Split Second

Before 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.

A 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.

I 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.

Clive 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!