Black Mask - Jet Li (1996) - Hong Kong Cemetery, Happy Valley

The scene where Inspector Shek goes to put flowers on the graves of his fallen colleagues was shot along a row of Commonwealth war graves (you can tell by the shape of the headstones) located in the Hong Kong Cemetery. It's here where he and Chui Chik finally go "mano a mano" and Shek realises he is way out of his league.

Black Mask - Jet Li (1996) - Wing Loi Industrial Building, Kwai Chung

The roof top of Black Mask's hideout, where he and Tracy (Karen Mok) fight off Yeuk Lan (Françoise Yip), was shot on top of the Wing Loi Industrial Building in Kwai Chung. The steel framework and pipes are still a feature of the roof and in the film we get a fairly decent view of the surrounding area including Wonderland Villas upon the distant hill, the nearby buildings of the cemetery columbarium and Kingsford Industrial Building.

Wonderland Villas top right, the twin blocks of Kingsford Indusrial Building on the left

Kwai Chung Park in the background

The buildings are part of Kwai Chung Crematorium

Black Mask - Jet Li (1996) - Kiu Ha Road, Shatin

Following their escape from the hospital, the scene where Yeuk Lan turns on Chui Chik and stabs him was filmed under the Tate's Cairn Highway on the aptly named Kiu Ha Road (which literally means "under the bridge road").

Black Mask - Jet Li (1996) - British Military Hospital, Kowloon

The hospital sequence in this film was shot at the former British Military Hospital in Kowloon. Really old readers (many thanks for hanging around for so long, and returning following the accidental deletion) may remember that I first identified this building as a filming location for an episode of Yellowthread Street called Middleman. This post led to a comment (and subsequent email) from stuntman and stunt coordinator, Jude Poyer, who gave me a few examples of other films that had used this place. One of them being Black Mask, which his friend Mike Lambert worked on as one of the bad guys. You can see Jude's comment at the bottomof the Yellowthread Street link I provided above. So here I am, ten years after Jude's comment, finally getting to cover Black Mask. The hospital site was later developed into the "Parc Palais" residential complex.

Black Mask - Jet Li (1996) - Clearwater Bay School, Clearwater Bay

It's quite apt that this place should be used as a film location because it stands in exactly the same spot that this temple set used to occupy back in the 1960s. This is location where Chui Chik takes Yeuk Lan after she has been released by the police for trying to kill King Kau (Anthony Wong). He then gets attacked by King Kau's gang before Shek (aka Rock) turns up to "save" him.

Black Mask - Jet Li (1996) - Kwung Tong Promenade

I'm finally back in Hong Kong and the next location is from the scene where one of the drug kings, Ricky Tai (Henry Fong Ping) - I seem to remember Rush Hour 2 reused that name for John Lone's character - is on his way to a gang meeting at the beginning of the film. It was partially filmed along what is now the beautified Kwun Tong promenade. It wasn't so tidy back then and you can see all the floating construction rigs at the waterfront on the left hand side. The same location was seen in La Moustache.

Black Mask - Jet Li (1996) - Marine Police Harbour Division Headquarters

The police station where Inspector Shek (Sean Lau) is based is actually the Marine Police Harbour HQ, located on the waterfront in Shau Kei Wan. It's basically like a beefed-up version of the standard ferry piers.

Black Mask - Jet Li (1996) - Jardines Lookout

I'm currently on the tail-end of a month-long sojourn to Europe (currently in Finland), but whilst in London visited my favourite Oxfam shop in Strutton Ground where I have picked up some bargains (books, music and DVDs) over the past few years. This time I managed to grab myself a copy of the English dub of Black Mask, starring Jet Li. 

The film is about a former member of a group of crack, bio-engineered, soldiers, known as 701 Squadron. They're a group of mercernaries who have decided to go their own way, under the control of their commander (a really creepy looking Patrick Lung), and remove the drug kings in Hong Kong so they can step in as the go-betweens for the South American cartels and greater China. Black Mask (Li) has already gone his own way and now works in a library to forget about his past, until his cop friend (Sean Lau) is put in danger when he investigates the drug killings.

The opening shot of the film is a helicopter shot (no drones in those days) over the peak of Jardines Lookout on Hong Kong island. Apparently, the helicopter was originally hired to do some close-up shots of the Bank of China tower but the plan was abandoned when the filmmakers thought they might get into trouble, so they settled for something a bit more discreet.