--Harley Stone, Split Second
"When chaos reigns, then will the Fallen Angel prevail."
--Dick Durkin, Split Second
Few stories ever reach the level of sheer atmospheric brilliance that Split Second achieves from its earliest scenes. Climate change has led to flooding of mainland cities, which brings with it an infestation of of rats. The waterlogged streets, the dilapidated buildings, and the desperation of the characters are a perfect match for the bleakness of this version of 2008 put to film in 1992. In the midst of this dystopia, a serial killer returns, writing a message in blood for a police officer whose partner it claimed years before. Exercising restraint when showing the ambiguous antagonist allows for a buildup full of genuine mystery, with a few moments of subtle or well-earned humor showing that even extreme despair and comedy are not at odds when handled right. That the cast is not particularly mainstream just makes their discovery by contemporary audiences yet another reason someone might appreciate this movie.
Production Values
The desolate, decaying city of the film conveys from the start that the world is facing enormous problems, problems that are of course exacerbated by a renewed killing spree. Water, dirt, and rats convey the disastrous setting well before the personal trials of the main character add to the woes Split Second explores. Some great shots showcase both this main character and the world, such as an excellent extended shot of the antagonist holding its hand over the protagonist's face from behind him, all with its body outside the focus of the camera. That the protagonist is so layered and perfectly acted gives a lot of further weight to what is a fairly strange story. Rutger Hauer fully embodies this role as Harley Stone, a severely anxious, hyper-focused police officer living self-destructively in order to pursue the killer. His flashes of broader emotions and facial expressions, when he hears that his former romantic partner (not his former police partner who was killed) works with psychologically troubled kids, are all the more important in establishing his character because it is not common for his face to look anything other than upset or determined. Kim Cattrall might not have as much to do in the story, but she plays Stone's former girlfriend with the kindness and openness that someone spiralling down into despair would especially benefit from. Stone's new police partner, who does get more screentime than the talented Kim Cattrall, is wonderfully realized by Alistair Duncan as he transitions from an emotional outsider to Stone to someone just as desperate and alarmed as he is.
Story
Some spoilers are below.
In an alternate 2008, global warming-triggered flooding has devastated cities, and rats have become main residents of cities ilke ( along with humans. An obsessed police officer with great resolve travels through the flooded streets to a nightclub where he anticipates a murder. The murder does occur, the body found with its heart ripped out by the words "I'm back" written in blood on a bathroom mirror. Officer Harley Stone has been deflated and bitter ever since the same killer ended the life of his partner, but evidence mounts that the killer is not even a human being after a dentition cast from the chest bites shows teeth that are certainly not human.
Intellectual Content
Split Second, if it accomplished little else, would at least be a testament to how thematic, plot, and environmental (in the sense of setting, not its global warming backdrop) elements can be seamlessly united without smothering any of them. It actually spends little time addressing how the world came to be flooded and what the reaction to global warming and its consequences was besides greater use of boats, instead devoting more attention to the genuine complexity and other kinds of depth in protagonist Harley Stone. Eventually, it does touch upon the logical possibility of supernaturalism, with one of the other characters saying conflicting things about how the apparent crime scene evidence points to a supernatural entity and how he still regards being a religious and "reasoning" human being as separate (though he shows no awareness of the fact that the laws of logic are necessary truths that transcend the human mind, the natural world, and God himself). The beastly killer, only directly shown at the end, might not be Satan, though it is strongly implied to be something demonic nonetheless, and some of the characters still say that it seems to be Satan himself. Whether Satan or not, the demonic villain of the film is at the least a spirit-body composite or a spiritual being that has the power to summon and dismiss its physical body at will, but it is presented as an explicitly bodily creature with supernatural abilities.
Conclusion
Split Second is a film better executed than its individual components might make it seem, just one that is not mainstream enough for many to have even heard about it once. For a 1992 serial killer movie to combine climate change dystopian elements with an almost Se7en-like police hunt and an unconventional kind of supernatural antagonist so effectively is unusual, but Split Second has been overshadowed by other 90s movies. Not only does its unique combination of what are usually distinct themes and genres work in its favor, expressing artistic creativity, but its lead characters are also acted very well for a film that is not popular or culturally established enough to garner widespread recognition. The abnormal mixture of genre elements and the relentless grittiness of the setting, along with the excellent acting, lift Split Second up far higher than its minimal cultural visibility might suggest it deserves.
Content:
1. Violence: Multiple corpses are shown with their hearts removed. A shotgun blast at close range throws a detective from a window, and shortly after, a bathroom with blood sprayed all over and a dead woman with her heart torn out are shown.
2. Profanity: "Fuck," "shit," "bastard," and "bitch" are used.
3. Nudity: A woman's breasts are seen while she is taking a shower in a nonsexual context.
4. Sexuality: At the club where the first killing of the film takes place, there are several erotic dancers.
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