Black Mask 2: City of Masks

The original "Black Mask" was a gritty HK action film starring Jet Li. For the sake of Part 2, "City Of Masks", the exclusion of Li can be forgiven. Nothing ELSE can be, though.

First of all, the main plot consists of Black Mask (even though he GAVE UP crimefighting at the end of the first film) taking on a bunch of Pro-Wrestlers - yes, Pro Wrestlers - who have been infused with the DNA of animals... like a squid. No, I'm not kidding about the squid!

You would expect really fast-paced Martial Arts along the lines of those found in the first, but what you find instead are a bunch of oddly designed fight scenes involving animalistic people. In other words, people with semi-human bodies and prosthetic animal heads.

Tsui Hark and Yuen Wo-Ping were helming this project, which is really a major letdown considering that Hark is responsible for great movies like "Time and Tide" and "The Legend Of Zu". Wo-Ping is probably best known for his fight coreography on "The Matrix." The main problem here is that you have two great HK directors trying to do what they can with a poorly slapped-together American Movie idea. Simple as that.

Don't watch Black Mask 2. Please. If you did, I would hurt you - but odds are the movie beat me to it.