THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 8, 1996 TAG: 9610080039
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 47 lines
THE BEST thing that you could say about ``The Glimmer Man'' is that there is one widescreen clip from ``Casablanca'' in it. As Bogie reads the parting letter from Ingrid Bergman, informing him that they'll still always have Paris, Keenen Ivory Wayans breaks into tears in the movie theater within the movie theater.
For an instant, we wish we could stop ``The Glimmer Man'' and keep going with ``Casablanca'' but there's no stopping the bloodletting that is an expected part of this latest Steven Seagal nonentity.
A bloated Seagal again sports his ponytail. This time he plays a New York cop who is investigating a serial killer in Los Angeles. He whispers persistently which is in contrast to the noisy killings. (The serial killer has a habit of crucifying his victims after shooting them).
Seagal wears Tibetan prayer beads and claims a Buddhist commitment to nonviolence, even in the finale, when he leaves one bad buy impaled on a wrought iron fence.
Wayons' presence might have suggested a comedic bent, but don't be fooled. This is no comedy and Wayons is surprisingly straight-laced about his job as a cop in pursuit. He's better when he's funny.
In an election year, Hollywood has noticeably shied away from its usual bent of making the federal government a villain. With the Cold War over and ethnic villains taboo, it must be difficult for a scriptwriter to find any safe bad guys. The solution here? The murders are really copycat jobs planned by the Russian mafia to smuggle chemical weapons to Serbian terrorists. Now there are two villainous groups who are safe.
``The Glimmer Man'' (with the title referring to Seagal's Vietnam past as a CIA hitman) is mindless violence. It is a perfect example of how low Hollywood will go in churning out formula mayhem which suggests that torture and killings are routine.
It may be beneath contempt but, at the same time, it deserves contempt. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``The Glimmer Man''
Cast: Steven Seagal, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Bob Gunton
Director: John Gray
MPAA rating: R (nude corpses, violence)
Mal's rating: one star by CNB