Product Details

• Actors: Albert (II), Wu Bai, Charles Fok, Jack Kao, Leung Tal Keung
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• DVD Release Date: August 7, 2001
• Run Time: 113 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005LK99
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,751 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Time and Tide" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Every time you think you've seen everything action movies have to offer, along comes one that makes your jaw drop. Tsui Hark's Time and Tide is one of those movies. The plot careens all over the place like a drunken driver: it starts out when a bartender in Hong Kong named Tyler (Nicholas Tse) sleeps with a lesbian undercover cop and gets her pregnant. To make money to give her to help support the baby, he takes a job with a bodyguard firm run by a loan shark--all of the other bodyguards are men who owe the loan shark money and are trying to work off their debt. The firm gets an assignment protecting a wealthy executive, who has a daughter who's married to a butcher named Juan (Wu Bai) who's actually a former mercenary--OK, this is where things really go off the rails, but never fear: you will not be bothered by the story. You will find yourself caring about these characters, even though you're not entirely sure who they are. You will not be bored for a single moment of this movie, and when you get to the sequence where the mercenary and the head of the heist gang (who are former partners--maybe) are having a shootout while rapelling down the walls of a gigantic Hong Kong tenement, time will suspend and you will gaze in rapt astonishment, unable to understand how anyone could have conceived of these astonishing action sequences, let alone brought them to delirious, stunningly graceful life. Time and Tide is amazing, and Tsui Hark (Peking Opera Blues, Once upon a Time in China, Green Snake) is one of the geniuses of contemporary cinema. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker

The peaceful title is just a feint. In his thirty-eighth movie, the Hong Kong director Tsui Hark serves up a healthy measure of hard-boiled alienation and gyroscopic firefights. There's also a dizzying plot involving Brazilian mercenaries, the Triad, and pregnant women, but the deft escapes and the how-did-they-do-that shots provide all the gravity the film needs. You can't look away. Pop stars Wu Bai and Nicholas Tse play the lead roles, and contribute to the synth-heavy soundtrack. In Cantonese and Mandarin. -Michael Agger
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Time And Tide Blows You Away!! :), July 2, 2001

By 

Timothee Choe "drknaim :)" (Bochum) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Time and Tide (DVD)

Wow~~ I waited for this movie soooo long and finally was still amazed by it! Tsui Hark really proved with this that he really is one of the greatest Filmmakers alive! Those of you disappointed with his Hollywood Films should watch this :)

The movie features interesting characters (from the leads Nic Tse and Wu Bai over people like their girlfriends and Anthony Wong to "The Angels"). You really get some kind of attached to them and the film does not get boring when there is no action scene. Also the cinematogrophy and overall camera techniques are superb. You can see that Tsui Hark really tries new things and tries to improve. Something John Woo should do too!

The Story may seem to be a little bit loose, but the part that is most important of this movie ist the Action! Hung Yan Yan (aka Xiong Xin Xin) does a hell of a job with his action choreography that is really creative and superb! It's a pity that he didn't get the HK Award for the Best Action Design (it went to Crouching Tiger, which is ok, though I think Time And Tide would have really earned it, because it delivers a new style and is inspirative!). You may know Hung Yan Yan as the "Tattowated" from The Blade or as "Club Foot" from OUATIC3. But what is important here, is that he kicks ass!

The best shootout is a fight in a big appartment Block where they actually fight BETWEEN the houses! That fight is larger than life!! And also the "in-house-fighting" in this scene is supreme. Wu Bai is sooo cool! =)

To summ everything up in some sentences: This movie rockz and the action can easily keep up with "John Woo Action" from HK. The story itself is interesting too and gives an good conclusion. The Cinematogrophy and camera angles are also one reason one should see this movie!

Simply: A MUST SEE EVENT!!!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All I have to say is, "Wow", August 7, 2001

By 

"[e-mail]" (Worcester, Massachusetts United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Time and Tide (DVD)

Alright, this is not for movie goers that are big on plot and character. Still, for people that are looking for a great action movie, this is the place to look. It always amazes me when Hollywood imports directors and they make terrible movies here (see: John Woo, Tsui Hark, etc) and still manage to make excellent movies in their native countries. Time and Tide is an excellent example of this, it is stylish, well paced, and easy to watch. The plot surrounds a bartender who gets an undercover lesbian cop pregnant during a one night stand. Nine months later, she's expecting and he's become a bodyguard to try and raise money for her and his child, even though she wants nothing to do with him. Also in appearance is a mercenary friend of his and his pregnant girlfriend. The plot from here on out is sketchy at best, but you never care. The movie moves forward with such drive and intensity, that you never stop to think about the details. The DVD presentation is crisp and clear, with amazing sound and visuals which really do justice to the use of color. Tsui Hark's eye is flawless and old-school action fans will appreciate the spare use of camera tricks and CGI which really allow the action to be seen (and you have to wonder in awe at many of the stunts that these guys actually do instead of thinking, "wow, that's some great special effects). The DVD is sparse on extras, but it does include an interesting commentary by the director. Still, the movie is reason enough to purchase this flick. Definitely, HK action movie fans and US movie fans that are tired of the barrage of expensive special effects in place of real creativity will love this movie.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Jerry Bruckheimer is a two-bit hack!", November 6, 2001

By 

Adam Rakunas (Santa Monica, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Time and Tide (DVD)

...I roared at the tops of my lungs after seeing this movie. Holy Good Gravy, but this was the Platonic Ideal of Action Movies: insane stunts, funny and heartfelt characters, and bullets. Lots and lots of bullets. Tsui Hark is, as the kids today would call him, The Man.

The plot, like any good HK thriller, is only there to service the action, and, boy howdy, there's plenty. Hand-to-hand fights, chases through Kowloon's labyrinthine slums, backwards car chases, and gun fights in places that won't exactly spoil it if I tell you but you'll just have to rent it anyway. Yes, the dubbing and subbing is odd; things in English that may sound cool to someone speaking Cantonese will make no sense to any of the English-native speakers. I'm sure the Spanish is just as munged up. But you know what? Who cares? You see these flicks to get blown away, not to contemplate the existential crises. Rent and watch. And don't drink the entire bar. That's bad.