Black Mask 2: City of Masks (2002)

Director:

Hark Tsui

Writers:

Hark Tsui (story) &
Julien Carbon (story) ...

Release Date:

9 January 2003 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Black Mask must stop a group intent on setting off a DNA bomb that could cause mutations to the human race.

Plot Keywords:

Mutation | Genetics | Sequel | Pro Wrestling | Spiral Staircase

Cast

Tobin Bell	...	Moloch
Jon Polito	...	Mr. King
Teresa Herrera	...	Dr. Marco Leung
Tyler Mane	...	Thorn
Andrew Bryniarski	...	Iguana / Daniel Martinez
Scott Adkins	...	Lang
Rob Van Dam	...	The Claw
Sean Marquette	...	Raymond
Oris Erhuero	...	Wolf
Robert Allen Mukes	...	Snake
Michael Bailey Smith	...	Ross (Hellraiser)
Traci Lords	...	Chameleon (as Traci Elizabeth Lords)
Andy On	...	Black Mask / Kang Fung
Silvio Simac	...	General Troy
Sau Leung 'Blacky' Ko	...	Sergeant

Also Known As:

Hak hap 2 (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)
Hei xia 2 (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Mascara negra 2: La noche de bestias (USA: Spanish title) (TV title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

Hong Kong:102 min (DVD) | USA:101 min (DVD)

Country:

Hong Kong | USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Germany:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | Norway:18 | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Thailand

Company:

China Star Entertainment

Trivia:

'Raymond Wong Ho-Yin' and Louis Koo were considered to play Black Mask, before Hark Tsui settled on newcomer Andy On.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: As Moloch is escaping from the guys outside the storage facility, he turns into his animal form. He then goes back to the hotel room, where Dr. Marco Leung is trying to work on a cure to his condition, and on a close up of Moloch you can see his real iris' behind the fake cat eye lenses he is wearing.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Cinemania: Oi thryloi tou erotikou cinema" (2008)

Soundtrack:

City of Masks

It could have been worse... oh wait... no it couldn't

Not since the day I was introduced to the vomit inspiring cinema of Uwe Boll have I ever seen a movie so obnoxiously bad as "Black Mask 2". This is an abomination, a pretentious relatively high-budget production that makes the likes of "Plan 9 From Outer Space" seem like a masterpiece. Well at least mister Wood had passion for film-making, what does Hark Tsui have? A big salary for making crap? Probably.

To sum up the storyline. "Black Mask 2" is a coughed-up roughly sewed together tale about a genetically enhanced crime fighter named Black Mask who battles a genetically enhanced group of pro-wrestlers that intends to set of a genetically enhanced bomb that will cause more genetically enhanced mutations. All in all it's a story (and I call it story only vaguely) about the classic comic book superhero-villain confrontation, with an added bonus of a lot of genetically enhanced stuff and some incredibly pathetic attempts of creating dramatic tension.

I knew it wasn't going to be good. Hell, I was at least expecting to have a good time and watch some martial arts fighting and cheesy dialogue on the "so bads it's funny" side. But nothing could have prepared me for the shock of the film's actual content. To say that "Black Mask 2" is a bad movie is an understatement. It's farce. Like watching a full-blown out of proportions Power Rangers movie with costumes taken directly from it. Dialogue so putrid and disgusting that can make your ears bleed. Characters are shallow and devoid of any sensible reason to exist but to be kicked around by the main star. Tsui's attempts to create drama by adding the boy whose father has become a victim to the evil wrestlers's boss as a supporting character does even more to deteriorate the film's already low quality. We don't need drama when you're trying to make comic book movie with wrestlers in it!! Please remember that Mr.Tsui. The action choreography is as equally bad as everything else in the film. Filled with an insane amount of bad CGI it makes me crave for the days when Bruce Lee was alive and kicking, at least his movies had a feeling that you were actually watching a fight rather than these almost dance-like action scenes here.

"Black Mask 2" is not something I can recommend to anyone but the people I hate the most. It's clear that Hark Tsui wanted to make a cross-genre film by combining super-hero/martial arts/"drama" films. What he made in the end was something completely different, 100 minutes of visual torture that left a permanent mark as one of the worst films I've ever seen.