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Feb 27, 2014 · That’s not to say The Bag Man ends like a storybook, but the route taken to explain lingering plot holes is uncreative and weak compared to the first two acts of the movie.
The Bag Man tells the story of a criminal (Cusack) spending time with a strange costumed woman (Da Costa) in a seedy motel run by an eccentric wheelchair-bound manager (Glover) while waiting for his ruthless boss (De Niro) to arrive so that he can hand over a very mysterious bag.
Feb 28, 2014 · For “The Bag Man” is, in final analysis, truly disheartening. Watch Cusack and you will see the face of an actor who knows how bad this is, and who must be aware of how far he has fallen. If ...
- Christopher Schobert
This is the central question that guides the premise of the noir film “The Bag Man,” written and directed by David Grovic. “The Bag Man” is inspired by psychologist Marie-Louise von Franz’s novel “The Cat,” a strange Romanian fairy tale that depicts a princess who is bewitched...
- Stay on the seedy side of life.
- Verdict
By Cliff Wheatley
Updated: Aug 16, 2021 11:58 pm
Posted: Feb 26, 2014 8:13 pm
The Bag Man, directed by David Grovic, is a grimy noir that celebrates scenery-chewing and smart alecks, even when it doesn’t entirely fit the tone that the movie establishes early on. There are certainly worse low-budget crime flicks out there; at least The Bag Man gives us the opportunity to enjoy John Cusack and Robert De Niro play off one another.
Jack (Cusack) is a hired gun that is told by Dragna (De Niro) to retrieve a bag for him and wait at a motel to make the hand-off. Dragna makes it clear that no matter what, Jack is not to look in the bag; his job is simply to make the hand-off as requested. Of course, things don’t go quite so smoothly, as Jack is immediately hunted by others on the prowl for the bag, and he has to consider that his boss is toying with him. With his job hindered by unexpected competitors and a down-on-her-luck woman named Rivka (Rebecca De Costa), Jack goes through one hell of a night.
The pieces are somewhat familiar and borderline cliché, but Grovic manages to subvert most expectations. We’ve seen the hitman-with-a-heart-of-gold shtick from Cusack before, and in fact Jack could very well be his character from Grosse Point Blank twenty years later, but when we expect him to be warm and sympathetic he winds up being the opposite and vice versa. He’s got the cutting snark we expect from Cusack, but is just as able to give Jack some depth in the few scenes where he talks about his past. The twists and turns of the plot and the mystery of the bag are equally surprising, only becoming clear near the end once the seeds have been placed throughout the movie.
While it doesn’t stick the landing and houses some erroneous characters that have little to add to the whole, The Bag Man still manages to be an entertaining crime-noir with some fun characters and a lot of mystery. It’s worth a watch if you’re a fan of Cusack or De Niro, or are simply looking for a seedier world than your own to play in for a whil...
- Cliff Wheatley
Feb 27, 2014 · John Cusack and Robert De Niro deliver a new crime thriller in The Bag Man that more or less hits its target.
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A review of the 2014 film noir The Bag Man starring John Cusack, Robert DeNiro, Dominic Purcell, Crispin Glover and Rebecca Da Costa
