Movie Review ~ Black Bag

Grand spectacle, globe-hopping action, absurdly convoluted plot twists…these are the basic tenets of a plum spy thriller, which have been double-crossing viewers for years on the big screen.  Long-running franchises like Mission: Impossible and James Bond have perfected the moves in their spy games, while the romantic entanglements of Mr. and Mrs.  Smith and Allied have turned up the heat on professional deceivers as they are diffusing nuclear bombs.  Rarely do we get a tale stripped down to its genre core: paranoia and the simple but necessary question: Who can you trust?

Black Bag, Focus Features’ razor-sharp new espionage thriller, slices through familiar territory with surgical precision, delivering 93 minutes of meticulously crafted suspense without a single moment or word out of place.  Wasting little time pulling you into a taut knot of betrayal and near-elegant moves of deceit, it keeps you guessing until almost the final frame.  Steven Soderbergh’s latest collaboration with screenwriter David Koepp proves that adult thrillers still have plenty to offer when placed in capable hands.  If only more modern thrillers released in theaters had this kind of exactitude in their execution.

Cate Blanchett (Tár) and Michael Fassbender (The Killer) star as Kathryn and George Woodhouse, a married pair of London-based intelligence agents working for a never named company.  Their personal and professional bonds have withstood years of assignments, most of which are put in their individual ‘black bag,’ the code word used to politely tell the other all questions must stop.  Their seemingly unshakeable partnership fractures when George learns that Kathryn and four others are being quietly investigated for treason.  Loyal to his country but torn by the love for his wife, he’s faced with an unbearable choice of who to be faithful to.  Will he follow the mounting evidence against Kathryn to clear her name or remain steadfast in upholding the ideals they both swore to serve?   

Koepp’s set-up is classic spy romance 101.  Spy vs.  Spy, Lover vs Lover, executed with unflinching efficiency that keeps you on edge.  While George navigates a maze of deception where nothing, and no one, is quite who they seem, our suspicions begin to shift as well…and not always where George is looking.  There’s a perfect equilibrium between a number of outcomes and possible truths that could clear or condemn not just Kathryn but George as well.  Soderbergh, working with Koepp for the third time after 2022’s Kimi and January’s Presence (which actually premiered in January 2024 at Sundance), again demonstrates his one-of-a-kind ability to give adult audiences an intelligent narrative that offers genuine surprises.

Wrapped in Ellen Mirojnick’s stunning array of immaculately tailored coats, high-waisted pants, and intimidating sunglasses, Blanchett is exceptional in every frame.  Kathryn is a woman who never reveals what she’s truly thinking, even when she seems to.  It’s Blanchett in peak form, a showcase for the shades, both warm and cold, she can bring to a character.  Matching her intensity is Fassbender, with his own natty wardrobe and perfectly calibrated portrayal of siloed emotions – a man whose professional skill of detachment threatens to undo him when personal stakes emerge.  Sure, the chemistry between the two leads crackle on a physical level, but the connection between the minds creates some serious steam.  Together, they create a vivid vision of two people who know each other intimately yet harbor essential secrets through their complicated history.

Soderbergh has always had an innate gift for gathering an ensemble, and the small supporting players in Black Bag illustrate that talent again.  Marisa Abela (gloriously rebounding from the Amy Winehouse biopic debacle Back to Black) steals the show as Clarissa, a hard-to-pin-down colleague whose motivations remain unreadable.  The compromised therapist is a well-worn trope, but Naomie Harris (The Wasp) gives her role some complexities, slowly showing how she’s left herself vulnerable by allowing her professional and personal boundaries to blur together.  Tom Burke (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) has sly fun as a close ally to George that might be juggling multiple agendas and a former James Bond himself, Pierce Brosnan, even gets in on the action as their fussy leader.  The only weak link is Regé-Jean Page (Sylvie’s Love), who, though charismatic, occasionally seems overwhelmed when sharing scenes with heavyweights like Fassbender and especially Blanchett.

As usual, Soderbergh wears multiple hats, using his typical pseudonyms to act as his own cinematographer and editor.  With that much control, he can have complete command over the visual language of Black Bag, making you feel the lack of oxygen in tight quarters and sensing the dangerous exposure in unprotected spaces.  Entrapment always feels inevitable, and that pressure creates a mounting tension that is maintained quite nicely.  The way information is revealed is masterful, and with no flashy action set pieces to get your adrenaline spiked, Koepp and Soderbergh rely on old-fashioned suspense to get the blood pumping.

The film delights in its misdirection, inviting audiences to lean forward and scrutinize every glance and gesture for hidden meaning. It wants you to second-guess yourself, just as George does.  Experience this film with a full audience if possible.  Several moments are accompanied by a complete absence of sound (or David Holmes’s score), allowing for collective gasps—a deliberate choice that enhances the communal aspect of going to the movies. 

Those worried that trailers revealed too much can rest easy—Soderbergh is several steps ahead of you, crafting promotional materials with clever deceptions of their own.  While the film touches on contemporary issues involving nuclear weapons and geopolitical tensions, these elements remain peripheral enough to prevent it from becoming quickly dated.  At a time when most spy films are overlong, indulgent affairs stretching well past the two-hour mark, Black Bag is a sophisticated breath of fresh air.  It’s the kind of thriller Hollywood used to make more often—smart, stylish, and completely engrossing.