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Black Mask | 1996 | R | - 2.9.6
Jet Li stars as a commando who's been enhanced with super human powers and has to fight his also-enhanced brethren who've turned to crime. Also with Karen Mok, Lau Ching Wan and Francoise Yip. [1:30]
SEX/NUDITY 2 - A woman in a skimpy S&M outfit hangs from a chain, and then descends to violently kiss and lick a man while they're lying down.
VIOLENCE/GORE 9 - Oodles of people die, most by gunfire, several during martial arts fighting, and a few are stabbed. A man is impaled on two metal rods; his adversary bends the rods while he's writhing, presumably to keep him put. Several people have their throats slit by sharp discs (we see their throats with the discs sticking out in a few close-ups). A man cuts his own hand (blood squirts out) and two other men have their hands cut off. Two men are on fire, and one man explodes and we see what seems to be his burning, severed head roll on the ground. A bulldozer runs over a man's legs. A woman takes a razor out of her mouth and cuts a man. There's considerable gore: We see the severed, decomposing legs of a young girl complete with shoes and frilly socks, several severed hands (one in several close-ups, with the bone sticking out), and we watch briefly as surgeons open a man's chest and try to remove an object. We see several corpses whose faces and bodies have been obviously burned by acid, and we see several people screaming in pain as they are sprayed with acid and their faces start blistering and burning. A man has a long, freshly stitched-up incision on his chest, we see several men with bullet holes on their bodies and faces and there are several close-ups of needles piercing skin. There are several scenes where blood splatters, drips or squirts: we also see several body bags, one of which is dripping blood, and a man has a bloody wound bandaged; a hollow tube is inserted in a man and we see blood pouring out, and blood gushes as men are shot. We see several bruised faces, bloody lips and mouths. A man urinates (we only see the stream of urine). Lots of explosions.
LANGUAGE 6 - About 10 F-words and derivatives, several scatological and anatomical terms, and several insults and other profanities.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Vigilantes, super-human commandos, loyalty vs. duty, drug dealers and crime syndicates.
MESSAGE - It takes a super-duper commando to do away with other super-duper commandos.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
Gladiator II - 2.7.2
Wicked: Part I - 3.4.2
Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin. - 1.5.3
Emilia Pérez - 6.6.7
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