|
 esides the title and the presence of a man wearing
Kato-inspired threads, "Black Mask 2: City of Masks" has little in
common with the original "Black
Mask" starring Jet Li. The original was produced/co-written by Hong
Kong action mainstay Tsui Hark ("Time
and Tide"), who has taken a more active role with the sequel by acting
as director. The screenplay is by Julien Carbon and Laurent Courtiaud, both of
who, it appears, have seen one too many Hong Kong films. As a result,
"Black Mask 2" is just as absurd and lacking in a coherent screenplay
as many action Hong Kong films that have come down the pipe.
This time around Black Mask is a crimefighter in a
futuristic city called B City (I guess creativity has gone down the drain in the
future), while at the same time dodging an entity name Zeus. Zeus is an
"entity" because we never see his face, only hear his voice.
Zeus, we learn, was the one responsible for "creating" Black
Mask, intending to sell Mask's skills to the world as a mercenary. (This origin
of Black Mask, obviously, doesn't jive with the original's version, which had
Black Mask being the product of a failed military experiment.) Mask has gone
AWOL and Zeus is intent on re-capturing him. He sends Lang (Scott Adkins), his
next-best warrior to do the job.
Back in (the improbably named) B City, Black Mask has
gotten involved with a shady wrestling federation owner name Moloch (Tobin
Bell), who is injecting his wrestlers with a serum that adds animal DNA to their
own, giving them superior strength but very bad side effects. When one of the
wrestlers goes insane and actually turns into an iguana (also his wrestling
name), Black Mask appears to stop the mayhem. All of this begs the question:
since Black Mask knows that Zeus is waiting for him to resurface in order to
capture him, why did Mask show up as himself, and not some other costumed hero?
Also, why after Mask has shown up and gotten his face on TV for all the
world to see does it take Zeus, supposedly all-knowing and possessing an amazing
computer tracking system, at least a week to send Lang over?
Newcomer Andy On steps into the role vacated by Jet Li,
although considering that this sequel has next to nothing to do with the
original, it's probably for the best that Li didn't reprise the role and
confusing us further. Alas, "Black Mask 2" does fine by itself in the
confusing screenplay department. There are straying plot threads that goes
nowhere as well as plot threads that seem to go nowhere before resurfacing to
prove themselves worthy, or at least undead. For example: the film opens with
Zeus and Lang, and there is a brief sequence where Lang attempts to nab Black
Mask, but fails. After this point, Zeus and Lang disappear completely, only to
resurface with 20 minutes to go in the film!
Much of "Black Mask 2" unfortunately turns into a
big budget version of "The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" whenever
Black Mask has to battle one of the wrestlers-turned-mutated-creatures. Even so,
the film did manage to keep me somewhat entertained. Andy On does a good job as
Black Mask; he's taller and stronger than Li, and he has the right intensity for
the role. But I couldn't attest to On's martial arts prowess, since the film is
so heavily doused with extreme wirework and CGI effects that it's impossible to
tell if On knows anything. (This, incidentally, also proves that Tsui Hark still
hasn't gotten all the CGI nonsense out of his system with "Legend
of Zu.")
The love interest for Black Mask is played by Teresa
Herrera, who actually brings the film some much needed humor. In a movie where
large muscle-bound men morph into silly looking muscle-bound men dressed up in
foam suits, Herrera's Marco, a doctor who has a phobia about being touched by
men (she goes stiff when this happens), is good for some laughs. The movie does
explain why she has developed this phobia, and that explanation, and subsequent
gags, are also good for a chuckle or two.
As an action film, "Black Mask 2" is seriously in
need of someone with the guts to slap director Tsui Hark and force him to go
back to "grounded" wireworks and abandon this whole need to insert CGI
into the most unnecessary places. Traci Lords co-stars as Chameleon, a female
wrestler who can turn invisible. With 30 minutes to go, Lords' character is
completely replaced by CGI. It doesn't work.
Unfortunately, "Black Mask 2" is as silly and
pointless as it sounds. But at least it's a mildly amusing diversion, even if I
kept getting images of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers while watching it…
(Note: The movie's credit listing at IMDB.com has a
number of errors. I hope I have corrected them here.)
|
