First, from a technical standpoint, this film is brilliant. Tsui redefines handheld camerawork in this film. It's not the typical "shaky" cam. It's like a hyper dolly move. Plus, you have to give mad props to any movie where the camera man jumps out the window and rappels down the side of a building after the actor...and holds the shot!! (If you missed it, check the apartment shootout when Wu Bai runs and jumps out the window and ropes down the side--that ain't no crane or jib arm, folks.) The visual style adds a lot to the overall feeling of the movie.

Second, the movie just drips with cool. But it's not a forced cool. It's just done in such a way that even the simplest actions seem graceful. Effortless.

Third, Anthony Wong and Nicholas Tse are great. Wu Bai brings his brooding rock star thing to the screen quite nicely, as well. But Tsui has never had a problem getting solid performances out of any of the people he's worked with (I don't care what anyone says, I love "Knock Off" and I'll fight to the death to defend it as a great film). The interplay and banter between characters is cool. Nobody gets overly chatty, but it's enough.

Fourth, the action, while not as plentiful as other films in the genre, is solid. Even in his worst films, Tsui knows how to put action to celluloid. He can do it in his sleep. This movie is no exception. People rappelling down the side of an apartment building having a machine gun battle? What? Are you serious? Yeah, he's the man.

I know people take umbrage with the plot. Yeah, the crazy guy and the cockroaches and all the meandering can seem a little weird. But, like me, just watch it 40+ times and it'll all make perfect sense. Seriously, though, watch it a few times and you'll get it. It gets better every time.

Most people wouldn't enjoy this film. In fact, this is really not a mainstream film in any way. Film people can appreciate the technical specs, and then there are just a select few who will always find themselves mesmerized by it for no apparent reason. But those looking for another "Hard Boiled" will be quite disappointed. All I can recommend is to try it. You'll either love it or wish you hadn't seen it. But for those of you that do love it, you'll keep coming back to it, time and time again. It will call to you while you sleep, eat, work, even when you're making the sweet lovings. In fact, I think I'm going to pop it in right now. You've been warned.

I won't delve into the life and times of Tsui Hark or make comparisons between "Time and Tide" and his past work. I know he did better movies, but I like to look at the future as well. And judging by this brainless, adrenalin-pumping of a film, the future still looks pretty shiny and bright, thank you very much.

Plotwise, "Time" requires complete suspension of disbelief from the get-go. I mean, the villains are Chinese actors with Chinese features and Chinese accents. But they speak Spanish and have names like Juan, Pepe and Pablo, so we have to assume they are... Latin guys! I can live with that, except for one detail: the baddies apparently come from Aracaju, a famous beach in Sergipe, Brazil. So far, so good. But in Hark's "Aracaju", everybody speaks Spanish (Brazil's language is Portuguese) and there are tornadoes. Damn fucking TORNADOES, crognabbitt! FYI, there are NO twisters, earthquakes or active volcanoes to be found anywhere in Brazil, only some floods here and there. So now you know.

But why am I bitching about it? If Hark can get away with Chinese Latinos, he can put tornadoes in Sergipe if he wants to. At least the end result is a hell of an action scene, far more interesting with strong winds blowing stuff around than any boring, sunny scenario!

The story? Oh, yeah. Take notes. Here it goes: there's this lesbian policewoman called Ah Jo (Cathy Tsui) who's working as a prostitute decoy. Or maybe she likes to get out at night wearing funny wigs, who knows? After being dumped by her girlfriend, she goes to the nearest bar and challenges the bartender Tyler (Nicholas Tse) for a drinking game, or something like that. Next time we see 'em, they're puking on taxis and sleeping together. When Ah Jo wakes up with a man, she goes berserk. And with good reason: she got preggers with Tyler's seed.

But Tyler isn't the fuck'n'run type. He may steal Zippos from time to time, but he's a nice and responsible guy. Ah Jo wants to keep him away from her life at any cost, but Tyler REALLY cares about her and even gets a job at Uncle Ji's illegal bodyguard company. Tyler becomes the first bodyguard in movie history to walk around with a TOY GUN, cause Uncle Ji (played by the great Anthony Wong) doesn't want to give him a real one!

Meanwhile, we're introduced to Jack (singer Wu Bai), a former member of the Brazilian-Sino-Latin gang. The others call him "Juan", so I guess Jack is Latino too - what may be the reason why the wealthy father of his pregnant wife Ah Hui (Candy Ho) doesn't like him. Moving on: the gang is planning to move operations from the windy Hark-aracaju to Hong Kong, but that idea doesn't sit well with Jack, who wants to put his past far, far away, and concentrate on his new life.

There we have it: both Tyler and Jack have pregnant ladies to take care of. So where does that lead us?

It leads us nowhere, cause Hark just throws the story away at this point and starts piling action sequence over action sequence until the last frenetic frame. We already know what we have to about the main characters, we know we like 'em and seeing 'em dying would be not very nice, and now... IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!

Action is what we have, in spades and filmed in ways we rarely see since they invented CGI stuntmen. Apart from some Matrix-like effects here and there, what we see is a bunch of REAL stunts, with people jumping from tall buildings that are not green-screen composites. There is a ton of gunplay (see a woman shooting a guy WHILE GIVING BIRTH!), car chases, exploding refrigerators, ass kicking, flying babies and so on till the happy ending!

It's almost like several vignettes that form a larger whole. The introductory relationship angle which establishes Jack's (Nick Tse) character traits and love interest smashes into a money-making activity that has Tse working for Anthony Wong's fabricated bodyguard business. Then comes a jarringly violent conflict of South American rebels, which ties back to the bodyguard portion, then takes a 90-degree turn when Tyler (Wu Bai) seems to turn on his rebel cohorts, battling them in action scenes taking place in/on an apartment complex, an airport, and an arena. Oh, yeah, and both Jack & Tyler's girlfriends are pregnant.

Confused? You will be when you see the film, especially during the more sedate first half. But when the bullets start flying and the cat/mouse/cucaracha game begins, you will certainly be in for a treat.

The acting is good, with Wu Bai performing some decent acrobatics along with a classic performance as the "one-man-army" good guy. Nick Tse always strikes me as a slightly more rebellious version of Noodle (Ekin Cheng) but he does well as the flustered good guy trying to make things right. Anthony Wong is once again solid, though he seems to disappear about halfway thru the film. The cinematography is appropriately frenetic and stylish, with the sniper-sight views being of particular interest. You will marvel at the great & gritty use of locales in the film, which really make the action seem all the more realistic and tense. I'd love to know how they filmed most of that apartment condo conflict.

Possibly the best thing about the film is that it isn't "stupid." The stylistic moviemaking techniques don't overshadow the story or dumb it down. The film will make you think, and though the end is appropriately sappy and routine, the entire movie is done well enough to truly satisfy with no sense of "fluff" invading the viewer's mindset. Quite a flashy achievement.

But all is not well when Tyler's father-in-law becomes the target of an assassination by a group of killers that Tyler, himself, knows.

Although the two men find themselves working together to stop the assassination plot, they are soon thrust forward toward opposite sides of a deadly confrontation.

What started off as a slow, monotonous movie ended up as a righteous action packed gunplay bonanza! Tsui Hark is kicking some ass with this one!

I rented this one on chance. The only actor in it I heard of was Anthony Wong, though I've hardly seen any of his movies. It was a gamble that paid of.

My fave part was the massive shoot out in the apartment complex that leads to the floor being blown up! Someone thought it would be a good idea to shot a rocket though the window.

Any action fan will undoubtedly enjoy this, and whenever a boring part comes up, there was always some comedy bits.