The Glimmer Man

Starring: Steven Seagal, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Bob Gunton, Brian Cox, John M. Jackson, Michelle Johnson, Stephen Tobolowsky, Peter Jason, Nikki Cox
Directed by: John Gray
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
1996


Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: Two cops (Steven Seagal, Keenan Ivory Wayans) work together to investigate a serial killer nicknamed "The Family Man" but stumble on a much larger conspiracy.

Review:

Tim: It feels strange to live in a world where I've seen The Glimmer Man twice. The first time was after it came out, so maybe I was 15-16 years old (and yes, it's rated R). I didn't like it much then. I returned to it a quarter century later and felt the same way. As you might expect with Steven Seagal, it's a overly masculine, absurd, surface-level film. Oddly enough, there are a few strengths in the movie that make it one of Seagal's best. And yet, it's still only an okay movie. There's not too much to get excited about here.

The main thrust of the movie is similar to anyone who has seen a Seagal movie. He plays the same variation of his typical character- he wears Buddhist prayer beads around his neck, speaks fluent Chinese, speaks calmly as he's delivering cringe-worthy one-liners, and does his trademark action. The story is thin, but it's enough to explain why we're watching Seagal do the things he does. It was a little sad to watch the movie with some perspective and see how Seagal & his character feel completely righteous in all their actions. It's a movie made by people who think they know what "cool" is and are delivering it in spades. That's not true at all, unfortunately. I think Seagal is fairly delusional and that pervades the entire film. Sure, it results in an occasionally entertaining moment- the kind that could only take place in mid-90s action movies. He gets into a lot of fights throughout this film.

The story is fairly weak and it becomes unnecessarily complicated as the film progresses. It starts out following two cops as they search for a serial killer, but it soon spins into complex conspiracies dragged up from Seagal's character's past. It weaves together two storylines that should have no connection at all. The script wraps these up in a nice bow, but the whole thing doesn't make sense. I was rolling my eyes continuously at the story.

Seagal is fine, he's smugly doing his thing. If you've seen his movies before, you know what to expect and you kind of appreciate it, even if he's never close to as good as he thinks he is. What helps this movie is that the supporting cast is stronger than usual for Seagal's movies. Keenan Ivory Wayans isn't exactly a good actor, but he brings a lot of comedy to the role. They go to the deer penis joke well a bit too often, but Wayans has some humorous lines throughout the film. He plays off Seagal well. I felt some level of enjoyment at watching these two interact. Wayans certainly seems to bring the best out of Seagal. I have no idea why Brian Cox did this movie, but he made it significantly better. His sleazy performance is fun for his obviously villainous turn. The final scene with him is absurd, but I love how he played it. Cox was definitely a big boost here. I always enjoy seeing Bob Gunton, he makes movies better seemingly effortless. John M. Jackson added a solid supporting performance and it was great to see Stephen Tobolowsky's expected but effective role. I was surprised that the supporting cast actually worked pretty well.

In the end, The Glimmer Man is a fairly average (to maybe slightly below) action movie. The script and story are weak. The dialogue is fairly bad, despite a few humorous lines. The plot is overly complicated and never that compelling. It stars Steven Seagal. This is definitely a movie you can skip and there's no reason to watch it twice. Seagal has made worse movies, so it's not all bad, but when a film like this is in your upper echelon, it's hard not to feel a sense of disappointment. There's just not enough here to make you care about anything. The action is fine, but never great. It's a movie that does little right across the board.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



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