The Net Is Vast and Infinite: Ghost in the Shell (1995) Review

Director: Mamoru Oshii

Notable Cast: Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Otsuka, Iemasa Kayumi, Koichi Yamadera, Yutaka Nakano, Tamio Ohki, Tessyo Genda, Masakazu Namaki

 

There are films and stories that are meant to be franchised and serialized, and as the film industry grows and intellectual property expands, it’s always looking to mine material for the next big ‘thing.’ Perhaps one of the most fascinating franchises, though, is Ghost in the Shell. 

 

On paper, it makes sense. Cyberpunk aesthetics, a strong, layered lead character, the possibility of ensemble storytelling, and a world that demands exploration for its themes of cybercops, hackers, and political corruption. Yet, in revisiting Mamoru Oshii’s iconic 1995 anime, the film seems uninterested in using its story and characters to craft ‘episodes’ that adhere to a more mainstream narrative. Instead, he uses the manga launch point to craft a truly existential experience, philosophically analyzing the relationship between organic and inorganic, the soul and programming, and whether humanity has a future in its own destiny. 

 

Gorgeously animated, impressively written, and anxiously crafted to compel its audience to ask questions, Ghost in the Shell is the kind of film that would push its audience intellectually rather than guide them to entertainment. It’s the kind of artistic merit that makes it a science fiction icon, rising above its genre trappings and elevating it to something far more universal. It’s truly next-level filmmaking. 

 

Evil Dead Wrapped: Lee Cronin's The Mummy (2026) Review

Director: Lee Cronin

Notable Cast: Jack Reynor, Laia Costa, May Calamawy, Natalie Grace, Shylo Molina, Billie Roy, Veronica Falcon, Hayat Kamille, May Elghety

 

When it was initially announced that Lee Cronin’s follow-up to Evil Dead Rise would be a new version of The Mummy, I was kind of stoked. His first film, Hole in the Ground, was a fantastic, character-driven, atmospheric horror film about loss, so combining his talents for scares and atmosphere could prove valuable for an update of The Mummy. Of course, if he were the one to be part of Universal’s updates on the classic monster series, then the film would have to be from, you know, Universal, and Lee Cronin's The Mummy was slated by New Line Cinema. 

 

Huh. This would not be an update of that series, I guess.

 

Nonetheless, he’s a talented director; the film still managed to find backing from Jason Blum and James Wan as producers (like Universal’s other reboots of The Invisible Man and Wolf Man), and for that alone, it was worth taking a gander. I’m a sucker for seeing a new adaptation of classic stories and genres. 

 

However, Lee Cronin's The Mummy is not the film one might expect, particularly with its marketing. Instead of going for the traditional Mummy movie narrative where someone fucks with a sarcophagus or tomb and a mummy, in some form, pops up to get revenge for their arrogance - and if we’re lucky there might be a sweet love story somewhere in there inspired by Universal’s 1932 The Mummy plot, this one is definitely going for pure monster mayhem with gore, gross-out-gags, and lots of supernatural lunacy. You know, less of a Mummy movie and definitely more of an Evil Dead knock-off. 

 

Do A Person's Feelings Die with Them: Shikoku (1999) Review

Director: Shunichi Nagasaki

Notable Cast: Yui Natsukawa, Chiaki Kuriyama, Michitaka Tsutsui, Toshie Negishi, Ren Osugi

 

While the J-Horror boom of the late 90s and early 00s provided enough creep factor and impressive tonal scares to influence an entire generation, one of its better aspects was the films that used the emotional echoes of sadness and melancholy. Shunichi Nagasaki’s 1999 film, Shikoku, might be one of those intriguingly overlooked gems. Encased in a somber tone, this folk-horror ghost story effectively crafts a dreamlike haziness in its visuals and narrative, less a scare factory and more akin to a grim-toned fairy tale. While its narrative punch feels like it pulls back to avoid moving too far into melodramatic flair, which doesn’t necessarily always work in its favor, Shikoku is a film that deserves a gander for its subtle theming and impressive visuals for those looking for perhaps a less aggressive J-Horror tale. 

 

When Hinako, played by Yui Natsukawa, returns to her childhood home in Shikoku, she learns that her close friend from childhood, Sayori, has passed away in high school. As old memories resurface and a rekindled friendship with another childhood friend, Fumiya, begins to grow into something more, Sayori’s ghost starts appearing to her old friend. However, as Hinako starts to look into matters, she finds that Sayori’s mother, a medium, might be trying to resurrect her lost daughter. 

 

Behold, The Beholder: The Eye (2002) Review

Director: Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang Phat

Notable Cast: Angelica Lee Sin-Jie, Lawrence Chou Chun-Wai, Candy Lo Hau-Yam, Edmund Chen, Yut Lai So, Chadatirud Lertaveesin, Yin Ping Ko

 

In college, I became obsessed a bit with Asian ghost films. Sure, it was the 00s, and everyone and their mom had jumped on the J-Horror boom a little, but I started digging much further and trying to get my hands on everything that I could. One of those was The Pang Brothers’ massively underrated The Eye (2002). Although it would be remade and memory-holed by most of the cinematic world in 2008, this Hong Kong horror film had managed to capture quite a bit of attention in the social circles I was navigating. That’s on top of the fact that the Pang Brothers were quickly becoming a new name in Hollywood at the time, even if those 15 minutes of fame would quickly fade thanks to a system that handicapped so much of their more interesting approaches with limited budgets or incredibly terrible scripts. 

 

Nonetheless, The Eye was a film that I had latched onto, and my memories of watching it on a possible bootleg I purchased at the FYE where I was working were very positive. Now it's damn near 20 years later, and Arrow Video has decidedly graced us with a new 4K release in the US, and I was eager to finally get a chance to revisit a film that definitely struck a chord with a much younger me. 

 

The Eye might secretly be one of the best ghost films in the post-2000s cinematic era. There’s something uniquely intimate and soft about the film. It works in subtle ways, less concerned with scares and traditional ghost horror and more focused on the growth of its lead character, Mun, as she comes to terms with her abilities and what they mean both to her and thematically. 

 

Chasing Your Dreams: Somnium (2025) Review

Director: Racheal Cain

Notable Cast: Chloe Levine, Will Peltz, Peter Vack, Grace Van Dien, Clarissa Thibeaux, Draya Michele, Jonathan Schaech, Gillian White, Steve Eifert, Bries Vannon

 

You know, Somnium has such a fascinating premise, and it is one hell of a hook. An overnight "sleep sitter," Gemma, played by Chloe Levine, works for a clinic that uses sleep suggestions on rich folks to change their habits and ideologies, and she struggles to adapt to her new life in LA. She made the trek from her small town in Georgia to be an actress all by herself, and now, as she desperately tries to get auditions with no real understanding of how the system works, she randomly stumbles into this job at Somnium that analyzes, reprograms, and writes dreams and feelings into people. Even on a baseline plot level, well, shit, I’m intrigued. It’s blending 1980s dream-science-fiction cinema with a more modern, slow-burning personal horror. Yes, please, go ahead and put my name on the list for that. 

 

Even more fascinating is how Somnium is treating its core ideas around ‘dreams.’ There's this interesting idea that the big city can feel dreamlike to someone from a small community (a feeling I know all too well, growing up in a farm community in South Dakota) and that everything can feel like both a threat and an opportunity. For Gemma, played with such a passionate, wide-eyed balance of confusion and fake confidence by Chloe Levine, it is the dream. The big city, the possibility of success, and leaving behind a life that felt like it was suffocating, particularly after a rather hard breakup with her hometown boyfriend, Hunter. Chasing the dream in a place that feels like a dream while working in a dream clinic. 

 

A Stitch in Time: The Bride! (2026) Review

Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal

Notable Cast: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, Penelope Cruz, Annette Bening, John Magaro, Jeannie Berlin, Jake Gyllenhaal

 

When the trailer for your film features the slogan “Here comes the motherfucking bride” in big bold letters, one might expect that audiences might be prepared for an audacious cinematic experience. The title ends with an exclamation mark. It’s not like it’s trying to necessarily hide the fact that it’s going to be a rather wild ride of a film. Yet, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s second feature-length film, The Bride!, was met with a lot of pearl-clutching and some dismissiveness from critics and audiences alike regarding its messy nature and the bold choices it makes in its writing, characters, design, and overall intentions. 

 

Well, if there’s one thing that I love in a movie, it’s audacity. Whether it works or not, I’ll take a film that swings for the fences and tries to throw its weight around. Given that the Frankenstein mythos, including The Bride of Frankenstein, has been adapted in one million ways for various audiences and with varying degrees of success, please give me something that, as a film, feels as scattered, sewn together, and fighting for life as its characters. To quote one of the iconic film critics, Joe Bob Briggs, “The only sin of a movie, in my opinion, is to be boring.” And The Bride! is certainly not that. Far from it. 

 

In fact, The Bride! might end up being one of the best films I’ve seen this year. It’s absolutely crafted with a sense of rage at the world, where a repeated phrase, “I would prefer not to,” becomes a war cry against expectations, social pressures, and a system built against you. Gyllenhaal takes the Bride of Frankenstein concept, updates it for the modern meta-textural era, and adds a lingering undercurrent of ‘fuck you’ to the conventions of storytelling and cinematic language. Yet, it still manages to feel humane with its characters and honest with its messages, and never feels like it's screaming just for the sake of screaming. There’s a heart beating in this monster, and just like its two leads, you might not always hear it because of what you see on the surface, but it's there nonetheless. 

 

Panic Fest 2026: Cruel Hands (2026) Review

Director: Al Kalyk

Notable Cast: Mavournee Hazel, Diesel La Torraca, Josh McConville, Genevieve Lemon, Harry Greenwood, Iolanthe, Glenda Kalyk

 

I can already see it now. The comments that will cascade down from the internet as horror fans react to Cruel Hands and its 1970s-inspired stylistic choices. Comments about how it's ‘not horror enough’ or that ‘it's not a real horror film’ will garner thousands of reactions and probably just as many arguments around the spectrum of genre labels.

 

You know what? Good. Cause quite frankly, Cruel Hands is the kind of film that will need a bit of online discourse to push it further into the genre fans’ circles for viewing. Call it what you will, horror, thriller, dark drama, or whatever other sub-genre you want. This 1970s-inspired slice of atmospheric tension and visceral domestic horror is worth watching. It’s one of those palpable, character-driven, slow-burning old-school horror films that manages to curdle into the crevices of your heart and mind. Powered by some incredible performances, a steady hand at tone and atmosphere, and a real sense of grounded grit to its writing, Cruel Hands manages to be both subtle and impactfully hard-hitting. It’s the kind of throwback film that should be garnering some real fans when it finds a full release. 

 

Panic Fest 2026: Ivan (2026) Review

Director: Damien Fannon

Notable Cast: Anna Mirodin, Tayna Clarke, Julia Tomasone, Stephen Bogaert

 

When I read that Ivan would be a film centered around a piece of technology, specifically an AI device named - you guessed it - Ivan, I do not think I would have ever expected that the film would be a period piece. Not that it’s given a definitive year, or does it make the horrible mistake of littering the film with a plethora of needle drops and references to pop culture, but Ivan surprisingly takes its audience back to a time and place where having an electronic device that can watch, hear, and talk to you is almost beyond understanding. 

 

It’s one of the bold choices that Ivan makes throughout that sets it aside from many of the other films in this year's Panic Fest. Director and co-writer Damien Fannon takes a familial drama and inserts this technological horror aspect as the catalyst to address many dark family issues, and manages to craft a rollicking thriller that regularly sidesteps expectations and delivers a surprisingly potent mix of horror and drama. And that’s before the ending slams its audience with two or three new layers of intensity. 

 

Slice of Strife: The Wailing (2025) Review

Director: Pedro Martín Calero

Notable Cast: Ester Expósito, Mathilde Ollivier, Malena Villa, Claudia Roset, José Luis Ferrer, Lia Lois, Sonia Almarcha, Tomás del Estal, Lautaro Bettoni, Alex Monner

 

The entire arthouse horror aspect of pairing "haunting" and "trauma" has now become a staple of the genre, but The Wailing approaches it in a fascinating way. The film essentially tells its tale through three women through two different time frames. It's a slow-burn narrative that focuses on how this haunting builds from the mundane to the manic, and on not being up front with its terrors, but seeding them under the skin and in the folds of the brain. Sure, it’s the kind of horror film that seems fairly par-for-the-course now in a post-A24 era, but don’t sell The Wailling short - it has a voice, and it's executed impressively. 

 

The Wailing is a film that might be compared to other haunting/trauma films, like the socio-hauntings of It Follows or the technological horrors of The Ring, but it wholly wants to present itself as a slice-of-life film. It just happens to feature various characters who are terrorized by an unseen horror that creeps up through an outside lens (in this case, the camera), thereby highlighting the technological aspect that was so prevalent in late 90s and early 00s J-horror. However, the film certainly takes its time with each of its characters as they go about their lives, and with how each one eventually succumbs to the horror of this ‘curse’ passed down to them. The process of getting there may be fairly mundane to some, with its incredibly meticulous pacing and seemingly meandering character beats, but it all fits with the complexity of its themes and the humanity that is tragically lost as the horror grows closer. 

 

Peril at Sea: Rescue at Dongji (2026) Review

Directors: Fei Zhenxiang, Guan Hu

Notable Cast: Zhu Yilong, Leo Wu, Ni Ni, Yang Haoyu, Chen Minghao, Ni Dahong, William Franklyn-Miller, Li Jiuxiao, Wang Yiquan, Kevin Lee

 

Living in the shadow of Hollywood, the big war story blockbuster is essentially its own genre. Although Chinese cinema handily receives the “jingoistic” label more often than not, let’s be up front and honest here - they learned how to do it from Hollywood. And judging from Rescue at Dongji, they’ve taken the classic war-film elements, given them a Chinese cinematic twist, and let them rip. Rescue at Dongji is a bombastic flick, layered with incredible performances, white-knuckle action, and a heartfelt narrative that speaks universally. While it certainly feels like it owes much of its success to lessons learned from previous films, it does so in a way that makes it feel fresh, and that’s ultimately what matters. 

 

Part of what makes Rescue at Dongji (sometimes noted as Dongji Rescue) so fresh is that it strikes a balance between the rousing heroics and the war's innate brutality, which these films so often miss. Its narrative is certainly centered on the village's heroics. The focus remains on two brothers, played by Zhu Yilong and Leo Wu - outcasts even on the island they were raised on, adopted by a local fishing family, and their relationship with each other and the life they live in the village. By focusing on them and then building the settings around them, the film moves from being just a historical action drama to a film about humanity. It’s an incredibly smart choice.

 

Survive Yesterday: Back to the Past (2026) Review

Directors: Ng Yuen-Fai, Jack Lai

Notable Cast: Louis Koo, Raymond Lam, Bai Baihe, Jessica Hsuan, Sonija Kwok Sin-Nae, Joyce Tang Lai-Ming, Michael Miu Kiu-Wai, Louis Cheung, Kevin Chu, Wu Yue, Timmy Hung Tin-Ming, Chris Collins, Liu Kai-Chi, John Tang Yat-Kwan, Michelle Saram

I suppose, deep down in my lizard brain, I knew this was coming, but the ‘legacy sequel’ trend that has exploded in Hollywood over the last decade or so is creeping over to Hong Kong and China. Not that they haven’t dabbled in it before, I certainly remember From Vegas to Macau, but I certainly didn’t expect there to be a movie sequel to the early 00s TV drama, A Step into the Past. Yet, here we are with Back to the Past, a strange combination of big-scale silver screen spectacle and made-for-TV movie melodrama that moves at breakneck speed and manages to entertain despite relying so heavily on its audience's memory of the original show. It’s the kind of love letter sequel that will have some viewers clamoring and others scratching their heads.

It’s been 20 years since Hong Siu-lung, played by the always reliable Louis Koo, was left stranded in the era of the Qin Dynasty. He’s raised a family, but he lives knowing that his protege, Chiu Poon, played by a very intensely scowly Ramond Lam, has become the Emperor and may come after him and his family at any time. When other future travelers come back in time to steal antiques to bring back to the future (time pirates?) Hong is forced to face off against Chiu once again - and possibly find a new path back to his time. 

The Tragedy of Fate: Hunter in the Dark (1979) Review

Director: Hideo Gosha

Notable Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoshio Harada, Keiko Kishi, Ayumi Ishida, Makoto Fujita, Sonny Chiba, Isao Natsuyagi, Kayo Matsuo, Ai Kanzaki, Tatsuo Umemiya, Hajime Hana, Tetsuro Tamba, Koji Takusho

 

It’s a simple shot, towards the end of Hideo Gosha’s late-70s chanbara epic Hunter in the Dark, that really encapsulates the director's artistry and his take on various genres. A young woman sits leaning over a gravely injured lover. Not to spoil too much about the scene, but it’s a classic sequence where she begs him to get up, not to die, and he responds in the well-trodden “go, you need to go” kind of sacrificial statements. Truthfully, it’s not the best-written scene; it’s carried by two incredibly strong performances, but then Gosha does what Gosha does. He shoots it while slowly pulling the camera back, encircling the two characters in their square of light as the blackness around them grows, slowly shrinking the scene as it plays out until it's barely a fifth of the screen. By the end of it, it’s two characters, bared to the truth, both in denial about their respective places, and they are completely boxed in by the blackness around them.

I cried. Full on, tears down the face, cried. 

 

Universes of Future Past - The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) Review

Director: Matt Shakman

Notable Cast: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne, Sarah Niles

 

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is gorgeously designed to look like it's caught in a time vortex between "the future" and 1960s New York City. It's the kind of production design that ought to catch some Oscar buzz early next year, and it's a shining example of some of the intriguing aspects of this "first" film of the new phase of the MCU. Right away from the trailers, one could tell that there was going to be a little more thought and effort thrown into the mix for this latest adaptation of Marvel’s First Family. To be fair, there was no way it could be worse than Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four (2015).

 

However, First Steps is also a film that seems to be caught in a time vortex between moving the MCU forward in refreshing ways and maintaining the status quo. For every progressive choice it makes for the franchise, it seemingly takes a step or two back out of fear of moving too far away from the blueprint that has made the MCU a movie juggernaut. It's an unfortunate balancing act that never seemingly manages to find its momentum and leaves one wondering what First Steps might have been with just a smidge more courage.

 

Kickstart My Heart - Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc (2025) Review

Director: Tatsuya Yoshihara

Notable Cast: Kikunosuke Toya, Reina Ueda, Shiori Izawa, Tomori Kusunoki, Shogo Sakata, Fairouz Ai, Karin Takahashi, Natsuki Hanae, Yuuya Uchida, Maaya Uchida

 

The first season of the Chainsaw Man anime absolutely had me hook, line, and sinker. I was so taken by its strange tonal balances, cinematic moments, and the sheer lunacy of its violence and tragedies that I ended up purchasing every volume of the manga. And I purchase each new volume on day one of its release in the US. But the anime is now three years old, no season two has come, and the animation studio behind it seemed far more interested in other projects than continuing on with the sensational anime. 

 

Turns out, they were working on a theatrical film to continue the animated adaptation. Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc is perhaps a perfect distillation of everything fantastic about the Chainsaw Man anime. It’s a relatively tight package —a shorter story arc within the larger story — that distills all the tonal insanity, gory action, and emotional collateral damage of the series into an impressively crafted feature-length film that exemplifies the modern anime film. 

 

A Bandit's Heart: 11 Rebels (2025) Review

Director: Kazuya Shiraishi

Notable Cast: Takayuki Yamada, Taiga Nakano, Ukon Onoe, Riho Sayashi, Takara Sakumoto, Seiji Chihara, Amane Okayama, Yuya Matsuura, Hayate Ichinose, Ryota Oyanagi, Chikara Motoyama, Shuhei Nomura, Shunsuke Tanaka, Satoru Matsuo, Fuga Shibazaki

 

It’s a cinematic samurai tradition by now. The story of a rogue’s gallery of anti-heroes, overcoming their differences, their pasts, and their fears to stand together for one last good thing. Although Seven Samurai has been remade and/or influenced thousands upon thousands of films in all genres, there is certainly a case to be made that this kind of samurai story still stands as one of the best kinds of stories to watch, even in 2025.

 

In the vein of classics such as the previously mentioned Akira Kurosawa picture, 47 Ronin, or 13 Assassins, the latest film from director Kazuya Shiraishi, 11 Rebels, will easily become a modern favorite of the genre. It’s brash in some of its narrative choices, particularly in its third act, and it features some incredible performances and action set pieces that set it apart from other action flicks this year. 11 Rebels is brutal in more ways than one, but hits its mark with remarkable efficiency even when it's treading on well-worn paths. 

 

Money, Corruption, and Soju: Big Deal (2025) Review

 Director: Choi Yoon-jin

Notable Cast: Yoo Hae-jin, Lee Je-hoon, Son Hyun-joo, Byron Mann, Choi Young-jun, Kim Ki-hae

In 1997, a continent-wide financial crisis struck throughout Asia, eventually cutting deep into South Korea. Everyone was struggling to stay afloat, and even a company like Gukbo, the leading producer of Soju in the country, was quickly falling to the wayside. South Korea is one of the biggest consumers of alcohol in the world, so to see a company that is sort of at the heart of the average Korean adult's life taking a plummet... well money grubbers in the form of a global investment firm, step in to "help" the company out. The CFO and Financial Director at Gukbo is played by the great Yoo Hae-jin, one of the best cases of a character actor turned leading man in recent history, and the one pulling the strings at the investment company is played by the young and equally talented Lee Je-hoon. The two form a bond, and the complications of this last hurrah for Gukbo has dire consequences, and a rippling effect of money hungry individuals cause a great rift between the two parties involved, on a large scale, and down to a very personal, philosophical level.

Time Does Not Heal: The Old Woman with the Knife (2025) Review

Director: Min Kyu-dong

Notable Cast: Lee Hye-young, Kim Sung-cheol, Yeon Woo-jin, Kim Moo-yul, Shin Sia, Kim Kang-woo, Choi Moo-seong, Ok Ja-yeon, Lee Hyun-gul

 

In a world where there is one to two “old man with a sordid past kicks ass” movies released a month, it’s nice to know that there will occasionally be an “old woman with a sordid past kicks ass” movie that gets released. However, in the case of The Old Woman with the Knife, the latest South Korean action thriller to hit the States from our friends at Well Go USA, it’s less about an aging killer being pulled back in and more about an aging killer reckoning with their role in their own life. With a strong sense of visual pizzazz, some impressively brutal action set pieces, and a positively riveting performance from Lee Hye-young, The Old Woman with the Knife is a sizzling slice of assassin cinema, even if the plot can get in the way of the story at times.

 

The Old Woman with the Knife establishes its plot and characters in provocative ways. A cinematic world of assassins is always fun to explore, and especially over the last decade or so, thanks to John Wick, movies have been having fun creating fantastic scenarios around killers and their deeds. In this universe, there is a group of assassins that act as “pest control” and eliminate the ill-gotten pests that infect our society. It’s a relatively small group, well-trained and well-equipped to get the job done, that follows their stringent guidelines about their work.

 

Panic Fest 2025: Stalkers (2025) Review

Director: Paul Thompson

Notable Cast: Olivia Stadler, Scarlett DiCaro, Hannah Mae Beatty, Allisha Pelletier, Same Wexler, Abbas Wahab, Marlo Aquilina

 

Far be it from me to have too many expectations going into a film festival, but I certainly did not expect what I got from Stalkers. On paper, Stalkers sounds like the classic slasher. Littered with exploitative elements, like having the lead character be a porn star, and then powering its horror elements with a whodunnit style narrative, the film felt like it was going to be cheesy, slashery entertaining through and through. Yet, as Stalkers plays out, it often rejects leaning into any exploitation elements and aims for something far more dramatic and, dare I say, better, for its material. 

 

Stalkers has something to say with its themes within the slasher premise, and never truly embraces the genre until its final act. It’s a surprisingly reflective and character-driven drama at its heart that just so happens to end up being a slasher. It’s perhaps one of the biggest surprises at Panic Fest 2025 already. 

 

His Name is Ahn Jung-geun: Harbin (2024) Review

Director: Woo Min-ho

Notable Cast: Hyun Bin, Park Jeong-min, Jeon Yeo-been, Jo Woo-jin, Lee Dong-wook

History is an infinite source of inspiration to the culture at large, shaping civilizations into what they are today; the influence of the past is something that shapes current-day mindsets the world over. South Korea has had a very tumultuous and challenging past like many other nations, and so it is no surprise that various mediums would look back to inspire their own telling of stories from yesteryear. Film is a massive avenue for retelling slices of history, and of course, just like the figureheads explored in these works or the very events being depicted within them, there always comes talks of propaganda or skewing facts to fit personal or political narratives. 

To say that a film, such as Harbin, is subject to finding itself outside of historians or politically fueled conversations from being had would be foolish, but to say that a film with a subject matter like this cannot be entertaining would also be to discredit a film as such. I went into this one with certain expectations, given that I am a huge fan of director Woo Min-ho and his previous works. In fact, his work prior to this, The Man Standing Next, also takes a piece of political history, albeit more modern than the events that unfolded in Harbin station that fateful day; suffice to say, director Woo has really become one who has a knack for telling these stories through cinema. So, how does this stack up to Woo Min-ho's previous works? Honestly, I think it fairs quite well, and of course, with these types of movies in general, I think the mileage will vary from person to person.

It's My Duty: Customs Frontline (2024) Review

Director: Herman Yau

Notable Cast: Jacky Cheung, Nicholas Tse, Karena Lam Kar-Yan, Liu Yase, Francis Ng, Kenny Kwan Chi-Bun, Carlos Chan Ka-Lok, Michelle Wai, Ben Yuen Foo-Wah, Michelle Yim

 

Considering that director Herman Yau has been one of Hong Kong’s most prolific directors since the early 1990s, it’s fascinating how he has transformed his career to match what the market is looking for. His most recent stint combines a love letter to golden-age 1980s HK action and a craving for Hollywood-style spectacle. He still occasionally slides back to dramatic thrillers or horror films, but he has mostly stuck to his “guns” in recent years. 

 

After dropping four (!) large-scale action flicks in 2023, he’s back with Customs Frontline, which is receiving quite a bit of international press. Featuring two icons of Hong Kong cinema with Nicholas Tse and Jacky Cheung, Customs Frontline follows in the footsteps of some of his previous action blockbusters like The White Storm 3, Moscow Mission, and Shockwave 2. It’s bigger than life, filled with soapy melodrama, and brimming with action sequences that border on refreshingly insane. So, despite a thinly threaded script and characters that feel more like caricatures than people, it’s hard to deny that Customs Frontline doesn’t entertain. It does have a giant ass boat tear through other boats and docks in the neon glow of the Hong Kong skyline. There’s that.