Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987)

Nick Randall (Rutger Hauer) is a former top espionage operative who has become a bounty hunter based in Los Angeles.  For those who watched the 1950s TV show of the same name, Nick Randall is a descendent of Josh Randall (Steve McQueen).  Randall is living well, having a huge building for his office, and a comfortable boat for his home.  He has a girlfriend, Terry (Mel Harris), who might be wife material.  A couple more big jobs and he could invest in a life at sea on his boat.  Yes, life is looking up until his old life intrudes.

Malak Al Rahim (Gene Simmons) is a terrorist who Randall failed to kill during his espionage days.  Malak has arrived in Los Angeles and begun a bombing campaign.  He has also sought to assassinate his former adversary.  Philmore Walker (Robert Guillaume), a former associate when Randall was a spy, hires Randall to hunt down Malak.  Randall agrees as long as he is allowed to work solo.  Director Lipton (Jerry Hardin) views Randall as bait to draw Malak out of hiding; if Randall is killed in the process, Lipton would view that as a bonus.

A standard 80's action flick that hits the normal beats.  There are explosions, gun battles, car chases, and fist fights.  The story is run-of-the-mill, the acting is adequate, and the action is average.  Even so, it is fun to watch.

Split Second (1992)

The year is 2008, Global Warming has left much of London flooded, rats are everywhere, and Detective Harley Stone (Rutger Hauer) is on the trail of a killer.  He arrives only moments before the murderer strikes but fails to catch him.  Playing to the cliché of such faire, Captain Thrasher (Alun Armstrong) blasts him with a profane harangue before returning his gun and badge and sending him to the streets.  However, he must now work with Detective Dick Durkin (Neil Duncan).

"I work alone."

Ha!  Talk about clichés!  What kind of name is Dick Durkin?  Sounds like he belongs in a porn film.  Dick proves to be the over-educated know-it-all who is nonetheless shown up by the grizzled veteran.  Who cut and pasted this script?  It turns out that - no surprise at all - the murderer had killed Foster McClaine, Stone's previous partner.  Michelle McLaine (Kim Cattrall) was having an affair with Stone at the time of Foster's death.  Awkward.

The murderer proves to be either a demon from hell or a genetic oddity, the story never decides.  It looks kind of like Venom.  It has a fondness for human hearts and painting crime scenes with buckets of blood.  For some reason, it opts not to kill the primary characters despite having multiple opportunities to do so.  It is bulletproof except at the very end when it isn't.

Rutger Hauer has no character arc.  He's a tough guy with a psychic connection to a monster, a cookie-cutter loose cannon.  Neil Duncan goes from a by-the-book straight-laced cop to a pale imitation of Harley Stone.  Sadly, Duncan doesn't sell the transformation and it just comes across as goofy.  Other than going topless during a shower scene, Kim Cattrall brings nothing to this bland and undeveloped role.  She is a mostly overlooked love interest and run of the mill damsel in distress.  There wasn't much chemistry between her and Rutger.  Pete Postlethwaite is wasted in a tiny role as a cop who dislikes Stone, and for good reason.

It is funny to see a film made in 1992 that proposes Global Warming was going to flood the world in the distant future of 2008.  Didn't happen.  Blade Runner (1982) took place in the even more distant year of 2019 when pollution was going to leave LA in darkness.  Didn't happen.  Now Climate Change is going to destroy the world in 12 years.  I was promised a dystopia by now!

An extremely mediocre film with a plot that never congeals.  The ending even offers the possibility of a sequel.  Ha!  I watched this on account of Rutger Hauer's death; not the best choice of films.  Skip this one.

RIP Rutger Hauer