BLACK MASK Eureka Blu-Ray Review: Two Discs. One Movie. No Mercy!
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Eureka Entertainment is the latest banner to carry the mantle for director Daniel Lee’s 1996 action sci-fi, Black Mask. The release marks the latest since the film’s transition to overseas markets, with U.S. labels Artisan Entertainment and Distant Horizon nabbing the title for its own remixed version a few years later.
Based on a 1991 manhua by Pang Chi-Ming and Li Chi-Tat, the Jet Li starrer centers on the former member of a clandestine unit, once subject to a government experiment to create supersoldiers. Tsui-chik (Jet Li), formerly of Squad 701, maintains a low profile as a librarian who spends his time buried in books. He gets along with his co-workers, and his best friend is Shek (Lau Ching-wan), a Hong Kong Inspector who oftentimes finds himself rescuing Tsui-chik from muggers and gangsters.
Little does Tsui-chik know that his former team has resurfaced to cause a stir in the criminal underworld, ensuing an explosive crime wave. With the city in danger along with his best friend and his men, it’s up to Tsui-chik to come out of hiding, as he’s the only one physically capable of fending off the superpowered members of 701, led by Commander Hung (Patrick Leung).
![BLACK MASK - Still 20 - Film Combat Syndicate Jet Li in BLACK MASK](https://filmcombatsyndicate.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/wp-17067989015485272895356707771249.jpg)
Lee’s Black Mask is a fun revisit for anyone familiar with Li’s coming-out party in the late 1990s. This time, Eureka’s treatment of the hit thriller delivers something pretty special for fans, host to several versions of the film, and then some.
The first disc has three versions; the fully uncut Hong Kong version presented in 1080p from a 2K restoration has three audio tracks: In Cantonese, the film comes in Stereo with the original Hong Kong audio music, and in 5.1 DTS-HD, with the third featuring commentary by film producer Frank Djeng.
Djeng’s commentary is nothing short of what you would expect from someone who used to work for Tai Seng once upon a time. He elucidates a wealth of knowledge about the cast and crew, and also drops a few of gems along the way regarding the film’s creative origins and the creators of the manhua themselves, and how they came into comics, among other things. At one point, Djeng mentions producer Tsui Hark actually ghost-directed the majority of Black Mask. He also tells of how three of the film’s stars dubbed their own voices in the Hong Kong version, which I thought was fascinating.
In English, there are two export versions, both of which are sized down by thirteen minuntes. One version comes via the U.K. with the original English dub track and music that welcomes the original Hong Kong music about halfway in. The other is the U.S. version packaged in Distant Horizon’s release with an entirely new English dub; The U.S. version also comes with commentary by Mike Leeder and Arne Venema who geek out exuberantly for the film’s duration, expanding further on the production and the cast and crew, as well as the characters’ developments in the film.
![BLACK MASK - Still 17 - Film Combat Syndicate Françoise Yip in BLACK MASK](https://filmcombatsyndicate.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/wp-1706798900988271673609009471418.jpg)
One aspect they delve into is the evolution of Mok’s hair throughout the film, as her character is thrust further into danger. They also share a few jewels about some of the co-stars, including the two character actors in the bathroom mugging scene with Li and Lau, as well as the odd use of middle initials “C.J.” during the opening credits for co-star Françoise Yip.
Furthermore, disc one is also host to several interview and speaking segments. “Mega Shock: A Chat With Mike Lambert” gives the actor and action specialist a spotlight of his own, weighing in on how he got into martial arts the Hong Kong stunt industry, doing commercials for video games before ultimately getting small roles along the way. Along the way, he also discusses what it was like working with Jet Li, the differences between action direction for Hong Kong and for Hollywood. He also chimes in with a little advice he learned near the start of his Hong Kong stunt career, flexing some of his Cantonese toward the end of the segment.
East Asian film journalist Andrew Heskins of easternKicks.com gets a spot of a little over eight minutes discussing Black Mask, its cast and crew and subsequent prospects leading up to its seuqel, Black Mask 2: City Of Masks. Film lecturer and author Leon Hunt expands on the subject matter diving into Jet Li, his trajectory as a rising star in Hong Kong before transitioning to Hollywood, and the cultural impact of the role in its homage to Bruce Lee and his screen persona, Kato, with respect to Donnie Yen and the shared legacy with storied folk legend, Chen Zhen.
The first disc also comes with a 20-minute behind the scenes featurette of Black Mask, with interview segements by select cast and crew, including producer Tsui Hark, and actors Lau Ching-Wan, Françoise Yip, Karen Mok, Patrick Leung, and the man of the hour himself, Jet Li. The materials conclude with the various Hong Kong and U.S. trailers, and the promotional trailer for its U.S. home video relase.
Disc two of Eureka’s Black Mask is a whole ‘nother entree of the bundle with two more cuts of the flick. The first is a Taiwanese cut which contains a different opening crawl, and extends roughly a minute or so longer than the Cantonese cut. It is also playable with two different Mandarin tracks, one of which is was mixed exclusively for its home release.
The second cut is almost all in Cantonese and is virtually the whole package, stretched by just a few minutes more than the Taiwanese cut. It comprises a summary of elements from the aforementioned versions of the film for a single cut, and mostly contains footage from the Hong Kong release along with footage from the Taiwanese and US releases. The Cantonese audio here comes with a few spells of Mandarin and English.
![BLACK MASK - Still 27 - Film Combat Syndicate Karen Mok and Jet Li in BLACK MASK](https://filmcombatsyndicate.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/wp-17067989005251109586817444779751.jpg)
Films like Black Mask are why Hong Kong cinema and the market in whole are so intriguing. I entrenched myself in the transition of home media from VHS tapes to DVDs, eventually sifting through online stores like YesAsia and the now-defunct HKFlix for the latest titles and acquisitions, and frothing at the mouth to hopefully have enough funds one day to make the buy.
Alas, learning there were so many different versions of the same film at times, it was equally frustrating that these copies were either (temporarily) “out of stock” or “out of print”. Not that I have anything against actor John DeMita for the voice over work he did for the seven Jet Li titles he worked on from 2000 through 2004, including Black Mask. Quite the opposite. Riding high off of Li’s soaring Hollywood debut in Lethal Weapon 4, I enjoyed the shit out of that movie when I caught it in theaters, as did pretty much everyone else around me that evening, and DeMita’s contributions to those roles will forever be etched in my upbringing as a fan during Hong Kong cinema’s second crossover era.
Still, you can’t help but feel encumbered by the rights issues and other bullshit market restrictions that so often hampered ownership of these titles. Not to mention the evolution of the disc itself from standard DVDs to the short-lived HD-DVD, to the Blu-Ray, and the brisk shelf-life of the 3D Blu-Ray, and now the 4K UHD, and having to acquire the latest player to accomodate each. But, that’s another topic I suppose.
At any rate, Eureka’s effort here with Black Mask is a breath of fresh air for Asian film completists who have spent years combing the web for physical media to own. There are a total of five different versions of Black Mask to own in this bundle, each inviting viewers to a different experience in some form of another of Lee and Hark’s partnered effort in eking something memorable in the superhero genre for Hong Kong cinema.
The love isn’t lost either, particularly with the recurring fondness for its source material and its motivations. Among the commentators and speakers of this package, the bygone era of American television is a topical mainstay with Bruce Lee’s iconic role as Kato in “The Green Hornet” as it was known stateside, giving rise to the iconic screen figure in film for generations to come with Li’s exponential take on the character per Pang and Li’s now out of print manhua, which apparently can be found online for about $150 according to Djeng.
![BLACK MASK - Still 33 - Film Combat Syndicate Jet Li and Lau Ching-Wan in BLACK MASK](https://filmcombatsyndicate.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/wp-17067988994802283295283408367009.jpg)
There are some discernible differences in coloring, between Eureka’s release and other DVD releases. You can definitely count on YouTuber @TimesSqKungFu to provide some worthwhile analysis if you’re keen, and I’ll be tuning in myself when his video publishes.
In the meantime, it’s no mistake to assert that Eureka’s handling of Black Mask is more than exceptional. The film is definitely something that hit different for a demographic used to seeing the actor type-cast as monastic and reserved with a traditional appeal per roles like Wong Fei-Hung,” “Fong Sai-Yuk,” and “Chen Zhen” and the like. It also explains why the film wasn’t too well-received by some fans.
Indeed, the role certainly came at the right time for Li as he was just several more movies away from phasing into Hollywood. Black Mask, in its U.S. iteration, was an incredible blend of Hong Kong cinematic energy, and palatable hip-hop allure, all coupling with the stylings of action director Yuen Woo-Ping in what was stated as his “warm-up” for his work on Warner Bros.’s The Matrix franchise.
All in all, if you live in the West and loved seeing Black Mask near the turn of the century, and you wanted in on all it had to offer over the years, Eureka’s two-disc Blu-Ray pack is happy to unmask the action and spectacle in all its glory.
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Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!