Leofwine_draca Steven Seagal went back to his roots with this action thriller, which harks back to his early work, much of which was city-bound and also dealt with conspiracies and violence on the 'mean' streets (his acting debut, NICO: ABOVE THE LAW, in particular). In fact, this film is quite surprising, as Seagal had apparently turned into an ex-military guy who killed hundreds of baddies and set traps to kill people, but not so in this film. Here he's a cop with a suspicious past, which even leads to him being blamed for a series of murders (a first, Seagal is usually the 100% clean good guy). Of course, we all know he's a goodie after all and he shows this by exposing police corruption all around, and beating up a healthy number of bad guys.The film is refreshingly free of the environmental stuff that Seagal has insisted on dolloping in his 1990s actioners (ON DEADLY GROUND being the worst offender). However, he's cast as a Buddhist in this film, and someone who dislikes resorting to violence (although, as you might be able to guess, it's not long before he does). What makes this film different from Seagal's other work is the relatively complex plot, which twists everywhere so that you don't know who's killing who. Thankfully, everything sorts itself out after half-an-hour of this headache inducing stuff.Another difference is that this time, Seagal has a partner (and it's not some woman who hides in the background either). Keenen Ivory Wayans is likable and friendly as a homicide cop, and he's not a bad fighter either. There's a brilliant fight in Wayans' apartment which ends with him being blown out of his window by a gas explosion! Seagal basically plays himself again (what else but the whispering hard man?), but he's even cooler and smarter this time around, always one step ahead of the enemy. The rest of the cast give solid support too, especially the believable killers (who turn out to be just doing their jobs). This time around, the killer is a sadistic serial killer too, something which brings back shades of OUT FOR JUSTICE.A Seagal film wouldn't be a Seagal film without some violent fight scenes, and this film doesn't disappoint. While there aren't a great deal of enemies for Seagal to fight in this film, the ones there are always team up, so there are some fast moments with Seagal killing loads of people at once. Expect lots of smashing windows and tables too, as Seagal chucks people around and breaks the odd arm or two (what a surprise!). He even has a trick up his sleeve in the form of a credit card with a razor blade, which he uses to kill three men in one extremely cool scene.Other show stoppers include Seagal rolling out of the back window of an upside down car, and the final fight between him and the main baddie, which is one of his best. There's quite a bit of blood in this fight, and even Seagal gets whacked on the nose and bleeds (a rare occasion, for someone to land a punch on Seagal). It's definitely a climax worth waiting for. With a higher humour content than before (mostly in the form of Wayans), a plot which actually requires you to think, and the expected action and fight scenes, THE GLIMMER MAN is nothing amazing but it's solid entertainment and a bit better than some other action films of today.

mariondowning-427-469344 Bad bad movie. Just another performance where Segal had to put in no effort other than flail around like a martial artist and Wayans was not funny (even though he is supposedly a comedian). This movie sounded like "The Last Boy Scout" (TLBS) when the character "Maynard" was mentioned (even more so when Wayans said it while sounding like his brother who was in TLBS). Except in TLBS the Wayan brother was a comic sidekick and the lead actor was sympathetic and funny unlike Segal's character in this who just seems to be fighting against everyone (even himself) for illogical reasons.Why does Segal's character always have to come from some eastern roots or be linked with some eastern philosophy (e.g. Buddhism in this case)? Doesn't make me believe he is the invincible fighter when seeing him un-co-ordinated and floundering around like someone in a "sumo costume" would move. His character always has their badge taken away by a yelling police officer and you know it's going to happen before it happens. NB. Steven Segal also had so much fake tan that he looked like a Halloween pumpkin. Watch at Halloween and you might enjoy seeing a pumpkin partially come to life.

videorama-759-859391 The Glimmer Man is a little gem, and it's unlike, any other film our bad lead has done. And that's a cool quality about this must see action action vehicle, with a much interesting plot set around the more than one killer scenario, though it's Steve, again doing more physical damage to other humans. Seagal, a cop of course, is assigned to a a great sidekick and co star, Keenon Ivory Wayans (really, you couldn't got a better duo and they work off each other) where they investigate these ritualistic murders, where there's more to it, but I'm not gonna spoil it. Seagal's past just comes back to haunt him, and when his ex wife are killed. Of course, here it becomes personal, but Seagal's character shows much more restraint, somehow, until the revenge finale at the end, where Seagal squaring off, with that tall lanky, bad dude, provides one of the best revenge moments ever encountered, where I'd probably say it's my favorite. If you're a Seagal action fan, and you haven't seen this, you need a good walloping. It has thrilling action and humor. In the acting stakes, Seagal is really surpassed this time by real thespians, (Brian Cox and Bob Gunton) where Wayons is pretty good too. Don't miss this one on any account. I wish they'd really make credit/bank cards like that. Robberies would really go down.

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.