 | In the year 2008, heavy rainfall has flooded large areas of London. Rookie police officer Dick Durkin (Duncan) is assigned to partner Harley Stone (Hauer), a burnt-out and highly cynical homicide detective who, according to his commanding officer, survives on "anxiety, coffee and chocolate" after being unable to prevent the murder of his partner by a serial killer several years previously. Now however, the murders have begun again and Stone and Durkin are assigned the case. After investigating the scenes of several killings, they appear no closer to identifying the killer, with their only clues being that the murders seem to be linked to the lunar cycle, and that the killer has multiple recombinant DNA strands, having absorbed the DNA of the victims. |
Finally, after Stone's girlfriend Michelle (Cattrall) is kidnapped, the detectives track the killer deep into the flooded and disused London Underground system and discover the truth: the killer is not human. It's a horrific and possibly demonic form of life that is fast, savage, bloodthirsty and fixated upon killing Stone just as it previously killed his partner. In fact, as the movie progresses, each killing and "appearance" of the monster is an attempt to lure Stone closer and closer.
During a tense battle in and around an abandoned underground train, Michelle is found suspended over the water as bait, but Stone is able to pull the monster's heart from its chest and kill it. However, as the policemen leave the scene with Michelle in a rescue dinghy, bubbles of air are seen breaking the surface of the water, suggesting that there may be more than one monster.
During a tense battle in and around an abandoned underground train, Michelle is found suspended over the water as bait, but Stone is able to pull the monster's heart from its chest and kill it. However, as the policemen leave the scene with Michelle in a rescue dinghy, bubbles of air are seen breaking the surface of the water, suggesting that there may be more than one monster.
This is early 90's low-budget sci-fi at it's very best!
Oh, okay, you need more than that... fine...
Split Second gets a serious mauling around the internet, for reasons I'm actually quite unsure of. No, it's not a original film, nor is it a high-concept blockbuster, but Split Second packs a serious punch from beginning to end and what it lacks in budget and spectacle, it makes up for in style and originality. It's atmosphere of flooded London pervades every inch of the screen, and brings it's B-Movie game in spades. The flood itself isn't Waterworld levels, more like consistent war against the water, making everything difficult to do, unless you are equipped with a massive jeep of hoverboat.
Split Second is B-Movie. To it's very heart, it's a B-Movie. It at no point attempts to be anything other than fun, silly, and a little cheesy, mixing together action movie and horror elements into a consistent visual presence. There are some issues with the script throughout, but when the ham-hammer of Rutger Hauer comes barrelling into the scene, you kind of forget any issues that may crop up. Hauer is badass in this movie, the sort of lead character that the 80's were so good t creating, with a crop of the nihilism that the early 90s birthed (see Predator 2). Hauer spends the entire film with at least 5 guns on his person at any point. Hauer is perfect here, he's horrible human being who's first reaction to almost anything is violence. I h isn't putting a gun up someone's nose, he's slamming them into walls on a almost hourly basis. The supporting cast is a surprise, Pete Postlethwaite, Michael J. Pollard, Alastair Duncan and....Kim Cattral.....
Oh, okay, you need more than that... fine...
Split Second gets a serious mauling around the internet, for reasons I'm actually quite unsure of. No, it's not a original film, nor is it a high-concept blockbuster, but Split Second packs a serious punch from beginning to end and what it lacks in budget and spectacle, it makes up for in style and originality. It's atmosphere of flooded London pervades every inch of the screen, and brings it's B-Movie game in spades. The flood itself isn't Waterworld levels, more like consistent war against the water, making everything difficult to do, unless you are equipped with a massive jeep of hoverboat.
Split Second is B-Movie. To it's very heart, it's a B-Movie. It at no point attempts to be anything other than fun, silly, and a little cheesy, mixing together action movie and horror elements into a consistent visual presence. There are some issues with the script throughout, but when the ham-hammer of Rutger Hauer comes barrelling into the scene, you kind of forget any issues that may crop up. Hauer is badass in this movie, the sort of lead character that the 80's were so good t creating, with a crop of the nihilism that the early 90s birthed (see Predator 2). Hauer spends the entire film with at least 5 guns on his person at any point. Hauer is perfect here, he's horrible human being who's first reaction to almost anything is violence. I h isn't putting a gun up someone's nose, he's slamming them into walls on a almost hourly basis. The supporting cast is a surprise, Pete Postlethwaite, Michael J. Pollard, Alastair Duncan and....Kim Cattral.....
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Alastair Duncan as Haur's partner is so much fun it's unreal. He begins the film s a by the number's cop, fresh faced and eager to pleas, but by the and he has become coffee addicted, gun loving nutbar. The change in his character isn't forced, and happens in some extremely silly ways.
Go on. Take anything here seriously.
Go on. Take anything here seriously.
The Creature itself, be it Alien or Supernatural, is kept hidden throughout, and when you do get a decent look at the beast, it does work more than others of the time, and thankfully is only seen in quick glimpses. Less is more when it come to movie monsters.
All in all, Split Second is fun ride. It's not one to change the world, nor is it anything more than wht it sts out to be. It's fun. It's a lot of fun.
The Blu-Ray is coming....
All in all, Split Second is fun ride. It's not one to change the world, nor is it anything more than wht it sts out to be. It's fun. It's a lot of fun.
The Blu-Ray is coming....
