On the other hand there is a way to sort of "rescue" your idea. A matrix has rank $ \geq k$ if and only if one of its $k\times k$ submatrices has non-zero determinant.
So there is a (real) polynomial function $\mathbb C^{nm} \to \mathbb R$ which is non-zero if and only if your matrix has rank $\geq k$. The function is the sum of the modulus squared of all $k \times k$ minors. The function is zero if and only if your matrix has rank $< k$.
Another way to look at what I'm saying is that the rank function on your space of matrices is constructing a stratification -- $\lbrace rank=0\rbrace \subset \lbrace rank \leq 1\rbrace \subset \lbrace rank \leq 2\rbrace \cdots$ and the above function is measuring a type of "distance" in the ambient space from the $\lbrace rank \leq k-1\rbrace$ stratum.