JoBlo Originals

Major stardom never really happened for Rutger Hauer. Why? Perhaps it was because the movies of Hauer’s that did best at the box office were the ones where he played the villain, such as The Hitcher. He was so unforgettable as a bad guy that when he played a hero, such as in the 1986 actioner Wanted: Dead or Alive, he came off as too intense and possibly psychotic. That movie hurt his chances at a big-screen action hero, even though the way he kills the villain, played by Gene Simmons, is perhaps the most excellent kill in 80s movie history. While his movies did poorly theatrically, they cleaned up on home video, paving the way for many low-budget actioners. Yet, next to Philip Noyce’s Blind Fury , one Hauer movie stands head and shoulders above the others, Split Second, which is this week’s best movie you ever saw!