Notable Cast: Jacky Cheung, Nicholas Tse, Karena Lam
Kar-Yan, Liu Yase, Francis Ng, Kenny Kwan Chi-Bun, Carlos Chan Ka-Lok, Michelle
Wai, Ben Yuen Foo-Wah, Michelle Yim
Considering that director Herman Yau has been one of Hong
Kong’s most prolific directors since the early 1990s, it’s fascinating how he
has transformed his career to match what the market is looking for. His most
recent stint combines a love letter to golden-age 1980s HK action and a craving
for Hollywood-style spectacle. He still occasionally slides back to dramatic
thrillers or horror films, but he has mostly stuck to his “guns” in recent
years.
After dropping four (!) large-scale action flicks in 2023,
he’s back with Customs Frontline, which is receiving quite a bit of
international press. Featuring two icons of Hong Kong cinema with Nicholas Tse
and Jacky Cheung, Customs Frontline follows in the footsteps of some of
his previous action blockbusters like The White Storm 3, Moscow
Mission, and Shockwave 2. It’s bigger than life, filled with soapy
melodrama, and brimming with action sequences that border on refreshingly
insane. So, despite a thinly threaded script and characters that feel more like
caricatures than people, it’s hard to deny that Customs Frontline
doesn’t entertain. It does have a giant ass boat tear through other boats and
docks in the neon glow of the Hong Kong skyline. There’s that.
Truly, though, it’s the action that is going to be the main
reason that people should see Customs Frontline. With action sequences
co-choreographed by Hong Kong icon Nicholas Tse, this cops and robbers slice of
cinema is all about delivering the thrills and kills of its premise. Whether
it’s a terrorist siege on a Customs Depot (which happens to be packed with some
of the most intensely armed Customs Officers I’ve ever seen), a brutal car
chase that acts more like a demolition derby, or the ship as mentioned earlier
battering the Hong Kong docks, Customs Frontline is going full spectacle
with some of its action. Even when the physics decide to take a lunch break,
highlighted by a car that jettisons from 0 to 60 feet in the air from the back
of a dump truck, the action is blissfully outlandish. Some of the CGI feels
dodgy in executing the entertainment, but it’s hardly enough to detract from
the sheer silliness that had a smile plastered to my face.
Typically, in one of my reviews, I tend to start with the
plotting or characters. They are the backbone of most films, but talking about
the action first made more sense. Mainly because, well, let’s be honest, that’s
what the audience is coming for in Customs Frontline. However, that’s
also because this film features a script that could have easily come from the
made-for-TV level pile of scripts that David Lam uses for his Z (S,
P, L, G, X, Y, ZZZZZ) Storm films. That’s not necessarily a good
thing.
Customs Frontline is initially split between two partners who work on the, you guessed it, Customs Frontline wing of the law enforcement agency. Nicholas Tse is a gun-ho ass-kicking agent whose girlfriend, who also works for Customs, just left him. His partner is Cheung, played by Hong Kong legend Jacky Cheung (who also gets the end credits song which, low key, kind of rules), who is married to one of the Customs department heads and is up for a possible promotion.
Naturally, our two stars stumble into a possible gun smuggling ring at the outset of the movie, which results in a fairly fun martial arts battle on a sinking two-man rubber boat. It’s the classic setup of a crime drama with plenty of twists, evident detective work, and the possibility of a mole that sets them all up for fairly. There’s always a mole. Always.
Customs Frontline struggles to make this portion of the film work. Its twists in plot are fairly by-the-numbers, and when they’re not, it’s because it's coming out of left field and results in a shocking amount of flashbacks in the latter half. The flashbacks are necessary for the film to make a modicum of sense, but it feels like it's writing that could have been massaged out with a few more drafts. The characters making these discoveries are easily saved by the sheer screen presence of its casting, particularly its leads since so much of the script paints them as stock characters rather than fleshed-out human beings.
It’s a relative chore to work through some of its plotting.
Still, Herman Yau is smart enough to sense this, and the film has no hesitation
in breaking up the monotony of its longer and plottier elements with some
bombastic action. The movie clocks in just under 2 hours, and there’s an action
set piece every 20 minutes or so. It’s definitely the right choice. It uses its
characters and plot to power the film to its following action sequence. If
anything, Hong Kong cinema fans are already familiar with this approach, and it
won’t bother them too much here.
Customs Frontline is stylish enough, with Yau’s spectacle-focused use of brightly lit action and bouncy visual pops. The action is some of the most fun I’ve had this year—mainly when a fake “oner” shows up that has Tse on the runaway cargo ship fighting off a slew of henchmen with fists and pipes because, yes, they can’t use guns due to some fumes and chemicals in the storage area. Classic. The final action set piece is one of the most explosive ones I’ve seen this year and can’t be ignored for its sheer audacity. Still, its patchy script and thinly crafted characters prevent this from being even one of Yau’s best of the last few years, and more discerning viewers will struggle with that.
Nonetheless, Customs Frontline meets the basic expectations of a modern Hong Kong actioner and gets a light recommendation. It’s fun, incredibly silly, and punctuated with some fantastic action. Just don’t expect Shakespeare with its writing. It’s the kind of film where Tse’s agent saves one of the bad guys from drowning and when the baddie, on a stretcher, asks him why, he simply states, “It’s my duty.” It sure is, sir, it sure is.
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