Split Second (1992)

"He's seen the future...Now he has to kill it. He'll need bigger guns"





PLOT

In a futuristic London the rising sea levels mean that large areas are under feet of water. Stone must track down a strange killer that killed his partner. or is the killer stalking him?





MY THOUGHTS

Split Second is a 1992 Sci Fi horror thriller starring Rutger Hauer, Kim Cattrall and Neil Duncan, the movie begins with a scroll detailing the why the water is rising in future London, 2008 to be exact, also first introduced to Harley Stone(Hauer) who looks like a tough as nails, no nonsense bad ass cop.

He patrols the back streets of London with a purpose looking for someone or something, he stops outside of a club and hears something down a ally way but doesn't see anything. He enters the club and does a typical tough cop routine with a few of club members after this fails, he gets on a pay phone while one the phone a young woman tells him to watch the bathroom so no one comes in on her.

After some time Stone senses the presence of the killer and begins looking around the club until he hears a loud scream from the bathroom, as he rushes inside, he finds the young woman dead, blood all over the place and her heart has been ripped out. It's the killer he's been looking for work.

Back at the police station Stone is being chewed out by The Captain (Alun Armstrong) in his office about not only what happened at the club but other incidents that Stone has been involved in including the fact that he is arm to the teeth with guns. It's revealed that Stone has been after this killer for a few years now because he killed his former partner and best friend.

After some back and forth The Captain pairs Stone up with Det. Dick Durkin (Duncan) who is a very eager about Stone and this killer. after being assigned a new case and more random deaths occur by the killer, the killer begins toying with Stone by sending him half eating hearts.

Stone becomes even more engrossed in his obsession with finding the killer, but things become very personal when the killer sets his sights on Stone girlfriend Michelle (Kim Cattrall) who was involved with his partner before his death which adds more tension.

The Killer begins a cat and mouse game to lure Stone and Durkin closer by kidnapping Michelle and leading the two men into the underworld of London.


Split Second Plays on different levels one its a Sci Fi horror but it is filled out with a lot of dark comedy mostly the relationship between Stone and Durkin are played up for a few laughs. most notably being one scene where the two men joke about each others names. also there is a running joke about Stone not believing that Durkin gets laid every night.

One thing about this underrated gem is that its very similar to Predator 2 which was released a few years earlier now I don't know if that was done one purpose or not but if you've seen both movies you'll know what I mean especially with the fact that the killer acts very similar to The Predator  but it kind of looks like an Alien from the Alien movies as well.

I've been a huge fan of this movie since its release and surprised that this movie doesn't get mentioned as much as it should because its a fun movie but has a really dark undertone to it and it blends well together, Rutger Hauer has to be one of the most underrated actors all time, this movie proves that because even fans of his films rarely know about it.

Kim Cattrall is beautiful to look at especially back during the time when this movie came out but I always felt she was miscast as the female lead, maybe it has something to do with her hair cut or maybe its just me but Uma Thurman look in Pulp Fiction is very similar to Cattrall look here.

The Killer is never fully seen until the final act which is a plus because it adds more to what this creature actually is at a few points threw out the movie its mentioned weather or not its a alien from outer space or if its a demon from hell, its never fully known which but I believe its a demon and the luring of Stone and Durkin underground is like having them go to the gates of hell type of thing.

If you haven't seen nor heard of Split Second I recommend checking it out. even though its been out of print for a number of years and its really expensive on Amazon, but someone did upload the full movie onto Youtube where you can view it.


MY RATING

7/10


CAST
Rutger Hauer- Harley Stone
Kim Cattrall- Michelle
Neil Duncan- Dick Durkin
Michael J. Pollard- The Rat Catcher
Alun Armstrong- Thrasher
Pete Postlethwaite- Paulson
Roberta Eaton- Robin
Stewart Harvey-Wilson- The Killer