Time and Tide
0/4
Starring: Nicholas Tse, Wu Bai, Candy Lo, Cathy Tsui, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang
Rated R for Pervasive Strong Violence and Some Drug Use
Note to self: if Tsui Hark is listed as a director, turn around and run. This is the second epic disaster by the "legendary" director that I have seen (the other being his 2010 film, "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame"). Both films suffer from the inability to make their stupid plots make any sense, and the tendency to ruin every action scene through incompetent handling. At least "Detective Dee" had the appeal of looking good. "Time and Tide" looks as if it were filmed on a camcorder.
Tyler (Tse) is a young guy with a problem: after getting obscenely drunk, he ends up sleeping with a lesbian and knocking her up. Wanting to get out of dodge, he joins his Uncle Ji's (Wong Chau-Sang) bodyguard business, which operates on the shady side of the law.
That's when things descend into complete nonsense. Just when I thought I understood what was going on, the story or the characters take a left turn and then I got lost again. Despite the rating description, there's really not that much action or violence. Certainly not nearly enough to fill in the time spent being bored by this hooey of a plot.
If any of these actors want another serious acting job, I suggest that they all change their names to avoid the stench of being involved in this misbegotten project. It's impossible to tell whether or not any of them could have a future in the film industry; the script is so scatterbrained and Hark's filming style is so hyper that it's next to impossible to tell one person from the next. Next to this, "Natural Born Killers" looks subtle.
Tsui Hark apparently has never met a gimmick that he didn't like. Bizarre angles, frantic cuts, "clever" edits (a word I use with thick sarcasm), and so on. Not only does this make the film look cheap and desperate, it distances us from the characters because they add nothing to the story. And Hark is under the mistaken impression that we actually care about the plot. That would be possible if he was able to tell a coherent story. He's so bad that he makes Len Wiseman look like James Ivory.
I have a message for Tsui Hark. I couldn't find this movie on Netflix, so I shelled out four bucks (plus shipping and handling) on a DVD copy. I want my money back. Your movie sucks.
Starring: Nicholas Tse, Wu Bai, Candy Lo, Cathy Tsui, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang
Rated R for Pervasive Strong Violence and Some Drug Use
Note to self: if Tsui Hark is listed as a director, turn around and run. This is the second epic disaster by the "legendary" director that I have seen (the other being his 2010 film, "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame"). Both films suffer from the inability to make their stupid plots make any sense, and the tendency to ruin every action scene through incompetent handling. At least "Detective Dee" had the appeal of looking good. "Time and Tide" looks as if it were filmed on a camcorder.
Tyler (Tse) is a young guy with a problem: after getting obscenely drunk, he ends up sleeping with a lesbian and knocking her up. Wanting to get out of dodge, he joins his Uncle Ji's (Wong Chau-Sang) bodyguard business, which operates on the shady side of the law.
That's when things descend into complete nonsense. Just when I thought I understood what was going on, the story or the characters take a left turn and then I got lost again. Despite the rating description, there's really not that much action or violence. Certainly not nearly enough to fill in the time spent being bored by this hooey of a plot.
If any of these actors want another serious acting job, I suggest that they all change their names to avoid the stench of being involved in this misbegotten project. It's impossible to tell whether or not any of them could have a future in the film industry; the script is so scatterbrained and Hark's filming style is so hyper that it's next to impossible to tell one person from the next. Next to this, "Natural Born Killers" looks subtle.
Tsui Hark apparently has never met a gimmick that he didn't like. Bizarre angles, frantic cuts, "clever" edits (a word I use with thick sarcasm), and so on. Not only does this make the film look cheap and desperate, it distances us from the characters because they add nothing to the story. And Hark is under the mistaken impression that we actually care about the plot. That would be possible if he was able to tell a coherent story. He's so bad that he makes Len Wiseman look like James Ivory.
I have a message for Tsui Hark. I couldn't find this movie on Netflix, so I shelled out four bucks (plus shipping and handling) on a DVD copy. I want my money back. Your movie sucks.
Comments
Post a Comment