Having not been particularly knowledgeable when it comes to this particular genre, this film came as a complete surprise to me. Not in a particularly good way either. Coming off like some insane take on UNIVERSAL SOLDIER, BLACK MASK sees a librarian don the mask of the title - which incidentally looks like a piece of corrugated cardboard - and fight off a large number of enemies. Extremely cartoonish, this plays like a comic strip which is useful as it's impossible to take anything that happens seriously.

The moment Jet Li's character opens his mouth, it all goes downhill. For here we have an incredibly awful piece of dubbing work which just about ruins any credibility the movie may have had. And as the film shifts haphazardly from scene to scene, barely bothering with cohesion and sometimes cutting scenes off when they are only halfway through, you think all hope is lost. Then come along some bizarre fight scenes which almost make the whole enterprise worthwhile.

Forget Hollywood action - this is something different. Jet Li (a hissable villain in LETHAL WEAPON 4) convinces as a superhuman mainly due to his ability to do lightning moves and stunts that, for a normal person, would be impossible. People jump all over the place, kick each other, shoot and explode things in rapid succession. A love interest appears only for her to be in mortal danger from the baddies (yawn). The final battle is a real show-stopper. It's just a shame about what happens when the fighting stops. I don't quite know what I watched, but I'm not in any hurry to see it again.

In Hong Kong, an experiment created 701 commandos to battle gang violence. When one of them went crazy, the project was canceled. Michael (Jet Li) sacrificed himself for his fellow soldiers to escape termination. He managed to escape. One year later, he's trying to live a quiet life as librarian Simon. Police Inspector Rock is his friend. Someone is wiping out the drug gangs and planting bombs in their bodies. Michael recognizes the bomb as something from the 701s. One explodes in the hospital. He decides to disguise himself as Black Mask to battle his former comrades.

It's a lot of shooting, a lot of explosions, and a lot of fights. It's another Universal Soldier. Karen Mok is fun. Jet Li does good action but his character is wooden. The story is simple. The action is stylized and there's plenty of it. In general, I don't mind these characters and I don't mind lots of action but there isn't much else.

Jet Li behind a black mask? Does that work? I think it does. It's not the greatest movie ever made, but it's a fun little action b-movie that you get here.

The emphasis is clearly on the word "b-movie"! You can't watch this movie expecting a Hollywood Blockbuster. Or anything that would resemble a logical story. It is quite literally a "no-brainer". I have criticized movies for being no-brainers before. Why did I rate this one higher? Because I see it in the context. For example, Black Mask 2 is a "no-brainer" ... but there is nothing there that is entertaining. Here you have some jokes that work, but more importantly you have good choreographed action scenes. All of that is missing in the sequel (if you can call it that ...)