SPLIT SECOND (1992) - Andy's Blu-Ray Review

[AndyDursin]

SPLIT SECOND
4/10

Looking back it's difficult to figure how the low-budget, futuristic British sci-fi thriller SPLIT SECOND (91 mins., R; MVD Visual) managed to net a U.S. release in the spring of 1992 across 1100 theaters – pretty much a nationwide rollout at the time, and from an independent distributor, no less. This mash-up of traditional cop-buddy cliches, “Alien” and “Blade Runner” offers Rutger Hauer as the “unconventional” detective stalking a beast – who leaves notes at the scene of the crime, taunting his opponents! – as well as a number of talented personnel in its production. Regrettably, the film is compromised by meager production values and stodgy direction that severely limit the fun.

Boasting an early script by Gary Scott Thompson (writer of the original “The Fast and the Furious”), “Split Second” is set in one of those dreary movie futures – in this case, 2008, but a 2008 where global warming has turned parts of London nearly into Waterworld. The movie's scientific projections may have been humorously amiss, but it's a secondary problem to a seriously claustrophobic looking film that mostly features Hauer and his by-the-book partner (Alastair Duncan) following a killer around damp corridors and sewers. It says something that Kim Cattrall taking a shower is one of the film's highlights (she also looks like she just wandered off the set of “Star Trek VI” with her rough haircut), because even though Hauer is engaged, “Split Second” is so sickly-looking from a visual perspective that it's hard to generate any enthusiasm for it. Stephen Norrington designed the creature effects, but they're fleeting in their intensity, while director Tony Maylam (the equally listless “Riddle of the Sands”) helms with all the excitement of a rainy Sunday afternoon.

A movie that performed modestly in theaters, “Split Second” comes to Blu-Ray from MVD in a full-fledged Special Edition. The transfer (1.85) is reported to be a 4K presentation from the 35mm internegative, though the source looks pretty soft; faring better is an active and pleasing 2-channel PCM soundtrack that's quite active when played back in Dolby Surround. Extras include an enjoyable new commentary from historian Mike Leeder and filmmaker Arne Venema; new interviews with Alastair Duncan, producer Laura Gregory, composer Stephen Parsons, line producer Laurie Borg, creature designer Cliff Wallace, and cinematographer Clive Tickner. Archival supplements include a 1992 featurette spotlighting Norrington (who went onto direct “Blade” and “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” before burning out), another featurette with the cast, the Japanese extended cut (taken off what appears to be a subtitled VHS tape) as well as its discarded sequences presented separately, TV spots, the trailer and a US home video promo.