Forgotten Sequels: Black Mask 2

Kung-fu sequels are actually quite common, though people often do not realize it. For example, Jackie Chan's First Strike is actually Armor of God 2. Or how about the fact that China bills Supercop as Police Story III. This is also not getting into all the unofficial sequels to Game of Death that have been made either. I tell you all of this for two reasons: one is to flex by nerd trivia muscles and the other is to lead in to today's review, a sequel to a Jet Li film that everyone seems to like. Is the original Black Mask good? Well, quite frankly, no. The only version we have ever gotten in the United States is the badly-dubbed version that has also been chopped up like a lab rat. This is not the same with the sequel, which was mostly made in English. Are the results better? Find out in my review of...

Black Mask 2: City of Masks

I just want to take a moment to laugh at that stupid subtitle. Okay, moment over.

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The film begins by completely ignoring the story of the original save for one guy: there is a guy named Black Mask who fights crime. He is no longer a super-soldier who had to battle an evil general who created other super-soldiers. Now his arch-enemy is a brain who wants to capture Mask for some weird toxin that exists in his body. Wow, you are stealing an obscure villain from the Doom Patrol now? I expect better from you, Tsui Hark. Oh wait, I've already seen Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters, so my expectations are very low. Our story revolves an evil scientist doing weird genetic experiments on people. He mutates a group of pro-wrestlers (played by Tyler Mane, Rob Van Dam and Traci Lords) with animal traits. Somehow, this goes badly when one of them gets iguana genes and goes crazy. By the way, the scientist is played by Jigsaw and the promoter is Jon Polito, an actor most people know by looks, but not by name.

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There is a plot to this, but how important is it really? The movie is mostly just a way to set up numerous fight scenes that are rife with wires and CG- effects. This was back in 2002 when people were obsessed with making full CG cities and backgrounds. Thank God that trend died, right? Some of the crazy fight scenes involve a famous bit of Black Mask fighting a spider-mutated man across a herd of elephants. While that is crazy, it is nothing compared to Mercury Man actually stopping an elephant- 1 point for Thailand. You get some touches of who the fight choreographer for the film is supposed to be (Yuen Woo Ping), but not nearly enough. If crappy CG effects and unrealistic fighting are what you really like, you will have lots of fun.

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The movie does have some good moments. One bit involves the lady protagonist trying to lure one of the mutants into position for the kid to drop a beam on him. They get him in position, hit the switch and...it stops about three inches above his head. There are other good moments...I'm sure. I did not see many of them though. The End.

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This movie is a giant mess- the plot, action and effects are just bad. It took six years to get this sequel out and they could not get the big star to be a part of it. Someone managed to coerce Christopher Walken into being in two sequels to The Prophecy- what's your excuse? Besides, how many Once Upon A Time in China films are there? I think it's longer than the Witchcraft series! As for the film, it is just an excuse to show stupid effects and have people do unrealistic kicks. Other than making money for Chinese executives, that is about it. The only other thing to talk about with this movie is to answer a question that may be posed to you by wrestling uuber nerds. 'Do you know why Rob Van Dam took a brief hiatus from ECW in 2000?' Yes, yes I do.

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I like randomly jerking you in different directions. With that in mind, here is a sci-fi sex film from the 1960s. You're welcome. Stay tuned...