The "Squad 701" is a team of professional killers who, thanks tobrain surgery, no longer feel pain, or any emotions. When it is discovered that some of these assassins are still capable of feeling, it is decided to "exterminate" the whole squad but some of them manage to escape in time, one of them is "Black Mask" (Jet Li) . He go into hiding in Hong Kong where, under the false identity of Tsui Chik, he find employment in a library. He is soon befriended by a cop named Shek (Lau Ching-wan) also known in the force as "The Rock" (because of his cold attitude). In the meanwhile, a group of assasins leaded by one member of the late "Squad 701", is killing every major Hong Kong drug dealers in order to control the whole territory. Upon realising that Shek is unsuccessful in stoping them, Tsui will decided to bear, once again, the identity of Black Mask but this time in the name of justice. Adapted from a HK comic book and slightly inspired from BLADE RUNNER, BATMAN and STRANGE DAYS, BLACK MASK is more satisfying that Li's previous flick DR. WAY but not as good as MY FATHER IS A HERO or FIST OF LEGEND. I was also disappointed by some of the action scenes for two reasons; speeding up some of the fights too often and I also felt they lacked imagination. Let me be clear on this, those fights were very satysfying but it's nothing we haven't seen before. The acting is alright but both Lau Ching-wan and Karen Mok have done better performances in the past. The most impressive things in this film are the technical credits which make this film look like a big budget Hollywood production Despite some of my negative comments, BLACK MASK is probably, along with FIRST STRIKE, one of the best HK action film of 1996. But anyone who is familiar with what's been released in HK that year will know that this comment is not as complimentary as it sound (If you want to know more about what I meant by this, read my review of BIG BULLET).

[Reviewed by Martin Sauvageau]