Tag: Nicholas Tse

CUSTOMS FRONTLINE – Review

A scene from Hong Kong action crime film CUSTOMS FRONTLINE. Courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment

In CUSTOMS FRONTLINE, Hong Kong delivers plenty of high-octane, large-scale action in this subtitled contemporary cop adventure. The protagonists are the city’s harbor patrol, charged with stopping maritime smuggling. They learn a major international arms dealer that no one in law enforcement has ever seen may be routing heavy-duty weaponry through their waters. The case begins with their boarding an inbound ship with all its crew having been murdered. The retirement benefits for employees in that “industry” seem severely lacking. No union? No perks.

The harbor police teams with reps from Interpol in the pursuit. Our heroes are two guys leading the way. Cheung (Jacky Cheung) is the grizzled veteran. Lai (Nicholas Tse) is his adoring disciple. The story is complex, with scenes occurring in multiple countries, on land and sea, keeping lots of balls in the air, including who is trustworthy among the authorities. We know who the big bad boss is long before the cops do and witness the level of cold cruelty on that side of the crime coin. Many times.

Although Erica Li’s script is above average for the genre with a few surprises along the way, the real stars are director Herman Yau and the horde of stunt and F/X specialists who crafted the sets and choreographed the mayhem. Several sequences are epic in proportion, with a stunning array of shootouts, explosions and crashes while running up an impressive body count. Hong Kong’s sleek, modern architecture and picturesque harbor contrast nicely with the sordid events occurring therein.

Character development is better than most but the action provides more than sufficient reason to watch, and preferably on the largest available screen.

CUSTOMS FRONTLINE, in Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese with English subtitles, opens in theaters on Friday, July 19.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

The Explosive Action Thriller RAGING FIRE Available on Blu-ray & Digital November 23rd

“Aided by the star magnetism of Yen and Tse and back in his element on the colorful streets of Hong Kong, Chan goes out with both guns blazing.” ~ G. Allen Johnson, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

An explosive action thriller boasting a powerhouse cast headlined by international martial arts action superstars Donnie Yen (Mulan, Ip Man franchise) and Nicholas Tse (Shaolin, New Police Story), RAGING FIRE will debut exclusively on the martial arts streaming service Hi-YAH! on October 22, before hitting Digital, Blu-ray and DVD November 23 with a new English dub from Well Go USA Entertainment. 

A “blistering action/thriller exploring police corruption, violent regret, and all the heroic bloodshed you can handle” (Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects) and the last film from acclaimed action auteur Benny Chan (Shaolin, New Police Story), RAGING FIRE co-stars Patrick Tam (Master Z, Ip Man 3), Kenny Wong (New Police Story), Deep Ng (Stool Pigeon), Jeana Ho (The Grandmaster, Special Female Force), Angus Yeung, Bruce Tong, Henry Mak (Operation Red Sea), Yu Kang (Ip Man 3), German Cheung (The White Storm 2: Drug Lords), and Tony Wu Tsz Tung (Men on the Dragon); with special appearances by Lui Leung Wai (Flash Point), Simon Yam (Little Q, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life), Ben Yuen, Ben Lam (Flash Point, Police Story), Ken Low (Rush Hour), and Carlos Chan.

Bong (Donnie Yen) is a highly respected hardline cop with a long history of success on dangerous cases. However, his past unexpectedly comes back to haunt him when a sting operation is attacked by a mysterious group of criminals led by Ngo (Nicholas Tse), his former protégé, a talented former officer who had once respected and admired Bong. However, a terrible mistake years prior landed him in prison, quickly turning the once rising star into a furious man with a grudge, and the will to destroy everyone who had wronged him—including his former mentor.

RAGING FIRE – Review

Donnie Yen in RAGING FIRE. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA

RAGING FIRE is a contemporary Hong Kong Chinese martial arts crime flick that’s a perfect vehicle for its two male leads – Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse. Yen plays the good cop. Tse is his former good-cop buddy, who has become really good at being really bad for reasons we learn along the way. Many of these films are thrown together with a muddled plot that exists only to set up their action sequences. Here we have a shining exception, as main characters and their backstories are fleshed out to fine advantage, making for a production that satisfies the brain as well as fulfilling the desired adrenaline quota.

Yen has nearly 80 acting credits and handful of directing stints, including fight-scene choreography. He comes by his art honestly, as the son of a martial arts master (fun fact – that’s his mom, not his dad), trained from childhood in multiple disciplines. Although I’ve only seen about a fourth of his films, I’m inclined to think that at this stage of his career, Yen may be incapable of cranking out a bad movie. (I specify the present because after writing the previous sentence, I caught one of his flicks from1991, showing he didn’t always have good scripts to choose from.) He’s perhaps best known for starring in the history-based IP MAN series. There, as here, Yen embodies the stoic integrity of a Gary Cooper, with the bonus gift of kicking butt like a Jet Li.

The RAGING FIRE plot involves a cop-killing band of robbers, motivated by both grudges and gains. Yen is in charge of catching them; we learn early that Tse is the ringleader, with his motives unfolding throughout. The tale plays out more coherently than is often the case in Asian cops vs. gangs flicks (actually, the same is true for many Hollywood entries as well), magnifying the emotional impact of its splendidly-staged action sequences, stuffed with all the fights, shootouts, chases and explosions genre fans crave. A couple of Yen’s one-on-ones are particularly exciting and creatively staged.

Late director Benny Chan deserves credit for not only pacing the action flawlessly, but editing and lighting those scenes for clarity of who’s doing what to whom in a way that’s way above the norm from both sides of the Pacific, in what is, lamentably, his final project. Tse is also superb as a more complex villain than usual, with an understandable, almost sympathetic, transition from valued colleague to nemesis. That all adds up to a gem within its genre.

RAGING FIRE, in Cantonese Chinese with English subtitles, opens in theaters August 13 and later streaming on-demand.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars