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The
Glimmer Man
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For about its first ten minutes, The Glimmer Man can make even the most indulgent fan of formulaic action movies groan wearily. The banter between two mismatched cops – white Jack (Steven Seagal) and black Jim (Keenen Ivory Wayans) – is straight out of Lethal Weapon (1987). The jagged camera moves in a chaotic police station are cribbed from television's NYPD Blue. And the flashes of evidence from a gruesome serial killing case are a pale imitation of Seven (1995). But then this film starts to get interesting. Jack is a mighty strange character: not only a Buddhist with a multi-cultural, New Age sensibility, but also a shady operator with a mysterious, lawless past. And the murders that he and Jim are investigating take an unforeseen swerve when it becomes apparent that there are two killers – one copying the work of the other as part of a labyrinthine conspiracy. Seagal's screen career is one that critics like to reflexly deride. But The Glimmer Man is a fine reminder of what works best in his movies: a cynical, almost subversive attitude toward all state authority (everybody except the heroes is absolutely corrupt); an oddball approach to action, incident and character; and a director (in this case John Gray) eager to impress. There are elements from a dozen different genres thrown into this brew: film noir, comedy of manners, sadistic revenge movie, portrait of urban malaise. But it is not a mere hodge-podge; the movie flows well, its detail is captivating, and the action clinches are modestly but imaginatively staged. I have never been a fan of Seagal's wooden acting. When placed inside a tragic scene, he struggles to produce an appropriate or convincing facial expression. But The Glimmer Man, by casting him in an offbeat, semi-comic role, elicits a new, more satisfying performance style. And the combination of Seagal with Wayans – usually a comic actor here trying on a straighter part – has a fetching, roughhouse charm. © Adrian Martin January 1997 |
