Friday, November 8, 2024

The Glimmer Man

“The Glimmer Man” is a 1996 formulaic Hollywood action film that’s about what you think.

Robert Roten said in his review, “This film is so derivative I could go on for paragraphs about all the other films it borrows from. Suffice it to say it is a formula copy buddy film about uneasy partners.” Steven Seagal, who specializes in Kung Fu movies, plays the Glimmer Man, a former government agent who is now a cop. His partner, who is uneasy about Seagal’s Buddhist methods and his unknown past, is played by Keenan Ivory Wayans.

Several times during the film, Seagal calls Wayans “Grasshopper,” a reference to the TV show “Kung Fu.” There are some funny lines in the film and the two protagonists work well together. Roten noted, “Seagal, who only has a glimmer of acting ability, can't quite master this role, but Wayans does well enough.”

Director John Gray moves the story fast enough so that you don’t mind the plot holes a lot. Most of the fights are well-staged and well-shot.

Roten noted, “There are numerous killings, including some gruesome ritual murders. There are also a couple of Hollywood cliché killings in which people fall from high places and are impaled on sharp objects.” This wouldn’t be an action film without one of those kills.

This is a very violent film. Roten mentioned, “One of the killers is a standard Hollywood Christian type (a closed-minded, wacked-out murderer). Catholics get tired of being portrayed this way. It would be nice if Hollywood picked on some other group for a change.”

By the way, the plot has to do with a government conspiracy to use a serial murderer’s methods of operations to eliminate some people who know too much about an illegal government work.

If you like Hollywood action films, I guess this one is average. If you don’t, then don’t see this one, because action is all it has.

One of my former friends lent me his VHS copy of this film and to this day, I don’t know what to make of it. I’m not sure if I hate this movie or think it is ok because of everything that occurred. This is the only Seagal movie I have seen and I don’t know if this was the wrong one to start on. I don’t recommend this movie because I don’t know if anyone will like this or not. I don't think anyone talks about this movie because it's probably one of those that you forget very easily.

Next week, I will be reviewing a funny action film that I saw a part of overseas then watched years later when I was exercising in “Buddy Cop Month.”

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