The Glimmer Man

***SPOILERS*** The years since Steven Seagal burst upon the screen as Det. Nico Toscani in the movie "Above The Law" back in 1988 have been like the seven fat years in the book of Genesis. By the time he made "The Glimmer Man", some seven years later, Seagal had to wear extra baggy clothes to hide the extra weight that he put on his frame from all the success he had since then. Steven Seagal, Det. Jack Cole and his partner Det. Jim Campall(Keenen Ivory Wayans), who only seems to be in the movie for comedy relief, are put on the "Family Man" murder case in L.A. The "Family Man" murdered some half dozen families and had them crucified in some weird ritual after they were dead. Seagal here plays a cop who who cracked up back in the early 1980's from the guilt that he felt about his service in Vietnam where he was known as "The Glimmer Man"; a hard as nails killer who the enemy only saw a glimmer of before he did them in. Det. Cole, or Seagal, later went to Thailand and took up Buddhism and became a sweet and peaceful man who wouldn't hurt a fly! Even though the movie "The Glimmer Man" is one of the most violent films that Seagal ever made. "The Glimmer Man" is an almost incomprehensible movie to understand and follow. It starts off with a serial murder and then goes to what seems like a weirdo psychiatrist Frank Deverell, Bob Gunton, who thinks that he's the Godfather and uses a gang of thugs to smuggle arms from the now defunct Soviet Union to a Serbian freedom fighting organization. This whole racket is run Det. Jack Cole's former boss in Vietnam Mr. Smith, Brian Cox, who's working together with the Russian Mafia. That's about the best way I can describe the plot in the movie. Early in the film Det. Cole's ex-wife Helen and her husband Andrew Dunleavy are murdered by the "Family Man" killer and it's made to look like it was Det. Cole who was the killer. This makes Cole realize that the killings are a cover for something more sinister. After breaking a number of heads and arms and legs of Russian gangsters and Deverell thugs Det. Cole finally gets to the bottom of what is really behind all these killings. The movie is so violent it made me wonder what Seagal, who had a lot of control of the material in the film, was trying to tell his audience, love your fellow man? Since it went against everything that Buddhism stands for which I at first thought that the movie was advocating!"The Glimmer Man" builds itself up to it's inevitable bloody conclusion at the Overington Hotel in downtown L.A where Det. Cole has the Deverell mob turn on each other. This all happened when Det. Cole had a tape recording of Deverell played back on the phone to his top henchmen Donald Cunningham, John M. Jackson. The tape said that his boss was going to turn Cunningham in to save his own behind. That lead to a shootout between the two at the hotel where they were supposed to find both Det. Cole and Campell,the C&C boys , as Cunningham trapped Deverell there without knowing that he knew about his plans to double-cross him. The hoods ended up killing themselves with, of course, the help of Cole & Campbell. Only Cunningham is left for Cole to do in at the end of the movie who after almost beating him almost to death ends up crucifying him! Steven Seagal seems to really enjoy working people over in the movie, he does it with such relish and enthusiasm, despite his non-violent Buddhist beliefs. Seagal does it to the point where he beats them in some cases to death even when their no longer a threat to him at all! when all he had to do is just put the cuffs on them and have them locked up behind bars! This isn't by a long shot going to make too many people watching the movie get turned on to Buddhism which I assume the film wanted them to do.

well i was over at a friend's house with some other folks and he gave us the choice to see a ninja movie, some sappy love story and glimmer man. a good steven seagal comedy would do us all well. and that's all it is. do NOT try and look for a plot. it's just a weak justification for some of the funniest action comedy around. most people (if they've seen will sasso's MADTV sketches of seagal) will know exactly what to expect from him in his "illegal justice" movies. PURE COMEDY. the "atomic slap" of the restaurant manager was pure gold. so if you're looking for some hilarious over the top action comedy (and it's even better cause a lot of the time you're pretty sure that seagal is trying to be serious) then really consider watching glimmer man.

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 Segal 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.

A not so good action thriller because it unsuccessfully trends the same water as early Steven Seagal films because there is not a very good set piece. Steven Seagal plays the same kind of character that he has played since Above the Law. In my opinion the performance of Keenen Ivory Wayans is wasted in such an average film and belongs in a much better film. Bob Gunton is okay as the main heavy. The best acting in the entire film belongs to Brian Cox who is very frightening in the role of the murderer. My favorite scenes are the fight scenes with the Russian mafia. One of the film reasons to see The Glimmer Man(1996) is for the brief appearence of the beautiful and voluptupus Nikki Cox. Its too bad that there were not more scenes with her in them.

Well, maybe I am going against the trend of voting, but sometimes we forget that there is such a thing as a capital 'E' meaning Entertainment value involved in film making. I have just viewed this film on DVD, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Possibly doesn't rate an 'A' or 'B' rating, for artistic value, but let's face it, not all the ones that do are entertaining to a general audience. I have always felt that Stephen seems to portray the characters he plays quite strongly without overstating the obvious. The action seems very realistic to me. And many of his films has a moral attached. Mr Cool personified. And he is rather good looking too, so nice to see a tall man on the screen as the action hero. Pat

I have to admit, once I saw the trailer to this movie I knew it was going to be good! The only question I had was where did they get the title from? But it still sounds tight. Anyway, this movie deserves a B because it had good action and a good action plot. First I thought this movie was a B- movie, but then I saw it again and saw how it was even better. The first fight scene with Seagal and Wayans was so unexpected that I would pay $4.50 for it. The credit card with the hidden knife was cool. I didn't like some of the editing though just like in FIRE DOWN BELOW, but hey Seagal was upset too! The cool thing is having Seagal be an ex-assassin who moves so fast, that all you see is a jungle, then a glimmer, then you'd be dead!!!!

This is one of Seagal's last good films. It has lots of good action scene's and Seagal and Wayans make a solid team. The shootout at the end was solid and the fight scene's were cool too. This movie ranks with UNDER SIEGE, ABOVE THE LAW, OUT FOR JUSTICE, and MARKED FOR DEATH as Seagal's best film's. FIRE DOWN BELOW was decent too and that was officially Seagal's last watchable film, but this one ranks up there with his best. Its no LETHAL WEAPON or 48 HRS when it comes to cop buddy thrillers, but its still solid. 4/5

Steven Seagal certainly knows how to fight, and in some of his fight scenes in "The Glimmer Man" he comes across as a forceful, don't-mess-with-me presence. What he doesn't know is how to act: he's so wooden he's almost funny, especially when he has to show "disgust" at the horrible crimes he's witnessing, or when he's whispering his lines in an attempt to come off as "menacing". Keenen Ivory Wayans is likably unaggressive as his partner, and the director does his best to emulate the style of "Seven" (minus the intelligence), but (SPOILERS FOLLOW) the whole serial-killer business is actually a big red herring, and the film ultimately turns out to be the typical Seagal actioner. At least there are some good action sequences. (**)

Imagine if you will an alternative universe where someone has made SEVEN where instead of a talented cast and crew they've cast a politically conscious environmentalist and a stand up comedian as the leads . If your imagination can't stretch that far just watch THE GLIMMER MAN as it's the next worse thing !!!! MILD SPOILERS !!!! Jack Cole is a cop with a hidden past and it's very ironic that he's played by Steven Seagal since he's also someone witrh a hidden past , but don't tell anyone because it's top secret . Perhaps the biggest secret is how someone like Seagal became a movie star in the first place since THE GLIMMER MAN continues in the vein of all of Seagal's other movies in that it's utter , utter crap . Look at the way he's introduced as his partner walks into his office " Yoi love beads man . In you're in the wrong office " Steven replies with something that is side splittingly witty , or he would if anyone was able to understand a bloody word he said because for much of the movie he just mumbles away . In fact the only time I could make out his dialogue was the scene at the school where he bursts in on the gunman holding the class hostage " Don't make me kill you " Is this what a cop would say to a suicidal gunman ? I'm just thinking that in another movie where Steven isn't the hero ( ie A good movie ) the cop would say something along the lines of " Don't kill me , I've got a wife and a couple of kids waiting at home " . So anyway suicidal gunman goes to blow his head off but Steven saves his life by hurtling them both through two sets of windows . It goes without saying that you shouldn't try this at home As the story progresses Steven ( I've given up on calling him Jack though credit to the screen writer for giving Steven a sensible name ) becomes involved in a case a plagiarism where someone has been stealing bits out of other superior movies featuring serial killers . As Steven finds more victims you can see him thinking " What was that movie that starred Morgan Freeman as a cop ? " as he inspects the bodies , oh and the action keeps switching back to the hero's domestic life just so we know that this guy's good as a family man , this guy's very good as a family man such a pity he's so bad as a movie star

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.