yim (nicholas tse) is a barman. one evening, after some very heavy drinking from both parties, he ends up sleeping with a cop, ah jo (cathy tsui). nine months later yim sees a pregnant ah jo in the supermarket and, after having an offer to help her out refused, decides that he needs to make a load of money in the next year, give some to ah jo and then leave hong kong to live on a beach. in order to do this, yim begins to work for a security company, run by uncle ji (anthony wong). things don't quite go as planned, but yim ends up becoming friends with jack (wu bai), the mysterious husband of an ex-client, josephine (candy lo), but jack's past catches up with him and everyone gets in trouble...

if that synopsis sounds confused and strange, that's because the film's narrative is confused and strange. still, as we watch nicholas tse's character get dragged through the film, it all seems to make sense. it even seems quite reasonable, as long as you don't think about it too much.

well, whatever you make of the film's substance, its sense of style is undeniable. sure, there are a couple of dodgy special effects here and there, but the execution of the film's many action sequences is pretty damn classy. nicholas tse seems more than willing to have the absolute crap beaten out of him and is pretty good at dishing it out, when he isn't on the receiving end. wu bai, on the other hand, is a pretty slick character and should really have been in more films.

speaking of people who should do more; tsui hark. sure he's directed a host of classic films, covering every genre from comedy to drama, bullet ballet to wu xia, martial arts to fantasy, but with only five films to his name, since 2000, he could up his output a little.

any way, despite its flaws, 'time and tide' remains as a great example of an ultra-stylised hong kong action flick. good stuff...