The Glimmer Man (1996)

A cop with an attitude is partnered up with a new-age cop with a shady past and amazing martial arts skills, to investigate a serial killer who crucifies his victims. Campbell sees it as a fairly straightforward case of a religious nut obeying orders from God; but Cole sees something else in some of the murders– a sense of purpose and order that hints at a bigger plot. Going back to his handler at the CIA gets him nowhere but brings him to the attention of Frank Deverell and the Russian mafia. With so many people gunning for them, can Campbell and Cole stay alive long enough to get to the bottom of it? Although any film that contains both Seagal and a Wayans brother will hardly be an easy sell to me, I still decided to give this film a stab because I do like a solid action movie every now and again. Plot wise this film is about as weak as I had expected with a messy narrative that never really convinces and just seems like a couple of half-baked ideas crammed into one story with little concern with logical linkage or development. The hope seems to have been that enough action and energy would stop us seeing the holes – sadly this doesn't work. The film has enough action to be worth watching but it isn't really anything special, although fans of Seagal will be used to this consistent standard.

The cast are just as average as you would expect. Seagal delivers everything with a total lack of emotion that is explained away by him being a totally calm Buddhist, as opposed to him just not being a very good actor. Physically he is pretty good here and his fight scenes do actually show a man with skill (as opposed to the out of shape man we have been shown almost waddling recently). Wayans tries to be a tough comic relief but his performances just reinforces the feeling of this being a formulaic mismatched cop movie; even if he is impressive in some of his action scenes as well. Neither of them are that good but they are certainly no worse than a lot of the reluctant buddy cops movies out there. The support cast should have been better but people like Gunton, Cox and Tobolowsky just sink into the mess rather than helping to raise it.

Overall this is a watchable "Friday night" style thriller that you will quite enjoy if all you want is watchable action surrounded by messy and clichéd plotting and delivery with "par for the course" acting. If you are after anything more than this then you'll be sorely disappointed as this is a weak film with an unimaginative plot, poor performances and only just enough action to be watchable if you're in an undemanding mood.

Fmovies: I heard a bunch of scuttlebutt about The Glimmerman, none of it was true. I heard that Seagal was 'beefing' up for the part and that Wayans was in a real serious role, all this crap! I went and saw it with all in mind and I really could care less at someone else's take on it anymore. Sitting watching the film, I got into the characters, I don't know about anyone else, but I believe thats what it's all about. No Keenan was not totally serious in fact he was mostly comedic, although there were moments of serious but it was not over the top, as I had previously been told. So really, I was going in with a lot of expectations. In all fairness I can say this one was a fun and furious ride (at times). The surrounding cast including Mr. Smith an agency 'spook' employer for the C.I.A. (Brian Cox) was low-level emotion and cynically-balanced. He made the dark side more interesting along with (Bob Gunton) Mr. Deverell and (John) his right arm man, that executes hits and reckon clean-up. In L.A. where I used to live it was fun seeing the old stomping ground, where they filmed it.. Interesting premise of a thriller-story on top of it all. Christopher, the hit-man added a 'whispful' and fatalistic element to the program, played by actor Stephen Tobolowski, he plays psychotic intensely well. Thumbs up!!

This was very pleasing for me, I admit you disconnect your reality beliefs with some of it as movies go these days, and some are so much more unbelievable than this. I say this is one of Seagal's greats along with Keenan as an awesome partner in crime-clean up, they stole the show. I recommend for interesting 'plot' twisted stories with good, good casting and interesting characters/scenery.

Recommended highly (****)

Thx--IMDb.com

Typical Steven Seagal fare: that is, it's crap. The plot relies on a series of incredibly improbable coincidences; there's a hefty dose of conspiracy theory which would be much more palatable if we didn't know that Seagal takes it all literally; and once again, bad-movie multi-millionaire Seagal tells us all about the evils of The Rich.

Seagal's survival relies, as usual, on the fact that Bad Guys never fire their guns from out of arm's reach, and always like to give a little "I'm gonna kill you" speech before blowing a man's head off.

Watch this one right after the even-worse *Fire Down Below* and note how the carpet in Keenen Ivory Wayans's apartment is more flammable than a big puddle of gasoline.

Oh, and watch in the final fight scene for the Incredible Disappearing Forehead Wound, which is probably the most entertaining thing in the film.

The Glimmer Man fmovies. This is another Segal formula flick. Thankfully, unlike some of his more recent movies, he's in much better physical shape (i.e. he's not fat). Segal plays yet another former government operative, now a local police officer/detective, trying to live out his life out of the "business".

Shrouded in mystery and controversy, Segal, once again, become a one man wrecking crew taking out everyone and everything, while maintaining his clam, Buddhist/Art of War philosophies in the process.

Why on earth they dragged, Keenan Ivory Wayans into a Segal formula movie is beyond me. I mean not say I didn't like him in the flick, but why him? Better yet, why anyone? As far as I can tell Segal usually does his better movies running solo, as he is the bona fide martial artist. One would figure if you were going to pair him up with someone, make it another action hero or another martial artist.

Either way, if you're a Segal, action movie fan this movie is a good way to kill a couple of hours. If you're not into that, then skip this flick.

Maybe it was the excessive weight gain Seagal had put on. Or maybe it was the horrible acting of Wayans in an action flick. Or was it the total lack of chemistry between the two leading characters? These and other considerations lead me to conclude that Seagal should have never made this acting nightmare. True, the story line was good. Yet, as an avid follower of Seagal's career and background, his physical appearance was inconsistent with his genre of clean, pure, healthy Zen Buddhist living, notably in his on screen discussions with Wayans. (Then again his real life affair with the "nanny" was inconsistent also!)

If Seagal wants to become a more diversified actor, then he should do what a fellow action figure did in "Kindergarten Cop"...put humorous material or situations in the script where the actor has no choice but to react in a comical way. Otherwise, leave the wise-cracks and the futile attempts at humor out of it while chasing a serial killer. Seagal is not a natural humor type of guy. It did not work.

Neatly crafted action thriller, with Seagal on top wrist-snapping form as a Buddhist cop from New York, with a shadowy past, teamed with Wayans' wisecracking LA cop to investigate the gruesome murders of a serial killer, known as the `Family Man'. The two leads work well together; in typical buddy cop fashion which provides the film with the comic relief it needs to give the audience a break from the serious themes involved.

The script is competently composed; trying to surprise us as best it can with several twists and turns, however, the story is so fully packed with things going on that it's easy for the audience to get lost along the way. However, that is not a problem as Seagal is on the case with his usual array of impressive martial arts and likeable personality, encased in an interesting character. To me, Seagal represents, in a way, a modern day John Wayne, always playing the same out for justice, good guy role and taking no crap from anyone along the way. He is a screen presence that can carry even the most brainless of films, but this film has both brains and brawn. Wayans does very well here too, managing to avoid the typical stereotype of the African-American cop who is simply there for laughs.

The direction is standard but competent in keeping a relaxed balance between the hectic action (entwined with the tense build-ups) and the comedic peace-time goings on. The gorier parts of the film, like the murders, are handled with skill and successfully manage to create an eerie atmosphere rather than simply a gory head-turning occasion.

The Glimmer Man is not a masterpiece by any means but it serves its purpose well as a tense action thriller. It tries hard to be more than it is, but its lack of originality is its biggest flaw but it gets top marks for trying. You can't take anything away with you afterwards, but you can enjoy yourself along the way.