The Glimmer Man (1996)

Better Late Then Never

A lot of fun.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

While "The Glimmer Man" isn't any outstanding action movie, I will say that it is still worth watching if you enjoy Steven Seagal movies. That being said, then it should also be said that it is a fairly average Seagal movie in every sense of the phrase. It is one of those mass produced action movies that most action stars tend to settle into doing, you know finding a formula that works and milking it beyond dry.Story-wise then "The Glimmer Man" is your stereotypical Seagal movie. Yep, he is an ex-something-something now turned law man and taking on the seedy underworld singlehandedly.You know what you get here; the usual Seagal martial arts, wits and punchlines. Yes, it is all here, and the obligatory broken arm as well. And true to most other Seagal movies he is untouchable, except for a single blow that gets through and strikes him. Indeed, business as usual.Having Seagal act opposite Keenen Ivory Wayans, well I had some initial reservation to this, as I thought it would be comedy in the trademark Wayans fashion. But luckily Keenen proved to surprise and did actual acting and no do comedy."The Glimmer Man" is enjoyable enough for what it is, and bear in mind that it is a Seagal movie after all.

Bad bad movie. Just another performance where Segal had to put in no effort other than flail around like a martial artist and Wayans was not funny (even though he is supposedly a comedian). This movie sounded like "The Last Boy Scout" (TLBS) when the character "Maynard" was mentioned (even more so when Wayans said it while sounding like his brother who was in TLBS). Except in TLBS the Wayan brother was a comic sidekick and the lead actor was sympathetic and funny unlike Segal's character in this who just seems to be fighting against everyone (even himself) for illogical reasons.Why does Segal's character always have to come from some eastern roots or be linked with some eastern philosophy (e.g. Buddhism in this case)? Doesn't make me believe he is the invincible fighter when seeing him un-co-ordinated and floundering around like someone in a "sumo costume" would move. His character always has their badge taken away by a yelling police officer and you know it's going to happen before it happens. NB. Steven Segal also had so much fake tan that he looked like a Halloween pumpkin. Watch at Halloween and you might enjoy seeing a pumpkin partially come to life.

The latest Steven Seagal crime movie "The Glimmer Man" takes its title from the hero's dexterity and cunning at eliminating his foes before they can retaliate. Devoted fans of the real-life Aikido master will cheer their pony-tail hero as he demolishes his usual quota of thuggish villains who richly deserve every slap, smack, punch, and crackle they receive from Seagal as a way of atonement. What might upset them are the many variations that embellish this saga. No, "The Glimmer Man" isn't a message-laden, ecological nightmare that Seagal's earlier epic "On Deadly Ground" was. This Seagal vehicle grafts a creepy, whodunit, serial killer plot reminiscent of the 1995 Brad Pitt chiller "Se7en" onto a standard-issue police procedural. This time out we're allowed to laugh a little at the antics of Seagal and his newest sidekick, LAPD Detective Jim Campbell (Keenen Ivory Wayans of "A Lone Down Dirty Shame"), who gets to be the butt of our protagonist's pranks. The script allows Wayans to behave in a fashion that would appear inappropriate for the screen persona of Seagal's indestructible character. For instance, we get to see Wayans cry like a baby as he watches "Casablanca" in a downtown movie palace. Seagal's recent pictures have been overshadowed by his 1992 box office smash "Under Siege." "The Glimmer Man" represents an appeal to a more broadly defined audience, but nevertheless, it is more a watchable than most of his far-fetched fare.Steven Seagal's "Glimmer Man" character Jack Cole replicates the cop that he played in his cinematic debut "Hard to Kill" 9(1988) who had a hazy background as a CIA agent. Here, Seagal plays an ex-CIA assassin who plied his trade during the Vietnam War. As usual, Cole suffered from the lone wolf, "Dirty Harry," syndrome. Mystery cloaks Cole so thoroughly that Campbell (Wayans) cannot decide whether to trust him or arrest him. Gradually, our detective heroes discover that their suspicions about the serial murders are correct. They uncover an elaborate CIA/Russian Mafia plot to smuggle chemical weapons into the U.S. in a most interesting and original manner. Complicating matters is the actual serial slayer, Christopher Maynard (Stephen Tobolowsky of "Momento"), who lives up to his weirdness. Frank Deverell (Bob Gunton of "The Shawshank Redemption") is Seagal's chief adversary who masterminds the chemical weapons smuggling operation. As a CIA honcho, Mr. Smith (Brian Cox of "The Long Kiss Goodnight") brings urbanity and a touch of Dixie to his duplicitous dastard. Cox makes such a impassive but slimy villain that he deserves the abuse that Seagal delivers with glee.The real fun in any Seagal epic is the incredible way that he crushes his adversaries without suffering any payback. Nothing in "The Glimmer Man" matches the far-fetched scene where he escapes the hoodlums right after he emerged from a coma and pushes his own gurney out of the hospital. Another change here is the joke-swapping rapport between Seabal and the impeccably tailored Wayans. Seagal characters aren't known for either their levity or their pranks. They are typically a humorless, moribund breed of hero. Keenen Ivory Wayans' presence helps to lighten things up in this bizarre thriller. He gets shot at, his apartment blown up, and he falls out of a high-rise motel window. Wayans looks and dresses ultra-cool but he gets no more respects and twice the number of bruises than Seagal.Underlying the complicated plot is the budding relationship between Cole and Campbell as they pursue their investigation in its bl00dsplattered, pyrotechnical explosive finale. The humor and antics that develop between these two make "The Glimmer Man" more interesting than the usual Seagal opus. "The Glimmer Man" is a vast improvement over "On Deadly Ground" and "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory," but it is just another potboiler, albeit a polished one. The powdered deer penis scene is hilarious.

Not really a very insightful movie that one can study for hours and think about a lot. Rather this is more of a typical Hollywood action movie. Cops are partnered in regards to opposing personalities (which I love because when done properly, especially in this movie, it creates a really relaxed atmosphere), cars blow up at the sightest touch, and the hero runs around killing heaps of people and blowing up heaps of buildings and the captain at the end says, "Cole, I owe you an apology." Cole (Steven Segal) is playing his usual ex-special forces come cop or something role. Almost the same role that he played in Under Siege and On Deadly Ground (and no doubt numerous other movies before and after). As is typical, Steven Segal will encounter a horde of bad guys and he will typically beat them all up single handedly, and then walk out of the room dusting himself off.The plot is interesting though. Segal is a cop that hunts down serial killers, but has a rather sordid past: not only is it somewhat unknown, his recent past in regards to tracking down serial killers is tainted for he shot one when on a roof of a building in New York and there were no witnesses. Now he is in Los Angeles and a serial killer is attacking again, but this time there some one is going around killing people and using the serial killer to cover his tracks. As one delves in deeper, one uncovers a plot involving the Russian mafia.Once again, as it typical of a Steven Segal movie, there is lots of action and lots of martial arts. That alone would have been quite boring; one sees cars and petrol tankers blowing up every time one turns on the television. What made this movie cool was the backchat between the partners.