SPLIT SECOND (1992)

 

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PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*                                                                                                                                                Though I thought SPLIT SECOND was a decent formula flick, I can see why a lot of reviewers bagged on it. The title is generic and means nothing, at most reminding people of a lot of inferior Rutger Hauer vehicles. The original script was intended to pit two buddy-cops against a supernatural serial killer in modern Los Angeles, but because this idea resembled another movie in production, the setting was changed to London in the near future. And in the first 20 minutes, Hauer's character Harley Stone is given a background suspiciously similar to that of Sam Spade in Hammett's classic MALTESE FALCON.                                                                           

 That said, scripter Gary Scott Thompson adds a lot of colorful details that make up for this bit of literary pilfering. I suppose the main reason the action changed from LA to London was that SECOND became a US-Great Britain co-production, meaning that most of the cast is British, aside from Hauer, Kim Cattrall and Michael J. Pollard (the latter in a bit part). But it's fun to see Hauer channeling Dirty Harry in a British setting and chafing at being teamed with a British college-boy cop rather than an America one. In addition, Thompson's near-future London is full of watery streets, thanks to the results of global warming, and this adds some extra visual interest without requiring any major changes to the London architecture.                                                                                                    

Further, Thompson gives his version of Dirty Harry more human touches. He gets exhausted from running around chasing a maniacal serial killer and simply falls asleep if he's not had enough coffee. When the serial killer gets away after having bloodily slain a female victim, Stone actually puts his coat over the body of the slain woman, just as an act of simple decency. In scenes between Stone and his romantic interest Michele (Cattrall), there's no reference to their guilt over committing infidelity with one another before Michele's husband (and Stone's former partner) was slain by the serial killer. Nevertheless, Stone feverishly pursues the killer as if seeking to expiate past sins, and it's no coincidence that the aggrieved cop shares a psychic link with his "shadow-self." And though Thompson cleaves closely to the trope of "mismatched partners," he at least gives collegiate cop Dick Durkin (Neil Duncan) some funny lines.                   

  The movie's weakest concept is its villain/monster. The original idea was apparently that of a sorcerer who killed victims and stole their hearts for a sacrificial ritual. For whatever reason, the serial killer became what appears to be an alien creature, physically similar to The Alien but hunting victims to collect their hearts, like The Predator. The creature has SF-aspects, like copying the DNA strands of its victims and storing them in its own body for unknown reasons. However, Thompson keeps a lot of the occult lore in the story, which doesn't match up with the ET stuff. But SECOND is predominantly an action-opus, and the two directors manage to keep things blowing up real good. Thompson's more famous for his writing-contributions to the FAST AND THE FURIOUS franchise, but I liked this quirky B-film more than any of those entries.