''Black Mask'' () is a 1996
Hong Kong action superhero film
A superhero film (or superhero movie) is a film that focuses on the actions of superheroes. Superheroes are individuals who possess superhuman abilities and are dedicated to protecting the public. These films typically feature Action film, ac ...
starring
Jet Li
Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, Chinese martial arts, martial artist, and retired wushu (sport), Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singapo ...
,
Lau Ching-wan
Sean Lau Ching-wan (born 16 February 1964) is a Hong Kong actor who has acted in both films and television series. He won Best Actor in the 2007 and 2015 Hong Kong Film Awards and in the 2000 and 2007 Golden Bauhinia Awards.
Career
Lau was born ...
,
Karen Mok
Karen Mok (born Karen Joy Morris (), 2 June 1970) is a Hong Kong pop diva who is one of the leading Asian pop singers and actresses with a career spanning three decades. She is the first female Hong Kong singer to win the Golden Melody Award and ...
and
Anthony Wong. It was directed by
Daniel Lee and produced by
Tsui Hark
Tsui Hark (, vi, Từ Khắc, born 15 February 1950), born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter. Tsui has directed several influential Hong Kong films such as ''Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain'' (1983), the ...
and his production company
Film Workshop
Film Workshop Co. Ltd. (), is a Hong Kong production company and film distributor. It was founded in April 1984 by producer/director Tsui Hark and his now ex-wife, Nansun Shi. Already a director with box office hits, Tsui wanted to create a work ...
. In 1999, the film was
dubbed in English and released in the US by
Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment (formerly known as U.S.A. Home Video, International Video Entertainment (IVE) and LIVE Entertainment) was an American film studio and home video company. It was considered one of the largest mini-major film studios until ...
.
The film is an adaptation of the
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
manhua
() are Chinese-language comics produced in China and Taiwan. Whilst Chinese comics and narrated illustrations have existed in China in some shape or form throughout its imperial history, the term first appeared in 1904 in a comic titled ''Cu ...
''Black Mask'' by
Li Chi-Tak
Li Chi-Tak () (b. June 24, 1965) is a Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative ...
. In 2002, it was followed by a sequel, ''
Black Mask 2: City of Masks'' starring
Andy On
Andy On () (born May 11, 1977) is an American actor and martial artist.
Life and career
On was born on May 11, 1977, in Providence, Rhode Island. He is a native of the US, and can speak English, Mandarin, and a bit of Cantonese.
Andy On did n ...
.
In homage to ''
The Green Hornet
The Green Hornet is a superhero created in 1936 by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, with input from radio director James Jewell. Since his 1930s radio debut, the character has appeared in numerous serialized dramas in a wide variety of media ...
'', Black Mask wears a
domino mask
Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also ca ...
and chauffeur's cap in the same style as
Kato (played by
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...
) from
the television series. The Black Mask is even compared to Kato in a news reporter scene.
Plot
Tsui Chik (or Simon in the US version) tries to lead a quiet life as a librarian. However, he is really a former test subject for a highly secretive
supersoldier
The supersoldier (or super soldier) is a fictional concept soldier, often capable of operating beyond normal human limits or abilities either through genetic modification or cybernetic augmentation.
Overview
Supersoldiers are common in military ...
project and the instructor of a special commando unit dubbed "701". The 701 squad is used for many government missions, but after one of the agents kills a team of policemen in an uncontrollable rage, the government decides to abort the project and eliminate all the subjects. Tsui Chik helped the surviving 701 agents flee the extermination attempt. Having escaped, Tsui Chik went separate ways from his team and lived in Hong Kong. Later at night he discovers that the rest of the team were responsible for a violent crime spree that was beyond the capability of the local police. He sets out to get rid of them, donning a mask and hat using the
superhero
A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
alias of The Black Mask. Having lost the ability to feel pain due to the surgery performed on the super-soldiers by the military, Black Mask is almost invulnerable.
Cast
*
Jet Li
Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, Chinese martial arts, martial artist, and retired wushu (sport), Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singapo ...
as Tsui Chik / Black Mask
*
Lau Ching-wan
Sean Lau Ching-wan (born 16 February 1964) is a Hong Kong actor who has acted in both films and television series. He won Best Actor in the 2007 and 2015 Hong Kong Film Awards and in the 2000 and 2007 Golden Bauhinia Awards.
Career
Lau was born ...
as Inspector Shek Wai-Ho
*
Karen Mok
Karen Mok (born Karen Joy Morris (), 2 June 1970) is a Hong Kong pop diva who is one of the leading Asian pop singers and actresses with a career spanning three decades. She is the first female Hong Kong singer to win the Golden Melody Award and ...
as Tracy Lee
*
Françoise Yip
Françoise Fong-Wa Yip (葉芳華; born September 4, 1972) is a Canadian actress. She first became known for her performances in Hong Kong films, before later also starring in North American films and television shows. She is best known to inter ...
as Yeuk-Lan
*
Patrick Lung
Patrick Lung (8 February 1934 – 2 September 2014), also known as Lung Kong, Patrick Lung Kong, was a film director from Hong Kong. Before working at the film industry, he worked at the stock market. In the late 1950s, he was invited to join S ...
as Commander Hung Kuk
*
Anthony Wong as King Kau
*
Xiong Xin-xin as Jimmy
*
Moses Chan
Moses Chan Ho (born 16 April 1971) is an actor from Hong Kong.
Career and personal life
Chan lived and studied in Australia (Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney) for 10 years prior to returning to Hong Kong to embark on his acting career. On 17 Nov ...
as 701 Squad Member
* Henry Fong Ping as Ricky Tai
* Shut Mei-yee as Chief of Library
* Szeto Wai-cheuk as Szeto
*
Chung King-fai
Chung King-fai, SBS, is a Hong Kong actor and pioneer of contemporary performing art. He is also a director, TV producer, programme host and performing arts educator. He is the founder and president of the Hong Kong Federation of Drama Societies ...
as Commissioner of Police
* Ken Lok as Sergeant Crap
*
Lawrence Ah Mon
Lawrence Ah Mon or Lawrence Lau Kwok Cheong (劉國昌) (born 1949) is a Hong Kong film director. His films are notable for their lurid exploration of the problems of the poor in modern Hong Kong, such as ''Gangs'' (1986), ''Spacked Out'' (2000), ...
as Operating Room Doctor
*
Dion Lam
Dion Lam (林迪安; Lam Dik-On) is a Hong Kong action choreographer and actor.
Filmography
* 1980 ''The Hangman''
* 1982 ''Energetic 21''
* 1983 ''Crazy Blood''
* 1988 ''Mistaken Identity''
* 1989 '' The Killer''
* 1989 ''Ghost Ballroom''
* 1 ...
as Sour
* Mike Ian Lambert as 701 Squad Member
Release
''Black Mask'' grossed over () at the worldwide box office, including in Asia.
[ Released on 9 November 1996, ''Black Mask'' grossed a moderate HK$13,286,788 () during its Hong Kong box office run.
In May 1999, home video distributor ]Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment (formerly known as U.S.A. Home Video, International Video Entertainment (IVE) and LIVE Entertainment) was an American film studio and home video company. It was considered one of the largest mini-major film studios until ...
released a re-edited version in the United States theatrically. It grossed a reasonable US$4,449,692 ($4,545 per screen) in its opening weekend, and grossed a total of US$12,504,289.
DVD sales for ''Black Mask'' totalled () in North America and more than worldwide.[ ]Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered in ...
(successor to Artisan when it acquired in 2003) released a Blu-ray version in the United States on 2 September 2008.
Alternate versions
The film is recognised for having multiple versions: Hong Kong (Cantonese), Taiwanese
Taiwanese may refer to:
* Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien
* Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa)
* Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan
* Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan
* Taiwanese people, ...
(Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
), English (export), United Kingdom (distributed by BMG BMG may refer to:
Organizations
* Music publishing companies:
** Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008
*** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that wa ...
) and United States (distributed by Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment (formerly known as U.S.A. Home Video, International Video Entertainment (IVE) and LIVE Entertainment) was an American film studio and home video company. It was considered one of the largest mini-major film studios until ...
).
Hong Kong/Taiwanese versions
For the Cantonese version, the original Mei Ah DVD is cut for gore, but the remastered DVD restores a scene of blood-spurting. The French DVD features the Hong Kong version in the correct form, but contains no English subtitles
Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...
.
Featured on DVDs distributed in Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
by Long Shong, Ritek and Thundermedia, there is approximately 100 seconds footage exclusive to the Taiwanese version:
# Extended dialogue between Tracy and other library staff where they discuss what she would do with Tsui Chik if they cohabited.
# An entire scene where King Kau and a woman are together – he watches her dance, proceeds to have sex and then excitedly shoots her with a water gun and smashes a light.
# An exchange of gestures between Inspector Shek and King Kau.
# King Kau saluting Inspector Shek in an exasperated form.
# A member of the 701 squad impaling himself onto metal sticks and spitting blood. Shortly after trying to retaliate and getting swiftly defeated, Black Mask entangles the metal sticks (whilst still in his body).
# Shots of bullet-impacting when Black Mask shoots the 701 thugs to save Tracy.
# A shot of a bullet hitting the arm of a 701 thug whilst choking Tracy.
# During the hospital sequence, a scene where a 701 thug grabs two cops arms and breaks them.
# The thug smashes a cop's head with his hands.
# More footage of the thug getting shot by police.
# A shot of Yeuk Lan's shoulder being shot with blood shooting out.
# Some more bullet hits on masked cops when the other zombie grabs his gun.
# Inspector Shek removes a severed thug's arm that had been clutching onto his shoulder.
# Shots of Black Mask bleeding after being stabbed.
# More footage of Tracy obtaining a blood bag.
# A shot of Black Mask's blood after being stabbed with a pipe tube.
Both Hong Kong and Taiwanese releases maintain the green-tinting of the film.
English versions
An English version similar to the Hong Kong version was produced for export (featured on the Spanish DVD), but BMG and Artisan decided to make their own. Whilst only occasionally replacing music on the UK release, Artisan commissioned a brand-new English Hip Hop soundtrack – therefore, removing any reference to the original (despite using excerpts from it in their trailers). Despite a tendency of trimming non-action scenes, the Artisan and BMG versions not only contain all gory content, but also some non-violent scenes not found in any other version:
# Tsui Chik looking for Inspector Shek.
# A few shots of Black Mask's hide-out.
# Inspector Shek advising Yeuk Lan to seek Tsui Chik.
Reception
Lawrence Van Gelder
Lawrence Ralph Van Gelder (February 17, 1933 – March 11, 2016) was an American journalist and instructor in journalism who worked at several different New York City-based newspapers in his long career. Until 2010, he was senior editor of the Ar ...
of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called it "long on flying bodies, bullets and blood and short on credibility". Marc Savlov of ''The Austin Chronicle
''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...
'' rated it 3/5 stars and called it "a bloodily exhilarating piece of hyper-kinetic filmmaking". Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin (; born April 24, 1976) is an American film and music critic. Rabin was the first head writer for ''The A.V. Club'', a position he held until he left the ''Onion'' organization in 2013. of ''The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' wrote, "While never reaching the manic highs of Chan's best work, Black Mask is an exciting, lightning-fast introduction to one of Hong Kong's biggest and most charismatic stars."
References
External links
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*
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{{Daniel Lee
1996 films
1990s action films
1996 martial arts films
1990s superhero films
Hong Kong action films
Hong Kong martial arts films
Hong Kong superhero films
Martial arts science fiction films
1990s Cantonese-language films
China Star Entertainment Group films
Films directed by Daniel Lee
Films based on Hong Kong comics
Films set in Hong Kong
Films shot in Hong Kong
Live-action films based on comics
1990s Hong Kong films