Time
and Tide Movie Review:
"Time
and Tide" is the latest action flick to come out of
Hong Kong, and although it can be heralded for its high
speed pace and amazing action
sequences, its overly convoluted story line made it very
difficult to follow and almost impossible to care for any
of the characters. This movie whizzes
by with immense fury, yet we can't help but feel a bit left
behind.
Tyler
(Nicholas Tse) is 21 years old and has just got hit by the
possibility that he might soon be a father. Feeling somewhat
responsible for the
unexpected pregnancy and wanting to take care of his child,
he gets a job as an underground bodyguard. Here he befriends
Jack (Wu Bai), a ruthless mercenary with the talents of
James Bond (maybe more). The two initially find themselves
working for the same team, until slowly they drift apart
and find themselves on opposite sides.
The
action/fight scenes in "Time and Tide" are the
best ones I've seen since "Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon". They are so exhilaratingly choreographed
that one can almost overlook the film's many flaws. One
exceptional sequence, set in some tenement buildings, stands
out and was just totally
out of this world. Bullets zipping by every which way, guys
flying out of windows left and right, camera shots that
make you wonder how they did it
and a well-made freeze frame of a gas explosion. I also
liked the cinematography and visual tricks used by Hark,
which highly compliments the
fast momentum of the film.
However,
the story gets lost behind all the commotion and turbulence.
I wasn't even sure whether I got the entire plot right.
Characters just pop out of nowhere, and we have no idea
what their relationships are to any of the others or what
their purpose were for being on screen. I was reduced to
categorizing people into good guys and bad guys, and even
then I was sometimes guessing. Events are so convoluted
that I lost interest in the
characters. I just didn't care for any of them anymore.
"Time
and Tide" had a great adrenaline rush, cool visuals,
but not much of anything else. It has a promising story
that could have been handled a lot
more tactfully, but the plot gets lost in Hark's indulgences.
Fight sequences are memorable, but characters are forgettable.
Mazzyboi
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