none the less i still own it cause i'm a jet li fan

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Average is not a word associated with Jet Li
Review: Of all the great Jet Li movies Dimension could have used to introduce the west, why Black Mask? It's not necessarily bad, but it's definitely not one of his better movies. The plot is interesting and has some potential to be great, but who watches these movies for the story anyway? The action is fast and there are some trully great stunts going on here, but on the other hand there is way too much gun play and wire stunts to keep the action believable. Anyhow, if you're new to Jet Li, take a look at Black Mask. If you're a veteran fan, I recommend this movie only to completists.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Some good fight scenes though other factors do hurt the film
Review: I have seen several of Jet Li's movies (I haven't seen Fist of Legend yet though I have heard that is one of the best martial arts films ever) and only one, The Bodyguard from Beijing, matches the heights of Jackie Chan's great works such as Who am I? and First Strike. Black Mask is not bad due to some good action sequences but there a lot of aspects that weaken the film.

As for the plot? Well, Jet Li plays a librarian/ex-soldier named Simon who wants to live a peaceful life. His best friend, Rock, is a police officer who gets involved in a case involving the murders of several drug lords. Simon discovers that his old squad, the 701, are responsible and they plan on taking over the criminal underworld. To prevent his friend from getting hurt, Simon decides to take matters into his hand and fight the 701 squad. To prevent his identity from being discovered, he wears a black mask over his face.

As I stated earlier, the movie has a lot of serious problems. For one thing, a budget of 10 million dollars for a martial arts film is too much. Black Mask is filled with one too many cheesy explosions and laser blasts.

Jet Li is an incredible performer but the film does him little justice. He gets to show off some fancy moves, particularly in the beginning, but the martial arts fights begin to look rather jumbled, clumsy, and unrealistic toward the end. Much different from The Bodyguard from Beijing in which that film's martial arts fights look genuine, fluid, and simply spectacular. In Black Mask, Li is aided too much with help of wires as it's clearly impossible for a person to jump around like that. It's way too distracting.

Then there's the musical score. Um, where is it? All I here is a bunch of rap music, most (virtually all of it actually) which is quite bad. It's completely out of tone with the rest of the movie and is once again another distracting factor.

As for the acting, Li delivers yet another fine performance. Ching Wan Lau is also good as Detective Rock. The female performers don't fare nearly as well. Karen Mok is incessantly annoying while Francoise Yip is seriously underused and leaves the movie way too quickly (then again, the movie's not that long in the first place).

Jet Li has amazing moves, but he really deserves a script equal to it. For now, I'll settle with The Bodyguard from Beijing (and hopefully Fist of Legend).

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Take that rap, please...
Review: This is a standard, more or less, Jet Li vehicle which emphasizes his incredible speed and fluidity of motion. The script is no stranger than most, the casting is excellent and the action is phenomenal (especially the warehouse/construction site brawl). The fatal flaw with this film is the soundtrack, not the tpe of music, but the volume. It is so loud it overpowers the sound effects and the pieces that have been chosen's rhythyms don't mesh with the action on screen. It makes the fight sequences feel out of sync. If the soundtrack is scrubbed and replaced with rap songs with a more appropriate beat and mixed so that the sound effects could be heard, I'd give this movie two more stars.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Blow-you-away martial arts action
Review: "Black Mask" is an incredible film. The action is unbelievable. If you thought the martial arts action in "The Matrix" (1999) was cool, then look no further. Both films have the same martial arts director (Yuen Wo Ping), and you get some incredible stuff here. Lots of mid-air, wire work which rocks. Big time. And the fighting is lightning fast. Really, this is must-see material.

The dubbing is fine. There's no problem there. There is a rap soundtrack which I wasn't fond of, but it's not terrible. The sound effects work well. The story and characters are nothing to write home about, but who cares? You watch this for the action, and that's it. If you want a great story, read a book. If you're looking for blow-you-away action, look no further.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: nonsensical, silly, and dull!
Review: I love Jet Li, which made me dislike this movie all the more. Some funny moments, some halfway cool moments, but boring overall. I am sure the original HK version is better, it couldn't be any worse! Also, nonstop bloodbaths and explosions cannot make up for the lack of a plot or the lack of GOOD fight scenes. This movie is SO DUMBED DOWN--why is that synonomous with American versions of films? TSK TSK, to someone up there.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: This movie does not live up to Jet Li
Review: When they decided to import this video over to amaerica they could have turned off a lot of people to one of the greatest action stars of our time. The import this movie when I can't even buy a copy of "Tai Chi Master"? If you want to see Jet Li don't bother with this movie because it really sucked. Get a hold of "Tai Chi Master", "Iron Monkey"... those are truly great action films.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good movie to buy, but this price is a bit too much
Review: Just finished watching the DVD. G rateful to amazon.com for shipping it to Japan, but the price is a bit too much for this(still cheaper then going out on a Saturday night in Tokyo). In all honesty it is not a bad movie, plenty of action, awesome sound in 5.1 surround and good visual effects. Makes you wonder if any other country will ever come closer to Hollywood for action flicks. Rent it or buy at a lower price (sorry amazon.com)


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