Bob_the_Hobo I expected a bait-and-switch with Tom Sizemore and Edward James Olmos and got it. For those of you watching the film solely for their performances, don't. They aren't in the film long enough to judge their characters. However I'm somewhat glad I ended up watching this.The main character is Dreamer (played by Enrique Almeida), who we find at the beginning of the film being questioned to a murder. We soon find out that a friend of Dreamer's was the victim, Dreamer was there, and that he can't remember a thing due to sustaining a head injury during the murder. The ramifications of Dreamer's memory loss manifest themselves in Detective Gramm, a newbie to the force who is being harassed by Sizemore's character. Eventually Gramm and Sizemore have to investigate a slew of murders, with Dreamer being their missing link.I could have done a lot worse. Noel Gugliemi (Noel G.), who here plays Dusty, is always great to watch, I remember his performance in "Wrong Turn At Tahoe" particularly. Honestly I watched it for him as much as Sizemore and Olmos, and saw more of the first. The story is layered and interesting and I remained interested for the duration.The acting is mediocre by our star, yet he is still better than half the actual stars of the bait-and-switch genre. Like I said, Olmos has a cameo role. Tom Sizemore is great in what screen-time he actually has. He plays a great scumbag. Diamond Dallas Page plays another sleazy detective in a pretty sweet role. Noel G. and several others play some memorable supporting roles. The actress who plays Gramm, the newbie, is bearable.The cinematography is really, really well done. The scenes of Los Angeles are beautifully captured, as well as the gang-life that "Splinter" tries to portray in it's depictions of LA violence. The dialogue starts off awful but manages to get a bit better as the film goes along.Ultimately, you could do a heck of a lot worse, though I wouldn't put it at the top of your queue.

frog663 I give this one four stars, solely because of Tom Sizemore who, for me, was the only interesting thing in this whole film. Though getting top billing, he isn't in this one nearly enough to rate it any higher. Why he wasn't given more screen time is beyond me. In fact, Resmine Atis seems to get as much, or more, screen time and, in my opinion, is as wooden an actress as I have seen on film. I kept waiting for some kind of real emotion to come out of her character, but it just wasn't to be.I guess, perhaps, I am the wrong demographic for this kind of film, as I found the story and most of it's characters extremely dull and unimaginative. I found myself counting how many times they called each other "dog" just to keep myself amused. And, no, I can't give you the actual final count...you'll have to watch and count for yourselves....

innocuous Though not completely awful, this film disappoints. Though independent directors bemoan the studio system and how it stifles creativity, there is at least one thing that the studios have done fairly consistently: they've been able to remind directors that good acting is highly desirable. Too many indie directors take a concept and some creative ideas and then simply relegate the acting to the lowest priority possible. That's one of the problems with "Splinter"...budget-level acting. I don't consider Sizemore to be an outstanding actor, but he truly embarrasses virtually every other actor in this film, especially Atis, who simply appears amateurish and uncertain in every scene.So, sorry...can't recommend this one at all. Crummy acting condemns a movie, regardless of the concept, story, and other production values.

griesimatthew I liked this movie considering it was about gangs. Usually I cannot stand these types of movies however I found this tolerable. What I could not stand is the main female actress. She was supposed to be a hard a** personality but would break down crying over things that seemed to be not so important. The movie did not develop her character too well and yet a lot hinged on her. The male characters were good, but not great. It was typical of the gang movie style. I am not sure why this movie caught my attention though, usually I would loose interest fast and stop watching.There is something i liked and respected in this movie. I am not sure what is was but I will say this is a movie I probably would not watch a second time.