uring a war between Hong Kong drug lords, the government developed Project 701, which would see biologically enhanced police commandos fighting the triads. But in using a particular cocktail of neurological enhancers and stimulants, the resulting super-soldiers became unstable, despite losing most of their abilities to feel pain, fear, and useless emotions – everything that made them human. When it became evident that the project would cause irreparable mental harm, and that the leaders would insist upon terminating the soldiers, one of those original enlistees, Tsui Chik (Jet Li, in one of his earliest films to get proper U.S. distribution) is tasked with rescuing the other members. “Do the smart thing and give up.”

More than a year later, at the age of 30, Tsui (or Michael, in the English dubbing) has a new name (Simon) and identity, now working at a library to enjoy the peace he’s found at last. Although his last mission was met with resistance, ending in a shootout that made it unclear if any other 701s escaped, Tsui has embraced pacifism. All he wants to do is enjoy life. But with his best friend being a policeman, gung-ho Detective “Rock” Shek Wai-Ho (Lau Ching Wan), Tsui is never too far away from crime and criminals and a return of gangster warfare that bears the earmarks of 701 training. Obviously, his knowledge about government secrets and military weaponry can’t remain suppressed forever, pressuring him into once again becoming a super-soldier – hiding behind an alter ego called Black Mask.

Opening with plenty of mayhem, consisting of characters jumping through the air whilst firing guns (and, later, vehicles tending to explode instantly after being shot at, while figures constantly crash through windows, rappelling from unknown fixtures), this film quickly celebrates action and violence. And with Yuen Wo Ping serving as the martial arts director, the fight choreography is sure to be impressive. Yet from a narrative standpoint, the plot moves so quickly that it’s difficult to keep up, following along with a rather derivative superhero setup. It’s a graphic-novel-adaptation type of movie (technically from a manhua, a Chinese comic book), with all sorts of unreal misadventures, gravity-defying showdowns with obnoxious pose-striking, phony computer-hacking components, and glimpses of bad-CG concepts, but at least it’s an unusually hard-R-rated endeavor.

It doesn’t help, however, that a voiceover narration is completely unnecessary, or that the hero here resembles the Green Hornet’s sidekick Kato (intentional and referenced in-movie, but unoriginal nonetheless), or that the main conceit is a rip-off of “Universal Soldier” (or that the prominent hip hop and rap soundtrack for the American release never really fits). And though it’s intermittently comedic and romantic (featuring a love triangle with Karen Mok as Tracy and Francoise Yip as Cailyn), these brief moments of levity don’t mix well with the extreme brutality and bloodiness on display, especially as superhuman juggernauts plow through waves of ordinary cops. Sadly, though hand-to-hand combat skirmishes arise, the film tends to favor gunfights over fistfights. And finally, the main villain is downright silly, modeled after a Bond villain who uses laser weapons and other cheesy gadgetry in his subterraneous lair, and wears a black cape for good measure. Fortunately, the climactic boss-fight is elaborate, protracted, creative (an electrical cable duel is hilariously singular), and satisfyingly destructive – though it’s not enough to set “Black Mask” apart from the pictures from which it so generously borrows.

– Mike Massie