Genuinely Thrilling
Summary
Customs Frontline has some mind-blowing action scenes with surprisingly interesting characters. The pacing does slow a little in the middle, but I thought the finale was worth the wait and the performances from the leads were great; Brahim Chab always makes for a fun villain so he immediately elevates the film as soon as he shows up.
Plot: Hong Kong customs officers discover illegal weapons on a cargo ship and trace them back to an international conflict. Elite agents go undercover, uncovering a transnational operation with roots closer to home.
Review: After watching Deadpool & Wolverine yesterday I decided to do a double bill and went to see Herman Yau’s (Shockwave) Customs Frontline which was also playing in the same theatre.
It’s had some pretty lousy reviews on IMDb, but it gave me exactly what I wanted with interesting characters and a few decent set-pieces.
It wasn’t afraid to try something a little different in terms of story and characters with Jackie Chueng playing a man who is bipolar which we don’t see often in mainstream movies. He struggles with depression while also trying to keep his emotions under control at work as a Customs officer. He is essentially a mentor to Chow Ching-lai (Nicholas Tse) who is younger and has trouble controlling his emotions especially when someone he loves dies (how dare he!).
Customs Frontline has some impressive action scenes and a finale with a genuine sense of scale with the action taking place on a shipping tanker. Early on there is a fight scene on a sinking raft which was something I hadn’t seen before and was one of my favourite moments. There is sadly some CG here and there, but I’ve seen far worse, and the movie should be celebrated for its sheer ambition.
The always great Brahim Chab plays the main villain Leo, and he makes any movie better with his mere presence. He really deserves to be a huge action star in his own right and I would love to see him in some lead roles.
The pacing does slow a little in the middle with probably 30 minutes without an action scene, but as the finale is so epic then it’s worth the wait.
Overall, Customs Frontline may drag a little in the middle, but there are still some amazing action scenes with epic shoot-outs and several fight sequences making this a movie worth seeing on the big screen.