Well action fans, I have some good news and I have some bad news.
First, the good news.
Warner has finally released Steven Seagal’s latest bone-cruncher, ‘The Glimmer Man’, on laser. This is pretty standard "buddy cop" action fare with Seagal as a homicide detective who is obviously more than he appears. Teamed with Keenan Ivory Wayans, they are assigned to a case of a series of ritual murders. The unusually convoluted plot seems little more than a showcase for Seagal’s physical skills and Wayans’ comic repartee. Of course, that’s what most fans of this sort of film are looking for. One thing is certain, Seagal shows once again that he is a master at choreographing a fight scene and you will need a calculator to keep up with the body count.
The video transfer for this disc is very good. Colors are highly saturated with very little smearing and almost no chroma noise. This disc was pressed by Sony who have become known in collector circles for their decidedly mediocre pressings. In this case, however, the image is extremely smooth and clear with excellent contrast and detail. Very important as much of the action takes place at night. The matted framing has a ratio of about 1.85:1 and compositions look consistently well balanced.
As for the soundtrack, the first word that comes to mind is "loud". I mean, really loud. I usually prefer to play soundtracks at THX "reference" level, but even I had to turn this one down a ways. The Dolby 2-track is loaded with plaster-cracking bass that will give the toughest subwoofers a workout while maintaining clear, accurate dialog. But, it is the soundtrack that brings me to the bad news. Warner included a Dolby Digital soundtrack on this disc. The problem is that this soundtrack is out of sync with the picture by several frames. Now, this is, to the best of my knowledge, the first laserdisc from the Sony plant with an AC-3 track. None the less, this is an egregious error that should have never gotten by quality control.
The film runs 92 minutes and contains 33 chapters. The side break is well placed. No trailer or other extras are included. List price is $34.95.
While fans of this film that were looking forward to enjoying it with the power and precision of a Dolby Digital soundtrack will no doubt be disappointed (I certainly was), the quality of the transfer and the matrixed Dolby soundtrack still make this an easy recommendation. It is up to Warner, though, to do the right thing and issue a corrected pressing. The chances of that, however, are such that you might want to pick one up despite the Dolby Digital flaw.
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