Black Bag
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Written by David Koepp
Starring Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Pierce Brosnan
Rated R
Runtime 1 hour, 34 minutes
In theaters March 14

by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Website

As someone with a James Bond podcast–find Pay Attention, 007 wherever you get your pods–I count the spy genre as one of my favorites. A great espionage thriller will mix elements of other genres and film modes, especially action, noir, mystery, and thriller, into the kinds of stories where the stakes are high, loyalties are unclear, and a split-second decision is often the line between success and failure. I will never get enough, as I count Bond, Mission: Impossible, and Jack Ryan among my favorite franchises ever, but I also love the more heady spycraft found in the stories of John le Carré and Alfred Hitchcock. Black Bag fits more into the latter, and exceptional style and craft elevate this to be among the best the genre has ever produced.

George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) and Kathryn St. James (Cate Blanchett) are a monogamous, married couple who are also both agents at an unnamed intelligence agency (presumably MI6). When evidence of a mole connected to the potential theft of a new weapon, codenamed Severus, is presented to George, one of the prime suspects is Kathryn. As George looks at the other members of their circle who may be the mole, including Tom Burke (Freddy Smalls), agency psychologist Dr. Zoe Vaughn (Naomie Harris), Stokes (Regé-Jean Page), and Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela), his loyalties to the UK and his wife are tested.

Spies are not well-trod ground for Soderbergh, unless you count the corporate flavor of espionage, Black Bag would make his third film in the genre after The Informant! (2009) and Haywire (2011). However, Soderbergh is no stranger to the loyalty tests, high-pressure standoffs, and other elements that the spy genre has in common with the crime thrillers that are well within his comfort zones. The film of his that this feels most like is Kimi (2022), his previous collaboration with writer David Koepp. As a screenwriter, Koepp has written a few spy films before this, most notably his work on Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible (1996), where he and Robert Towne (Chinatown, 1974) both worked on elements of the script. Mission: Impossible, in and around De Palma’s amazing work with split diopters and dutch angles, also centers on one of its lead characters–Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt–being accused of being a mole and also involves questions of love and loyalty.

Unlike Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), George and Kathryn know they are in the same line of work, and it is their ability to compartmentalize–or not–that drives much of the tension in their relationship. The film’s title, Black Bag, refers to a term used by these spies to indicate that their reason for doing something–like flying to Zurich on short notice or spending a night in a hotel alone–is part of a classified operation. George and Kathryn’s marital status is known to their colleagues, and the younger agents and analysts seem equally bemused and befuddled by their marriage. Clarissa voices this most directly, asking how they can trust each other when their work is predicated on lies and deceit and how can they ever know that they are actually loyal to each other. The answer to that question is much more vital to the film than its MacGuffin, so I will not spoil it here.

At a taut 94 minutes, Black Bag is a screenplay worth studying for its specificity and efficiency. While many thrillers in this genre focus on packing in as many twists or obfuscations as possible, Koepp and Soderbergh rely on the actor’s performances and deft reveals of morsels of information in both dialogue and visual storytelling to unfurl its mysteries. The chemistry between Fassbender and Blanchett is a key feature, as they are extremely convincing as a married couple with a longstanding yet still passionate relationship. Their push-pull with each other feels extremely familiar, with the pair able to anticipate each other’s moves in conversation and in spy craft, and their shared love of psychological games adds a kinky element to their sex life as well as their friendships. George and Kathryn are the film’s spinal cord, and their relationship is so well written and acted that it easily carries the rest of the film.

Black Bag sings in the small details. In a spy thriller that eschews car chases, death-defying stunts, or even a serious shootout, Koepp’s witty script and Soderbergh’s masterful, controlled direction wring innumerable drops of tension out of every single scene. Each character is well-defined, their motives understandable, and their choices clear, either through dialogue or visual indicators. This extends to the costuming as well. While everyone in the film looks fantastic, the way that each generation is clothed tells a story. From Pierce Brosnan’s Boomer double-breasted suits–marking him as old school and patriarchal–to Fassbender and Blanchette’s refined-but-not flashy Gen X blacks to the Millennials just trying to look professional, Black Bag shows institutional hierarchy and attitudes through clothes as well as action.

It is only March, and Soderbergh is having an incredible year, as I adored Presence almost as much as this film. Both films are perhaps the smallest-scale versions of their chosen genre, and yet each demands the audience’s full attention for maximum effect. These movies are made to be seen in the cinema, and I urge you to see Black Bag if you already missed Presence. Or, if you are waiting to watch either at home, put your phone in another room and lock into these cinematric delights. I am already buying tickets to see Black Bag again.

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