As a fan of Jackie Chan's movies, there are some things you just gotta expect with movies like this: lame dialogue, cheesy humor, bad acting, and a horrible script. The thing is, I can deal with all that. Despite the flaws, I love Jackie Chan's movies because the fight scenes are spectacular, and Jackie himself is so goshdarn fun to watch. "Black Mask" had all those flaws I described... which would be fine. The problem was that the director got all "MTV" during the fight scenes so that you couldn't really see what was going on. Lotsa close-ups and quick cuts aren't appropriate during fight scenes. During a Jackie Chan movie, the camera is pulled back so you can clearly see the action taking place. Another great example is the fight scenes in "The Matrix." That movie has perhaps the best shot fight scenes I've ever seen, and notice how the directors kept the camera back so that the entire time, you see everything perfectly.
There ARE a few good moments in "Black Mask." A couple of times, the camera was pulled back enough so that you can actually see what's going on. And Jet Li really IS pretty cool (but he's no Jackie Chan). The best thing about "Black Mask" is definitely Francoise Yip. You may remember her as "Nancy," the gang member's girlfriend in "Rumble in the Bronx." She's the one who had a brother in a wheelchair in that movie. She's absolutely gorgeous, and her character in "Black Mask" is actually the deepest one. I found out that she speaks flawless, accentless english, so it's likely that she's gonna try the Hollywood route... and I'm sure she'll do well.
"Black Mask" was originally released in 1996 in Hong Kong, but Artisan Entertainment just recently imported it into the United States. It's based on a comic book that's very popular over there. It was directed by Daniel Lee, and this is his only film so far. He'd probably be more ideal for action films in America than martial arts movies. The writers were Teddy Chan, Ann Hui, Joe Ma, and Hark Tsui. I've never heard of any of them, or their prior works, with the exception of Hark Tsui (also known as Tsui Hark). He directed Jean-Claude Van Damme in "Knock Off" and "Double Team."
So yeah, this
movie was disappointing, it sucked, and even the fight scenes weren't worth
watching. But Francoise Yip is quite the hottie, so you may enjoy that.
Then again, to see her dance half-naked in a cage, and to see a much better
movie with much better fight scenes, watch "Rumble in the Bronx."