“Customs Frontline” Theatrical Poster
Director: Herman Yau
Cast: Jacky Cheung, Nicholas Tse, Karena Lam, Francis Ng, Liu Yase, Michelle Wai, Angus Yeung, Melvin Wong, Ben Yuen, Amanda Strang, Brahim Chab
Running Time: 115 min.
By Paul Bramhall
While the flaunting of China’s various authorities and military divisions through the format of cinema has become almost the exclusive forte of Dante Lam, in 2024 he kindly stepped aside to make some room for fellow Hong Kong director Herman Yau to take a shot. While Lam has already got the army (2016’s Operation Mekong), navy (2018’s Operation Red Sea), and the Rescue and Salvage Teams (2020’s The Rescue) covered, thankfully the customs authority has yet to have its time in the spotlight, so it is for Yau’s latest the border force are given a chance to shine. Customs Frontline is already Yau’s 2nd movie of 2024 following his remake of the 1998 Hollywood thriller The Negotiator, titled Crisis Negotiators, and is easily the most anticipated production he’s worked on for a while.
A large part of why is due to the return of Nicholas Tse to fully fledged leading man status, following his role as the villain for Donnie Yen to face off against in the late Benny Chan’s 2021 swansong Raging Fire. Not only does it see Tse in a starring role for the first time since 2017’s LNY comedy drama Cook Up a Storm, but it’s also the first time for him to take on action choreographer duty (with a little assistance from Alan Ng – Golden Job, Schemes in Antiques). Tse has had an interesting history as an action lead, with memorable turns in the likes of 2006’s Dragon Tiger Gate and 2007’s Invisible Target, and was himself touted by Jackie Chan as the new king of action during the filming of 1999’s Gen-X Cops. While it’s unlikely anyone would consider Tse to be Chan’s successor, what can’t be argued is that he always gives 100%, and he’s one of those HK stars who’s been missed during his extended absence in recent years.
Customs Frontline pairs Tse with another Hong Kong legend who’s been missing from screens even longer, with Jacky Cheung (Helios, Keeper of Darkness) cast as Tse’s more experienced superior, returning to screens for the first time since 2016’s lamentable From Vegas to Macau 3. With a pedigree of respected Hong Kong talent both in front and behind the camera Customs Frontline holds a lot of promise, however as a director Yau’s transition to helmer of big budget action spectacles has been a rocky one. Give him a mid-sized budget and a 90-minute runtime and he’ll work wonders (On the Edge, Turning Point), but give him a sizable budget and a sprawling runtime and things tend to get a little unruly (The White Storm 2: Drug Lords, Shock Wave 2). Customs Frontline is perhaps the greatest example yet of the latter, as Yau seems to have aimed for an overbeating concoction of bombastic melodrama and chaotic action.
The overly bloated plot essentially boils down to a pair of fictional East African countries who’ve gone to war when one believes the other is fishing in their territory’s waters (a plot point which, considering how China is treating the Philippines fishing fleets, is used without any irony whatsoever). One of the countries has enlisted the services of the hilariously named arms dealer Dr. Raw (played by Amanda Strang – Martial Angels, Final Romance), and when they make the decision to use Hong Kong as the port to transfer the goods, it’s up to the Hong Kong Customs Department to stop them!
Simple enough, however unlike the cardboard cutout characters that populate Dante Lam’s blockbusters, it seems like Yau was keen to inject a human element into the plot, so asked his regular scribes Erica Lee and Eric Lee to come up with a few possible character ideas. They definitely came up with more than a few, and I can only presume that Yau’s reaction was to declare his intention to use every one of them, as almost everyone feels needlessly complicated and tortured. Tse himself still isn’t over his teammate who he split with just over a year ago, and who is now getting married to someone else. When he meets her to return the stuff she still has in his apartment, he explains how he’s cleaned up all the loose ends they never got to, and sponsored the child that she never quite found the time to get across the line. What a kind soul.
Cheung takes the cake through as Tse’s emotionally intelligent but also manic depressive bi-polar (all real plot points by the way) superior, in a character that starts off as feeling grounded and relatable, and proceeds to become increasingly ridiculous as the narrative progresses. When Cheung isn’t ironing himself at home, he’s either yelling at Tse to “Respect your uniform!”, or being berated by his own boss (played by a cameoing Francis Ng) for his “sub-par thinking”. If John Woo wished he’d reeled Cheung’s performance in a little during Bullet in the Head, he should watch him here and perhaps wouldn’t feel so bad. In fairness, most of the issues are down to the unwieldy script, that treats a serious subject such as being bi-polar like it’s little more than a plot device for Cheung to occasionally indulge in some overacting. It’s relation to the actual stakes at the heart of the plot are superfluous, and it all feels a little unnecessary.
Much like his contemporary Dante Lam’s latest Bursting Point, Yau crams in an increasing number of unnecessary characters (we even get Cya Liu – Limbo, Sakra – as one half of a pair of Thai agents sent to HK to inspect the weapons) and sub-plots that rob the narrative of any real thrust due to the sheer volume of them. Customs Frontline begs to be a stripped-down action thriller, but it’s need to globe hop (leading to a number of clunky English dialogue scenes set in Africa) and strive for a more epic feel than it really needs turn out to ironically be the exact elements which contribute to its lack of focus.
While Tse does his best to anchor proceedings, the script also works against him for the same reasons as it does Cheung, resulting in what feels like an occasionally stiff performance (the Tse here is more the one from From Vegas to Macau rather than the one from New Police Story) and some painfully unwarranted emoting. Thankfully his action direction fares better, although the frequent gunfights never really feel anything other than perfunctory, and the digital muzzle flashes look particularly dated, at times even being used when guns probably weren’t supposed to be firing (which is likely a reflection of those in post-production also not being sure of the logistics of certain shootouts). An early scuffle on an inflatable speedboat shows some promise, but is let-down by the blatant greenscreen work, however during the container ship set finale Tse finally gets to show off what he’s learnt over the years.
The Jackie Chan influence is clear (Tse has worked with him 5 times over the years), both in the run ‘n’ gun element of some of the action sequences, and also the 2 vs. 1 choreography style that relies on fending off opponents attacking from either side. The finale offers up the chance to see Tse face off against Brahim Achabbakhe, playing another arms dealer who here returns to China for the first time since 2020’s Vanguard, and most recently choreographed Dev Patel’s Monkey Man. Those expecting a fight on the same level as Achabbakhe’s work against Scott Adkins in Boyka: Undisputed IV will no doubt be left disappointed, but their brief skirmish set in a race against time environment proves to be a fitting if underwhelming conclusion.
As a showcase for Nicholas Tse’s talents Customs Frontline feels like a square peg being crammed into a round hole, in that Tse clearly has a passion for fight choreography (both creating and performing it), however we see far too little of it. Instead, what should be the highlight moments feel drowned out by the surrounding scenes of big budget CGI destruction, as an out-of-control container ship careens around Hong Kong harbour, coming across like an unneeded Speed 2 reboot. Personally, I’d like to see Tse step up to try his hand at directing, choreographing, and starring, as he certainly has the experience to make it a success. When it comes to Customs Frontline though, for action movies sometimes it’s best to go with the ‘Nothing to Declare’ approach, something that Yau would do well to learn for his next big budget outing.
Paul Bramhall’s Review: 4/10
I wasn’t expecting much but still very disappointing to read it’s so subpar. If anything they should have even pushed it out further and have Tse and Cheung battle HMRC and CBP about unfair tariffs on BYD electric cars. As for Herman Yau he must be on autopilot. He’s more prolific now than during HK’s golden age. I miss the Yau did smaller movies like Herbal Tea and From the Queen to the Chief Executive.
This sucks. Customs Frontline is showing in Maryland from today to Thursday. I guess there’s not much reason to cram it into my schedule.
Nic Tse does need a movie that gives him more creative control to show us what he’s learned over the years.
Herman Yau should stop making boring big machines. That guy has become just another soulless “faiseur”.