Split Second (1992)

First watched this movie late at night about 20 years ago with my wife, and it has since been, one of our go to films. Video worn out, DVD worn out and now on Blu-ray. It's a fantastic B movie and Rutger Hauer, along with Neil Duncan are perfectly casted and make this a film that can be watched and watched over again

This film is not for everyone and I completely understand those who will not like it because this is not an analytical film filled with easter eggs of messages pertaining to social importance, apart from maybe its apocalyptic theme. Rather it is kind of "fast food" cinema. However these are the kind of films that can be very fun to watch. It also holds some nostalgic content for me because I saw it as an impressionable teenager. At that time I was into action, sci-fi, horror and comedy films. This film attempts to blend them together and does a good enough job, especially if you are the kind of person who can just sit back with your popcorn and enjoy the movie, than you are capable of enjoying this film.Yes it has a bunch of components which were prevalent in this type of genre at the time. One-liners, a buddy cop relationship, action and a bit of comedy, and of course BIG F***ING GUNS. I'm not embarrassed to say I enjoyed it. Rutger Hauer provides a good performance as the unstable yet admirable lead character who functions on "anxiety, coffee and chocolate". Yet another cliché as he is unwillingly partnered with Dick Durkin, from the moment you hear his name you know that he is there to provide some comedic relief as the pair track down "The Scorpio Killer" who Rutger's character Harley Stone seems to have a unique connection with. He and Durkin work together to bring down the killer who turns out to be much more than they imagined. The film has some memorable and stand out actors in the supporting cast such as Kim Cattrall, Pete Postlethwaite and Alun Armstrong. The latter providing one of my most favorite moments in the film when he snaps and exclaims "What do I do? Put out an APB on the devil? answers to the name of Lucifer?" The way he delivers it is quite priceless. The antagonist also provides a very real threat level and kept somewhat obscure as to the motives and patterns involved, until quite late in the film which helps to keep you engaged. All in all a quite predictable but enjoyable film.

I admit, I did reflect on how Rutger Hauer had gotten out of shape since Bladerunner 10 years earlier. But then we all are probably guilty of a little makeup handed over to us by time. Anyway, the movie is entertaining and enjoyable.Much like wearing your favorite comfortable pair of jeans to Walmart to buy some mundane thing like bananas. You slap on your clothes, hop into your car, drive up to your favorite parking space at your local Walmart. And before you know it, you're in and out, back home.It was revealing to see Kim Cattrall, who familiar face and hairstyle brought out memories of her in Star Trek - The Undiscovered Country (1991) where she portrayed Lt. Valeris. The movie definitely has lots of Bladerunner crime noir moods in it.You could even say the place where this story takes place could easily have been a few blocks away from where the characters of Bladerunner were at.It's as if you could zoom out of the set of Bladerunner with a satellite image, and then move over to another part of that city, zoom in and find these characters running around chasing the deadly path of the killer monster.The creature: The creature was definitely held back and revealed in layers, adding to the suspense. The audience is permitted to experience the entire creature eventually. Not like other last minute reveals where you only see the head, or a hand.Acting: I found the ability of Hauer's character to play both a shallow and insensitive bad ass cop, while at the same time portray genuine feelings of intimacy and compassion on the screen to be successfully accomplished. These are evidence mostly during the intimate moments between him and Catrall's character. Where the alternative is many of these types of "Cop vs Creature" films leave out any interpersonal depth, especially between a partner of theirs in the story. If at all, only a bedroom scene, but here, there feel the weight of their feelings throughout the film when it lets them. On that note, bringing depth to the film, Hauer remains consistent.Hauer ability to be a menace to his profession, and to the people he interacts with, he is quickly forgiven throughout the film where he is permitted to delve into deep, complicated themes of his personality surrounded around devotion, and a sense of purpose for life. A balance all to often forgotten in similar films.As in Hauer's portrayal of the character he played in Bladerunner. There, his character left behind a violent, and bloody trail. However, the purpose of which was to seek a way to overcome the expiration date he was body was programmed with. In that sense, he is forgiven at the end of the movie when, in the rain, he reveals his deep insatiable desire for life.

Split Second is hardly essential film-making, but it is a prime example of how to make a low budget film more entertaining than it has a right to be. Put another way, if there is a calculation that divides a budget by entertainment value, Split Second might not lead the way, but it is a damn sight ahead of many so-called 'blockbusters' in value for money.But still you can't ignore the fact that this film runs on the smell of an oily rag, it's evident from the first frame all the way to the reveal of the shonky 'beast' near the end, a creature that elicits more chuckles than screams.In 2008 the global pollution problems created rising water levels, which left London largely underwater, stricken with a huge ongoing vermin problem, and created an almost endless night.Or perhaps you missed it… (I love it when the 'movie future' becomes the past.) Rutger Hauer plays Stone, a hard nosed, grizzled veteran who works alone and ignores everything in the rule book. He is a hard drinkin' loose cannon who does things his way, and has done ever since his partner and best friend was killed by a notorious and as yet on the loose serial killer.Well imagine our surprise when said killer reappears on the scene, literally ripping hearts from bodies and taking bites from his victims. Reluctantly allowed on the case only due to his previous experience with the killer, Stone is aghast (p*ssed might be more accurate but is a worse scrabble term) when he is saddled with a younger partner named Durkin who is everything he is not: a straight-laced, clean living logical thinker who not only follows the book but practically lives by it.As the gnawed on bodies of the innocent pile up and Stone and Durkin nearly cross paths with the unseen killer many times it grows more evident that this case is perhaps more personal for both Stone and the pursued, with the lines between hunter and hunted becoming increasingly blurred. The last straw comes when a human heart is express posted to Stone – with a large bite already taken from it.This is a fairly standard set up for many sci-fi flavoured films, the thing that differentiates Split Second is the humour. While hardly Beverly Hills Cop or Red Heat this film is laced with lashings of black humour of the driest kind, much of it from Durkin, who it would be fair to say is hardly the comedic type but still manages many of the best lines, his rant about finding 'big f*cking guns' after first contact with their prey still elicits a chuckle and his progressive hardening up as the film progresses is quite humorous.The rest of the film is to be frank amateurish, when revealed the killer and most of his previous actions make no sense whatsoever. How a 10 foot tall long fanged alien/monster can lurk in nightclub corners unseen, manage to package and address a human heart to the right recipient and also write notes for his pursuers is beyond me.Equally confusing is the presence of Kim Cattrall as a sex-object. As someone who has had the misfortune of seeing 12 minutes of Sex and the City any possibility of attraction is long since dead, despite the fact that when this was made she is in her so-called 'prime'. But here she is the dead partner's ex-wife, who is there to be occasionally nude and vulnerable… There is some mystical supernatural crap designed to justify – or distract us from – the situation, but misguided symbolism or not Split Second is less about the logic and more about the fun in watching Rutger Hauer play a bitter and violent cop as he chases some sort of monster.Obviously cheap and filled with blood and a few laughs, Split Second provides a stronger budget : entertainment ratio than a thousand Transformers or Harry Potters ever could. It still isn't amazing but you could do a lot worse.Final Rating – 6 / 10. Split Second might not even be around any more – I bought it many years ago on VHS and dragged that out the other night – but if you even pretend that you are a Rutger Hauer devotee you owe it to yourself to check it out.