shakercoola
Seagal plays a Buddhist cop dressed in a smock and beads and mismatched with hard-drinking patrol partner Keenan Ivory Wayans. Due to fast editing The Glimmer Man almost has the feel of a TV film. There's plenty of action, but it's short on suspense, routine and unoriginal and it quickly feels laboured. An attempt is made to create mystery around Seagal's character but aspects of eastern mysticism feel crowbarred into the script. The plot wavers - the murders are a sub-plot and the story is suddenly all about smuggled Russian mafia and chemical weapons. Seagal doesn't cut the figure of previous roles but there is enough charisma in his performance to carry the film forward. The fight scenes are every bit as violent as Seagal's previous films but not as impressive due to more close ups and less athleticism.
Python Hyena
The Glimmer Man (1996): Dir: John Gray / Cast: Steven Seagal, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Michelle Johnson, Brian Cox, Stephen Tobolowsky: Pointless bag of trash that uses creative expressions of violence as entertainment. One particular gruesome scene regards someone's throat being slashed with a credit card. That is about the height of creativity in this piece of sh*t. Steven Seagal stars as a bead wearing Buddhist cop called the Glimmer Man, and Keenan Ivory Wayans is his partner. They investigate murders where victims are hung upside down in crucifix fashion. I guess posters are not a decent enough decorating tip. Seagal is relieved of his badge when his ex- wife and boyfriend are murdered. Wayans gets back together with him after he is nearly torched in his apartment. Director John Gray does his best but Seagal is embarrassing. He should take those beads door to door selling arts and crafts. He spends the whole film fighting with bad guys and inventing methods of killing people. Wayans, Michelle Johnson, and Brian Cox
well
forget them. Wayans is the standard unlikely partner that we have seen in countless other action films even though few are as stupid as this one. What this film needs is to be placed on a slab of concrete and bashed repeatedly with a sledge hammer. It is about as exciting as watching your neighbor's vacation slides. Score: 1 / 10
Ben Larson
This movie has three things going for it: one is Steven Seagal as a mystical character with a shadowy past who does magical things; two Keenan Ivory Wayans as his partner, a man who cries while watching Casablanca; and three John M. Jackson(Adm. Chegwidden from JAG)as the bad guy.Wayans spends his time trying to figure out Seagal, while Seagal is going after Jackson for killing his ex-wife. Anyone who has see Seagal knows that killing his wife is bad move, and we see here that he holds his ex just as dear.This is typical Segal martial arts action. The addition of Wayans gives it some comedy to made the ride more enjoyable. Don't think, just sit back and enjoy.
Film Flare
I was told that this film was an action comedy, the blurb on the back specifically made reference to 'punches mixed with punchlines' and the Pulitzer Prize winning 'the wit hits the fan'.What I actually got was a very large, rusted nail heavily thumped into Seagal's credibility. This coming from the guy who'd watch Under Siege 2 several days earlier.The Glimmer Man is ACTUALLY an action-thriller film about two cops trying to find a serial killer called the Family Man because he kills and crucifies whole families, what a hoot! Add in a dash of political intrigued, Vietnam veterans and conspiracy and you have a flop.The problem with this film is that the gunfights are handled relatively well but the fist fights (Seagal's selling point) is so rapidly edited that you only ever see about two kick strung together before the footage cuts elsewhere. Watching classics martial arts films (I'm thinking Bruce Lee/Donnie Yen films here) is that the editing and filming actually shows off the skills of the fighters on display. That is not present in the Glimmer Man, So what you eventually have with this action comedy is a film that has very little comedy and the action is badly done. Not all is bad however, the plot is actually fairly reasonable and there are plenty of twists and turns that somehow command your attention and there is quite a lot of potential there but you somehow end up with a hugely forgettable film.
AD
