Time and Tide

The most cinematically fluid fists-aflyin', guns-ablazin' shoot-em-up in a long time, Time and Tide is such a funny, thrilling, kinetic barrage of brilliant Hong Kong action that getting totally lost in the plot is almost part of the fun. This movie is a 100 m.p.h. blur of inventive and wildly entertaining--but nearly impossible to follow (at least on a first viewing)--intrigue, gunplay, stunts and martial arts showdowns. Nicholas Tse stars as an unlicensed bodyguard trying to do right by a beautiful lesbian cop (Cathy Chui) he accidentally knocked up. Tse befriends a reformed mercenary (Wu Bai), who is targeting the mobster Tse is protecting. There's a briefcase full of money and…that's about all I could keep track of. Why it works in spite of being so bloody abstruse can only be attributed to the genius of writer-director-genre legend Tsui Hark (A Chinese Ghost Story, Once Upon a Time in China), who gives the film a great sense of humor, incredible grace, and cinematic moderation (no slow-mo stunt repeated from 16 angles). Recommended. (R. Blackwelder)