I won't lie, I bought this movie b/c Clive Owen was in it, who can do no wrong in my eyes. During the onset of the movie his character has had a REALLY bad day and is at his boiling point. Road rage leads to the hit and run death of a cyclist. The movie really showcased Clive's smoldering style. Here is a man who is trying to continue on with life as if nothing ever happened, but his guilt is getting the best of him and ruining his ENTIRE life. He teeters between wanting to be an impeccable husband and lawyer, but he cannot shake what he has done and inevitably sabotages everything. He only finally tries to redeem himself when he crosses paths with the cyclist's widow. He plays an unsympathetic character (in my view) who surrounds himself with sharks (except for his wife). No true happy endings here, but it reflected real life. GREAT performances by all.
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EmmasMama5 January 2008
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blanche-22 March 2014Before Clive Owen became a star in the movies, he did a ton of TV - several series and some TV movies. This one, Split Second, is from 1999.
Owen plays Michael Anderson, a corporate attorney under pressure at home and in the office. His wife Angie (Helene McCrory) is a talented interior designer who stays home with their young children. One night, Michael leaves work, and on his way home, a cyclist tries to play a game of chicken with him. Traffic, tension, and some road rage intervene and the cyclist, swerving back and forth, is hit by Michael's car and dies. Freaked out, Michael flees the scene.
His situation goes from bad to worse. Tensions mount at home, and at the office, a frustrated Michael asks his boss if he could move to another position. His boss suggests he could offer him an overseas placement. When Michael mentions it at home, Angie erupts.
This is a decent film without much style to it. It's dark, depressing, and slow, but it's driven by Clive Owen's intense performance as a man whose guilt tortures him.
I'm a big fan of Owen's, so I did like this. -
hmag10 August 2001A corporate lawyer under great stress has an incident with a cyclist on his way home from a very trying day. The film analyses how the incident goes on to affect his life & those who surround him both at work & home, from a third person perspective & also up close & personal.
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Now I've seen a younger Clive Owen in action; well, not exactly.
His actions outside the occasional head-butt are limited in this flick. It's supposed to be about road rage but the film didn't really delve too deeply in the subject. Much rather, it meandered all over the map. Specifically I saw some nice shots of Edinburgh, atop the bridge.
Clive's cast as a corporate lawyer on the verge of 'losing it'. Gathered, at the center of his personal maelstrom was much pressure from his job. You know:dog-eat-dog work environment. OK, they don't eat that stuff over there.Probably their diet consisted of Cornish hens and haggish.
Soon we're taken 'behind the scenes. Clive's home life doesn't help him either. His wife's one bossy nag; his best mate or 'droogie' (also a lawyer) is hooked on drugs; feeds those to Michael (Clive) too. Then his best mate's girlfriend enters the fray. She's almost overt with her intentions. To wit, she's got a bead on Clive, too but for something other than legal services.
In short, we don't hear or see nearly enough from the victims of the crime (traffic fatality): the deceased cyclist's girlfriend or his family. This BBC drama's all about Clive, his career, his needs, his sacrifices. (He even screams the last bit, aloud). Throw everyone else under the bus (two tier), if you may.
They did...
Last word: everyone in the film is unhappy. That is standard British fare for the 1990s. Still, did they have to go to such boring lengths to make their point, time and again. Hey, BBC...
I got it but I'm not buying anymore.
Something else...
Stanley Kubrick's 'Clockwork Orange' dealt with these all too banal British type topics with ease. More important, he did so by limiting the 'sleaze ball' factor. BBC, pay more attention! -
mitch-865 April 2008I won't describe the story, as that has been done elsewhere. We are great Clive Owen fans, and when our Netflix recommended the movie, we were intrigued.
No wonder we had never heard of this "movie", because it was a BBC Television movie back in 1992. Hence, the poor production values, grainy image , jerky camera work and poor sound.
But, you don't really mind the mechanics, because the story itself will put you to sleep. It's an interesting human story, but not at all compelling, and there is hardly any ending. You don't really care for the characters as their lives are as boring as your life watching this tedious movie. Save the two hours and do something to make the time more worthwhile. -
MEG-402 August 2001Clive Owen is one of the most intense actors that are currently on our screens. His role in the made for TV movie "The Cyclist" or "Split Second", whatever it is called, is like his second skin. I don't want to say too much about the plot as that would spoil it for the viewer - suffice to say that it is the story of a man under pressure on all sides and what could happen if a random incident triggers off a reaction that will blow his life apart and change his world completely. Clive Owen is superb whether he is playing a detective losing his sight, a con man's son working as a croupier or the driver of the cars in the varied BMW Movie series on the internet - in my humble opinion he is the tops!
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vitaleralphlouis18 September 2009SPLIT SECOND might have been a good movie. A story about a "road rage" homicide, has a very young Clive Owen giving a pretty good performance; BUT...but....
Unfortunately, the filmmakers undercut their own movie with idiotic camera-work and truly awful editing. The camera jumps all over creation in an unsuccessful attempt (I suppose) to reflect Owen's stress from business, family, and traffic. What this actually does is to give the viewer a headache.
Since the filmmakers cared nothing about making a good movie, but only to impress each other with their idiotic photography, one ought not waste time on this travesty. -
safenoe22 October 2017The Cyclist stands the test of time as Clive Owen plays Michael Anderson, a harried corporate lawyer in Edinburgh I think? It's hard to tell from the range of English accents. Anyway, he's under pressure at work, and this flows on to his family. In fact, his boss offers him a transfer to China with the incentive that the Chinese love children, and the boss confirms this with his wry observation that the owner of the local Chinese restaurant loves children LOL!!! I guess this plays on the TV/movie trope of the Chinese restaurant owner fawning over white kids seated at the table I guess.
Michael confronts a cyclist and it's not pretty. Not much sympathy is given to the cyclist and many innocent pedestrians just wanting to enjoy a quiet stroll along the pathway would get sick of cyclists going "ding! ding! ding! ding!" furiously cycling by for no reason than emulating some Tour de France competitor. Anyway, thankfully Michael doesn't get hit with an unjustified sentence thanks to his lawyer friend.