Time and Tide 2001

During an alcohol-fueled night, Tyler Yim becomes involved with Ah Jo, a lesbian undercover cop who has wandered into a bar after a fight with her girlfriend. The encounter leaves her pregnant, and Tyler, intent on making money to support her, signs on with Uncle Ji’s unlicensed bodyguard service. Ah Jo wants nothing to do with him, yet Tyler presses on, determined to do what he can.

Nearly nine months later, Tyler crosses paths with Jack Chow, a butcher, and his pregnant wife, Ah Hui. Ah Hui lends her help as Tyler works to prevent an assassination planned for her father’s birthday. When Tyler pitches the idea of a joint bodyguard venture to Jack, Jack politely declines, setting a different course for both men. Soon a new threat emerges: a South American mercenary group known as the Angels arrives, menacing Jack, who is nicknamed Juan by his adversaries. The Angels’ second in command, Miguel Joventino, offers Jack a chance to rejoin them if he kills his own father-in-law, putting Jack in an impossible moral position.

Jack instead makes a drastic move, shooting Pablo Santosa, the Angels’ leader, and then eludes Uncle Ji’s guards. In the chaos, Jack grabs a case full of cash and escapes, dropping Ah Hui at her father’s mansion with a key to a train-station locker and a quiet instruction to seek shelter there when their child is born. Meanwhile, Tyler finds himself under police scrutiny, questioned as a possible link to the killer after having seen the confrontation up close. He remains tight-lipped, offering no answers.

Ah Jo’s attempt to parole Tyler fails, but Uncle Ji succeeds in securing his release. Tyler thanks Ah Jo, only to be locked away again in a transportation crate for a night as Uncle Ji presses him for information about Jack. When Tyler finally receives more money, he tries to hand it to Ah Jo, only to learn she has just gone into the hospital to give birth. Driven by the need to protect the people he cares about, Tyler tracks Jack down and forces his way into Jack’s apartment, which is already under the Angels’ watch. A brutal gunfight erupts as Tyler fights to survive in a space rigged with danger.

Jack’s quick thinking turns the odds: he leads a plan that sacrifices one of the Angels to distract the others, allowing him and Tyler to slip away. Miguel professes defeat and proposes a truce, but the moment is shattered when one of the Angels spots Jack’s wife outside the burning apartment. The Angels bolt after Ah Hui, who is now in labor, as Tyler pilfers a taxi with a fake gun, handing his wallet to the driver to throw off pursuit. The police, still wary of Tyler, track him to the station as a Special Duties Unit team closes in.

At the station, Tyler confronts Ah Hui with the fake weapon and seizes the money Jack had stolen. The situation spirals: Ah Hui goes into labor, and an Angel fires on a cop and an innocent bystander in the ensuing confusion. The SDU arrives, but the Angels, including Miguel and others disguised as officers, infiltrate the operation with tear gas and a coordinated assault. The resulting chaos sees the Angels loot tactical gear from fallen officers, escalating the danger for everyone involved. Tyler manages to escape with Ah Hui, while Jack steps in to defend a SDU lieutenant, killing one Angel and surrendering to save lives.

The Angels’ retreat leads them into a tunnel and then into a stadium filled with concertgoers. Tyler hunkers down with Ah Hui in the tunnels as she nears delivery, and Jack secures permission from a wary SDU lieutenant to pursue Miguel into the stadium. A brutal confrontation on the catwalks above the crowd ends with Jack killing Miguel with a grenade after a fierce hand-to-hand struggle. Meanwhile, Tyler remains by Ah Hui’s side, ensuring she can give birth safely, and just as the last thread of danger closes in, Ah Hui shoots the final Angel.

With the immediate threat defused, Jack earns a chance to slip away and reunite with his wife, while Tyler recovers the stolen money and heads to the hospital to meet his newborn child. The film closes on a note of uneasy relief, showing how each character’s choices intersected with violence and loyalty, and how new life arrives amid the fallout of betrayal and danger.