Time and Tide (2000)

Simply Perfect

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Time and Tide is probably a film that I will have to watch a few times over in order to make sense of it. I won't mind though, it's one of the best contemporary Honk Kong action films. Original, fast and brutal - with a nice dose of humor. But I hope that when I get my hands on the DVD, there will be a director commentary option, because he has a lot of explaining to do. Almost every time he cuts to a new scene I'm pulling my hair trying to figure out who... what the... why... why (Oh wow cool action) what the bleep just happened !! It's frustrating when you're trying to enjoy a good action movie, and you're begging and pleading for the next scene to make some sense of it all - only to be left flabbergasted in the end.

Tsui Hark is one of my alltime favorite directors and he handles this story with such style and effectiveness it rates right up there with The Killer as one my favorite action movies. The action sequences have to be seen to be believed with some of the most origional concepts I have ever seen employed recently.I have never seen Nicholas Tse before in a movie, but he's a great actor and handles the top role quite well. It was great to see Anthony Wong have a supporting role. His role as Johnny Wong in Hard Boiled ranks him as one of the best villians in HK cinema. It's interesting to note how some action concepts have come full circle. Hark used wirework with great effect and it influenced the Wachowski's when they did the Matrix. Hark borrows a page from the Wachowski's and uses bullet-time in this movie (special effects weren't that bad eitheir!)Great dubbing too, the voice acting was top notch. Now the flaws...their seems to be a story working here but darned if I could follow it. It seems that this story was edited so heavily that it left some glaring plot holes in order to speed up the narrative. Only the most concentrated of viewers will be able to pick this up the first time. Some parts were in Spanish w/o subtitles! In one sequence we don't know what is being said and seems to be Jack's reason for going it alone. More attention needed to be given to the subtitles for non-native speakers.All in all, great film with some minor things getting in the way. 8/10

This movie is amazing, plain and simple. The most amazing action film I've ever seen, forget The Matrix, Time and Tide is absolutely stunning! Nicholas Tse is definitely some one to keep your eye on, you'll be seeing him again. If you haven't seen this movie, I strongly suggest you do. And, the tagline says it all, this isn't a Kung Fu movie, this is a 100% Pure action film. The story is great, and the action scenes will keep you pressed against the back of your chair. Amazing.

Time and Tide has action scenes right up there with The Matrix, The Professional, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In some cases, the movie is on a level all its own. A couple of camera angles are original, if not breathtaking, and as far as straight out action is concerned, I would rank this movie among the best I've ever seen.Unfortunately, I found the plot to be pretty slim. When it wasn't downright confusing, it was disjointed--it seemed all the people in it were a little on the mentally disturbed side--and when it did make sense, it was rather boring. This could be because the characters were not really developed in any meaningful way, but it could simply be a result of a story based primarily on cool action scenes. Either way, I was disappointed in the "telling of a tale" department.As a result, Time and Tide is a tough movie for me to rate. It scores very high for the action, pretty low for the random, somewhat nonsensical plot. When I roll the two together, I come up with a 6 out of 10.If you like action, rent it. It will still be worth it. If you're not into spectacular gun play and bullet-time explosions, you might still like this movie, but you'll have to work hard to derive much meaning to the whole thing.