I like director Colm McCarthy. If you're unfamiliar with his name then I suggest you look through his extensive selection of film and TV work. You're bound to find at least one thing that you'll really like. The same can be said for Sam Claflin, who stars here in the lead role of Patrick McKee. The only main contributor here that I was unfamiliar with was writer John Hulme, and Bagman is so bad that I hope to now stay unfamiliar with anything he does, at least until he attends some lessons in how to avoid treating viewers like complete idiots who will eat up any half-cooked slop.
It's a tale that we've seen many times in the past couple of decades. A man is haunted by something, or some figure, from his past. He starts to worry that his own trauma is something very real that may cause harm to his own child. This puts a strain on his relationship, but that strain is slightly lessened by the fact that his partner (Karina, played by Antonia Thomas) soon ends up believing that some supernatural threat really is looming large over the family.
Yet another glossy mainstream horror movie that exemplifies the very worst of modern horror movies, Bagman is so astonishingly bad, as well as being painfully derivative in a way that does it no favours at all (because it's never a good thing when you watch a film that reminds you of the 2005 Boogeyman movie), that it kept me in a state of perpetual anger from the opening scene to the start of the closing credits. It's not scary, it's not effective in any standard dramatic way, and it's horribly dull, in terms of both the content and the visuals.
Claflin seems to be sleepwalking through the whole thing, which I guess is in line with the mental state of his character. He certainly doesn't do anything to improve the dialogue. Thomas is a bit better, perhaps due to the fact that she's not so burdened with the weight of being the lead, and there are decent performances from Steven Cree (the brother of Claflin's character), William Hope (the local Police Chief), and Peter McDonald (the father shown in flashbacks as a younger incarnation of Claflin's character first starts to sense the presence of the titular Bagman). I really can't be bothered mentioning anyone else, they're either not good enough or just not memorable (and that includes young Frankie Corio, who made such a fantastic acting debut in Aftersun).
I don't blame the cast for the varying quality of their performances though. I blame Hulme and McCarthy. There's nothing here for anyone to latch onto, but the script and direction seem to be overseen by people desperately trying to convince everyone else that it has any weight and/or worth. That's sadly untrue. I really cannot think of any one moment in this film that doesn't have a corresponding moment in one of a hundred better choices.
I have spent some time now staring at the end of this review, trying to think of one more positive thing I could say about this film. I cannot do it. The best I can come up with is to begrudgingly acknowledge that many of the crew members show a decent degree of competence. That's it. "Bagman - there are a few decent acting turns and some people who remain competent while working with such poor writing and direction." I doubt they'll ever use that as a pull-quote.
3/10
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