Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Blistering performances.

The 1992 futuristic sci-fi/horror detective-noir picture "Split Second" is a "B"-movie that I grew up watching in the early 1990s with my dear late mother, who for one reason or another had a thing for these sorts of low-budget, many-times straight-to-video/straight-to-TV "B"-movie-type pictures. I grew up on these movies, which is why I can freely say that I "get" them better than most people who are mostly accustomed to "mainstream" movie fare.Today, I watched "Split Second" for the first time in many years, and I was surprised to find that the movie is much, much better than I remember it. It's a fun, darkly humorous, and occasionally gripping and suspenseful sci-fi/horror detective-noir story that doesn't take itself too seriously."Split Second" is set in London in the then-future 2008, after "40 days and 40 nights of torrential rainfall" have left the city half-submerged under several feet of water; global warming has only exacerbated the problem. In the midst of all this, is American expatriate homicide detective "Harley" Stone (Rutger Hauer, the villainous android "replicant" Roy Batty in "Blade Runner"), and he's on the trail of a cannibalistic serial killer who rips out the hearts of his victims. This same serial killer is also responsible for the still-as-of-yet-unsolved murder of Stone's partner from three years earlier, and Stone subsequently had an affair with his partner's American widow Michelle (Kim Cattrall), before he disappeared and went underground.Paranoid, on-edge, heavily armed, suffering from anxiety neurosis and sustaining himself on an unhealthy diet of coffee and chocolate, Stone is an outcast amongst his fellow native English-born police officers. This is precisely why, when the killer mysteriously resurfaces after a long absence to continue his seemingly-ritualistic murder spree, Stone is then partnered up with the Oxford-educated Detective Dick Durkin (Neil Duncan), who provides some comic relief but also provides some valuable insights into the killer's psychology.To make long stories short, Stone and Durkin uncover shocking evidence that suggests that this killer isn't human, and they're right. After several close encounters with this killer, there's only one thing that they know for sure: They're Going To Need Bigger Guns. (Yeah, who can forget the line: "We need big guns, big f**king guns!" It's a perfectly believable reaction for when Our Heroes finally see what it is that they're up against.)Competently directed by Tony Maylam and written by Gary Scott Thompson, "Split Second" has many things going for it, including its appropriately bleak and doom-&-gloom depiction of a flooded, rat-infested London in the then-future 2008; and the fact that this then-futuristic London is a perfect breeding ground for a serial killer who may not be human to go on a rampage that has its origins in the occult. This supernatural angle to what could have been a straight-forward "B"-movie sci-fi/horror picture gives it a little bit of extra flair that makes it stand out from other movies of this sort - even if "Split Second" never fully rises above its "B"-movie roots.The film is surprisingly competently acted, too, especially by Rutger Hauer, even if most people today only know him as the thoughtful, yet violent, semi-psychotic villain from "Blade Runner," which this movie takes more than a few of its production and set design ideas from, as well as "Alien" (1979); is it a coincidence that Hauer appeared in "Blade Runner," and that it, and "Alien," were both directed by Ridley Scott?I'm thankful for "Split Second" taking me on a trip down memory lane from the early 1990s.7/10

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.

Rutger Hauer is a police detective in London, a few years in the future, when global warming has flooded much of the city. Hauer wears dark spectacles, keeps a cigar in his mouth, wears a long black overcoat with a turned-up collar, and strides down alleys with the wet pavement reflecting the neon lights advertising debaucheries of various kinds. Well, if Arnold Schwarzenegger could do it, why not Rutger Hauer? Hauer is probably a better actor than Schwarzenegger, although I respect Arnold enormously. He was my supporting player in "Raw Deal" in the first violent scene in which he and two other human mammoths knocked me on my rear. It was strictly in accordance with the script because in real life I could easily have decked him. Only the fact that I was wearing a black T shirt with "Walker Museum, Minneapolis" stenciled on the back must have given him enough faux courage to bump against me so viciously. Probably thought I was some kind of egg head freak with one foot in fairydom, sitting on floors and talking about intellectuals like Deepak Chopra. He'd have had another think coming if I hadn't been hobbled by the role of cowardly gambler.Where was I? It was a horrifying smash against that Boulder Dam with legs and when I hit the poker table I think there was some brain damage. Yes, the movie. Thank you. Hauer is on the usual revenge kick because his former partner was murdered, and now his new one has been butchered. He carries a long-barreled revolver with a scope and an abundance of other blocky attachments. Of him, his colleagues say, "Now he lives on anxiety, coffee, and chocolate." It's quickly established that Hauer is a loose cannon who dislikes rules and, in fact, doesn't obey them. But he's experienced and he's "the best." Of course he's assigned an assistant, Dick Durken, a novice Oxford graduate, whom Hauer mistreats at every opportunity. As Dirty Harry said to HIS first novice assistant, "Don't let your college degree get you killed." Not to worry about any political implications of global warming. It's just an excuse for wet streets and rubber boots, which help to distinguish it from other undistinguished action movies. That when the serial killer is nearby you can hear a loud heart thumping on the screen and hoarse breathing, is almost a requirement in a dumb movie like this. Half-way through it turns from an ordinary action flick into "Predator" and loses its wits completely.

Split Second is directed by Tony Maylam and Ian Sharp and written by Gary Scott Thompson. It stars Rutger Hauer, Kim Cattrall and Neil Duncan. It was filmed in London, England, predominantly at the Hartley Jam Factory in Southwark, with Clive Tickner the cinematographer.London, 2008. "After forty days and nights of torrential rain, the city is largely submerged below water, a result of the devastating effects of continued global warming. The warnings ignored for decades have now resulted in undreamed-of levels of pollution where day has become almost endless night..." and something is stalking the watery city and tearing hearts out of its victims…..Plot follows a familiar course, and in truth there's no surprises here. A psychic link between Stone and the killer is sadly never fully formed, which is a shame because it had the potential to make the film more interesting, but to off set that a touch is some nice babble involving astrological and satanic matters which are thrown up during the search/investigation. In its favour as well, is that Maylam and his team sensibly keep the perpetrator hidden for most of the film, instead choosing the odd flashing glimpse of a clawed hand, or a murky torso running across the frame, while the idea to only show the bloody aftermath of a kill hits home harder than if we actually viewed it.The look is spot on for an apocalyptic sci-fi piece, all greys, silvers and low lights, while the cheap production design works well in context of the tone of the picture. There's even some Schwarzenegger like cheese dialogue, the likes of which the big Austrian would have got paid millions to speak at around the same time Split Second was released. The killer, once revealed, will disappoint many, mainly because it looks overly familiar, but it does impact for the finale set at a flooded tube station. While the music (co-scored by three different people) is ideal as it sounds very tinny, in fact it's very 1980's like.Judging by the critical reaction to it you have to think some folk were taking it a bit too seriously. Never fully convincing as a lead man, Hauer pitches this just right, with tongue in cheek, a grizzled personage and a swagger to match the glint in is eyes. He's playing a burned out cop character called Harley Stone, his partner, who of course is the polar opposite, is named Dick Durkin! Take this seriously? Never! Cattrall is merely here to be a love interest, to scream and show some flesh for the discerning hound dog, while her haircut, some black dyed German Helmet effort, is totally unflattering. Duncan dose a fine job as the nerdy copper, working the comedy off of Hauer very well, while fleeting support comes from great British actors Alun Armstrong and Pete Postlethwaite. In cameos we get song man Ian Dury and Michael J. Pollard.Leave the brain at the door and you have a good chance of enjoying this low-budget British sci-fier. 7/10