Time and Tide Movie Review

Talk about moody action flicks -- what with all the fistfights, gun battles, explosions, and histrionics, Time and Tide is a thrill ride to be reckoned with.

If only I had any idea what it was about.

Directed by Tsui Hark (Once Upon a Time in China), Time and Tide gives us the epic-yet-tiny saga of two men (played by Chinese rock stars Nicholes Tse and We Bai) looking to strike it rich in present-day Hong Kong, through any means necessary. Soon enough they find themselves on opposite ends of a bloody assassination plot, culminating in a roughly 80-minute manhunt sequence (a la the finale of The Professional) that is so interminable I thought it would never end. Sure enough, every action cliche is touched during this time -- including the ultimate low, when our hero is forced to deliver a baby during a gunfight.

And cut the umbilical cord with his teeth.

And I'm not sure he's even the hero. Shot on digital video, Time and Tide is an impressive work that pushes digital to its limits -- but alas, the story is so confusing that the entire film simply makes no sense. One of the guys has normal bangs. One has his hair in his eyes. Somehow we are meant to understand that the bond between to Asian pop stars crosses, well, something. It crosses time and tide, I suppose.

Aka Seunlau ngaklau.