Review of The Glimmer Man (1996) by David G — 26 Jun 2011

Mid-90's Steven Seagal action flick that's pretty much interchangeable with any one of his post-2000 straight-to-video shit heaps. In fact you could say that The Glimmer Man marks the beginning of that tragic decent into oblivion - bog standard cops n'robbers plot - check, alarmingly podgy mid-section - check, sassy black sidekick - check, boring action - check.

The plot may be spiced up with a little serial killer action but even that doesn't amount to anything and either way it's ripped straight from Se7en. Seagal is his usual scowling, ponytailed, yawn-inducing self - tolerable in most cases - but here he takes every opportunity he can to shove his Buddhist philosophy down our throats and it gets old very fast.

Keenen Ivory Wayans plays the sidekick (I'll be honest with you, he does get some funny lines) while Bob Gunton and Brian Cox are also on hand to try and out-slum each other. The action is nothing to write home about and naturally Seagal is built up as an invincible powerhouse while his opponents are made to look like weaklings.

Seagal even spends a good chunk of the final showdown taunting the bad guy as to how bad he is! I mean sure, that may rob the film of any tension but hey, it makes Seagal look good!