NYAFF XXIII Review: In Herman Yau’s CUSTOMS FRONTLINE, Tse And Cheung (Mostly) Get The Job Done

TW: This review discusses self-harm, mental illness and suicide.

6.5 min. read

Hong Kong filmmaker Herman Yau’s stride continues in 2024. He has a couple of titles already circulating screens in the U.S.. One of those titles is Customs Frontline which opened in Hong Kong earlier this month and is now poised to screen for audiences of the 23rd New York Asian Film Festival in time for its North American release from Well Go USA Entertainment on Friday.

Set against the background of two warring East African countries, Yau’s thriller starts to bringinto focus the lead General of one of those countries whose latest deal with a weapons marketeer trading out of Thailand suddenly makes landfall in Hong Kong territory when the feeder boat carrying its engine shuts down. When the Hong Kong Customs agents set out to investigate, it leads to an additionally gruesome discovery, on top of a major scuffle that signals the rest of Hong Kong’s top officials of a weapons trafficking crime in play.

Things get even more explosive when two Thai Interpol agents arrive to partake in the investigation. A band of masked and heavily-armed mercenaries unleash a full-on attack on the evidence depot to reclaim the container, resulting in multiple deaths, and further embattling the agency’s efforts. Further developments lead to a weapons expo, and a deep cover operation in East Africa that uncovers a major shipping company’s involvement in the weapons’ trade. What remains to be seen is how deep the trail goes, and what it could mean for Hong Kong Customs with a potential mole in their ranks.

The details therein get a little more intricate as they pertain to the personal lives of Customs agents Chow Ching-Lai (Nicholas Tse) and his senior, Cheung Wan-nam (Jacky Cheung). The two share a requisite camraderie on their field and share a sense of duty and honor that works to their benefit, but their lives away from work are somewhat in shambles for the most part. Chow is still coping with being a year and some change apart from his former fling, Katie (Michelle Yim) who also serves in Customs and is on track to marry someone else. Cheung’s issues are a little more entrenched is married to Athena Siu (Karena Lam), both of whom share a debilitating mental disorder they’re recovering from.

Compounding on the complications of Cheung’s somewhat serene relationship with Siu is her service to the intel and investigation end of Customs, opposite Kwok (Francis Ng) who works customs and excise. Both have their share of authority, but it’s Kwok who Cheung has to report to when developments arise, even if all the abrasive assistant comissioner cares about is his own career survival, and chewing out his subordinates when they disappoint him.

The film is keen to show just how much pressure Cheung faces in lieu of this, even to the point of maddening self-harm by burning himself with an, and suicidal ideations which come a little later in the progression of things. Yau has a good eye in the way he invokes characters like Cheung with respect to his afflictions. He illustrates how Cheung manages himself among his colleagues and while in the field, and even while consulting Chow in the midst of his own grief amid the loss of life. At one point, we see more of Cheung’s internal unraveling in what is meant to be a calming moment between husband and wife.

What the movie fails to make whole on has more to do with the extenuant circumstances of war and the business of weapons, which makes a great deal of the war-torn North African regions two of our characters travel to, and the devastation and human suffering feel a little more anecdotal and inequitable in the grand scheme of things. Moreover, we have the investigation into the weapons trade and who’s behind it.

The film is quick to let you know who the enigmatic Dr. Raw (Amanda Strang) is, while our protagonists insist her identity is totally anonymous. She appears several times throughout the film as the core antagonist but her elusive movement makes her difficult to lock into. Instead, our attention is diverted to Leo (Brahim Chab), Dr. Raw’s pointman who plays a more intergral role in Raw’s acquisitions at weapons expos, as well as all matters pertinent to killing and things exploding. As he’s written, he’s a merc, a socialite and a power-player, and that makes him all the more relevant as the plot thickens.

Fun to watch is the role of Chow, played by Tse who lives it up on screen this time in both acting and action capacities. Serving as fight choreographer next to Alan Ng (Hidden Strike, The Expendables 3), watching Tse work is as fun as fans of the Hong Kong genre can expect, taking what he’s learned under stewards like Corey Yuen, Jackie Chan, Nicky Li and Donnie Yen over the years, and honing it in accordingly. He also gets to cut a little more loosely in the second half during the climatic action scene aboard a ship where Customs agents home in on Leo, and Leo tells his goons not to use their guns lest they set off the chemical weapons in their possesion. The result is a oner a la Extraction in which Tse takes on multiple comers, and it’s an exciting feat to watch. It won’t hold a candle to any other action scenes of late, but it gets the job done in thrilling fashion. The action also sees Tse and Cheung spar a bit using wooden staffs. It’s a nice little nod to martial arts machismo for the genre crowd in its continued development between both agents. Both actors also collaborated on the film’s end credits track on which Cheung also sings lead vocals.

One of my favorite moments in the film also involves actress Cya Liu, who gives irrevocably one of the best screen performances anyone will see in Soi Cheang’s chilling 2021 crime noir, Limbo. Her role is a little smaller and less demanding in presentation as Thai Interpol agent, Ying, but she does fantastic during the film as a character who makes the most out of at least one situation to comedic effect. Sharing the screen with Tse for most of the way, they share a modest chemistry that carries the film aptly throughout the film’s phases, including when Chow is faced with a perilous decision in light of evidence discovered during their mission.

Customs Frontline weighs a little less in its delivery compared to the thrills of Shock Wave 2, and the last two installments of The White Storm trilogy. Subsequently, it lacks accountability in just a few areas of the story like the ones I mentioned, and not all the bad guys get their just dues. I will say, though, that Yau’s latest is an adamantly entertaining, and sufficient popcorn fun. From propulsive car chases to essential screenfighting delights, and its work to compel audiences with nuanced elements of intrigue, espionage, and betrayal woven into its drama, Customs Frontline definitely measures up.

Customs Frontline was reviewed for the 23rd New York Asian Film Festival which runs from July 12 through 28.