Title: Split Second (1992) Post by: akiratubo on March 20, 2016, 10:55:12 AM The year: 2008. The place: London. The polar ice caps have melted, plunging most of the city under a few feet of water, and the sun never seems to shine. People still try to go about their daily business but, as you might imagine, it's pretty grim.
Against this poorly-lit milieu, Rutger Hauer plays a renegade cop whose name is unimportant because I'm just going to call him Rutger. As it happens, Rutger wasn't always a renegade cop. He was a regular cop until his partner got killed by a Hmm. Sounds like it could be a fairly interesting supernatural serial killer movie, right? Well, forget it. Rutger soon finds himself partnered with a by-the-book nerd stereotype and Split Second dissolves into one of the most tepid, paint-by-numbers buddy-cop movies ever made. Split Second is also full of "witty" references to other movies and even comic books. Barf. The only time this actually kind of works is when Rutger's nerdy partner sees the Once they get their "big f**king guns" and track the monster to its lair in a flooded subway tunnel, the final showdown is ... ok. It's certainly the best part of the movie but that's about like saying the best bite of a truly awful meal was the last, just because that meant it was over. The monster looks pretty cool (even though its head is obviously a slightly decorated motorcycle helmet) and certainly seems like it should be dangerous, what with its resistance to injury and tremendous strength. However, it just sort of stands there and lets Rutger kill it at the end. There's also a "The End?" moment. You see, Kim Katrall (and her boobs) are in this movie. She plays Rutger's ex-girlfriend - who is also his dead partner's wife. The monster kidnaps her as bait. When Rutger finds her in the monster's lair, she's suspended over an absurdly brightly lit spot of water in the flooded tunnel. After Rutger and his partner rescue her and defeat the monster, bubbles rise from the bright spot. It seems Kim was hung there as an offering to something even bigger and nastier than the monster itself. Sadly (?) no sequel has ever been produced, so we'll never know. Oh, well. Now, you may be asking, what was with that strikeout business with the Despite all this Split Second is actually worth watching at least once. If nothing else, the setting is the closest I've seen a live-action movie come to replicating anime-ish future dystopia. Come to think of it, Split Second would have been a pretty awesome early-90s anime. Title: Re: Split Second (1992) Post by: Archivist on March 24, 2016, 09:22:48 PM Aw, I really enjoyed that movie! "We need bigger guns!" was a phrase my friends and I used for months after seeing it.
Going to see if it's on DVD now. :thumbup: Title: Re: Split Second (1992) Post by: akiratubo on March 25, 2016, 12:04:20 AM I saw it when it came out back in 1992. I remember not thinking much of it, but I remembered Rutger's performance and the monster perfectly, all these years later. That must count for something.
A second (actually, third but the first was 24 years ago) viewing made it go down easier. Rutger does a great job playing an absurd role perfectly straight. Title: Re: Split Second (1992) Post by: Newt on March 25, 2016, 07:54:06 AM I'll watch a movie just for Rutger. He is the best part of this one and makes all the difference between 'avoid' and 'watch it once'.
Would have been interesting to see it made with the 'serial killer' in place of the monster. A much more challenging proposition to carry off: but I would have liked to see Rutger have the chance to do it. His talents are under-used, imo. Title: Re: Split Second (1992) Post by: WingedSerpent on March 25, 2016, 10:26:21 AM Maybe the
Or there really was a monster moving about unseen that was intelligent enough to do what it did. Either situation has some disturbing implications to it. Still, I really liked this film. Edit: Just checked amazon and there are some blue ray copies of the movie that are reasonably priced. I say this, because this was a movie I went looking for a few years ago and a single DVD was priced over $500. Title: Re: Split Second (1992) Post by: akiratubo on March 25, 2016, 11:08:14 AM I'll wager the original script intended the killer to be Rutger's old partner, Foster. Rutger sure does call out his name a lot when he has his psychic visions. Then somebody got the monster idea. The shapeshifter idea is pretty nifty.
Title: Re: Split Second (1992) Post by: JPickettIII on March 30, 2016, 12:45:07 AM Great movie.
I would recommend this to anyone. Loved the shot guns at the end. Damn. Title: Re: Split Second (1992) Post by: Ted C on April 06, 2016, 04:16:43 PM Had to watch it again after seeing this thread. Good times. Yay, Hulu!
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