Split Second (1992)

Split Second (1992), directed by Tony Maylam.

Global warming of the future year 2008 has partially drowned London. A strange creature is stalking tough, semi-crazed cop Rutger Hauer, a typical hard case living on coffee, chocolate and cigars. It is a very strange creature: 10 feet tall, quick and seldom seen, it has talons to rip out hearts, but it can also operate firearms and leave taunting messages in English, draw astrological diagrams (all in blood, naturally) and somehow ship packages to the police. It leaves blood trails through crowds who somehow don't notice the monster.

None of this makes much sense. I remembered it as fun creature-feature, combining buddy-cop genre humor with the post-Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982) SF action tropes. Bloody but not serious, stylish with that gritty dystopian look.

I liked it well enough this time but it hasn't held up as well as I'd hoped. Sometimes there is a fine line between clever quoting and formulaic copying. Not so fine this time. Could have been better.

Good supporting cast: Neil Duncan is a hoot as the brainy side-kick who develops a sudden appreciation for much bigger guns. Alun Armstrong and Pete Postlethwaite are cops and Michael J. Pollard has one scene to do that thing he does.

Kim Cattrall is the love interest and does brief nudity.

The usual synth score. The Moody Blues' "Tuesday Afternoon" is a continuing theme; someone just liked it.

Available on a region B Blu-ray import. I can't locate my old PAL DVD; the Blu-ray may be a modest upgrade. No subtitles. The North American DVD is out of print and was cropped to 4:3 anyway.

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