Last year, Hong Kong filmmaker Herman Yau directed at least two of the best action movies of the year. In the 1990s, Yau (\u201cEbola Syndrome,\u201d \u201cThe Untold Story\u201d) helmed sensational black comedies and\/or true-crime thrillers about psychopathic skid row loners, some of which are now finding new audiences on American Blu-ray boutique labels. Today, Yau directs Hong Kong and\/or mainland China-financed action movies, often focused on a team of diligent, but stressed-out law enforcement officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCustoms Frontline,\u201d a Hong Kong procedural that pits the local customs department against a ring of international weapons dealers, continues this trend. It\u2019s also unusual given that it\u2019s not only a star vehicle for Nicholas Tse, but also the first project that Tse\u2019s worked on as the primary action choreographer. \u201cCustoms Frontline\u201d is not quite as thrilling or as relentless as Yau\u2019s other recent successes\u2014particularly \u201cMoscow Mission\u201d and \u201cRaid on the Lethal Zone\u201d\u2014but it still delivers more twists and surprises than you might expect from this tip of sudsy, formulaic cop drama.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In \u201cCustoms Frontline,\u201d Tse plays Chow Ching-lai, a frustrated but loyal Customs Department officer on the trail of the mysterious Dr. Raw (Amanda Strang), a well-connected arms dealer smuggling guns and other weapons through Hong Kong. Chow wants to nab Dr. Raw for personal reasons that coincide with his professional responsibilities since Raw\u2019s operation was being pursued by Cheung Wan-nam (Jacky Cheung), Chow\u2019s unstable but sympathetic boss. I say \u201cwas\u201d because Cheung suffers an unfortunate fate early on in the movie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cheung not only urges Chow to take his job more seriously\u2014\u201cRespect your uniform!\u201d\u2014but also inspires his subordinate by persevering despite a previously undisclosed bipolar diagnosis. Cheung also discovers a well-positioned mole within the Customs Department, leaving Chow to figure out how to stop Raw, who\u2019s currently arming the clashing (and fictional) African nations of Hoyana and Loklamoa.<\/p>\n
The first half or so of \u201cCustoms Frontline\u201d sets up Cheung\u2019s character as a figurehead for his department, plagued as it is by a generic sort of bureaucracy, largely represented by Kwok Chi-keung (Francis Ng), the bureau\u2019s paternal, but unfriendly co-commissioner. A handful of shoot-outs and chase scenes break up these unusually drawn-out establishing scenes, most of which coast on Cheung\u2019s charismatic performance. Still, while it takes a moment before Tse\u2019s character takes over his own movie, his fight choreography eventually gets a decent showcase.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It also helps to see the movie\u2019s action scenes as punctuation for its kitchen-sink style of hard-boiled action. Every character has a backstory, including Dr. Raw, and they\u2019re mostly endearing despite a lack of psychological or emotional complexity. Instead, a pile-on of pulpy twists and turns makes \u201cCustoms Frontline\u201d a largely compelling potboiler. Both parts of the movie, the one led by Cheung and the one led by Tse, feature unusual details that will leave you guessing, like: why are we still talking about Cheung\u2019s emotional intelligence, or who is Dr. Raw\u2019s dad, beyond a supposedly beloved and respected weapons smuggler? There are crypto-currency bribes, a violent suicide, presumed inter-departmental sabotage, and, oh yeah, sometimes computer-generated cargo ships and tank-sized jeeps explode or flip over from end to end.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last year, Hong Kong filmmaker Herman Yau directed at least two of the best action movies of the year. In the 1990s, Yau (\u201cEbola Syndrome,\u201d \u201cThe Untold Story\u201d) helmed sensational black comedies and\/or true-crime thrillers about psychopathic skid row loners, some of which are now finding new audiences on American Blu-ray boutique labels. Today, Yau …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[36,45],"class_list":["post-1438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-action-movies","tag-action","tag-drama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}