Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
A criminal waits in a seedy motel for his boss after killing several men to steal a bag.
The Bag Man is a neo-noir thriller that struggles to rise above its generic premise. John Cusack and Robert De Niro are largely wasted in underwritten roles, with De Niro's crime boss performance feeling particularly phoned-in. The motel-set plot borrows heavily from better noir traditions without adding much of its own — the mystery of the bag's contents never generates genuine tension. Cinematography has some moody, atmospheric moments that elevate the seedy setting, but overall the film is a forgettable, derivative genre exercise that fails to deliver on its pulpy promise.