‘Black Bag’ Review

Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Black Bag’ is a thinking person’s spy thriller. There are no big gunfights, no action set pieces. The intrigue is in the silence, the thrills are in the conversations between lovers.

Michael Fassbender plays George Woodhouse, a top British intelligence agent, who is tasked with finding a mole in MI6 out of a list of five potential suspects, one of whom happens to be his wife, Kathryn (Cate Blanchett). He brings all of these suspects together at his home for a dinner party, thus beginning his investigation and the subsequent paranoia, conspiring, suspicious deals and counter deals.

Echoing this beginning, the film ends with another dinner party with the same guest list, under very different circumstances. In this moment, the film is reminiscent more of an Agatha Christie murder mystery than a spy story, wherein our detective — in this case, George — gathers together all the suspects and explains whodunit and why.

In between these bookends is a lean, quick paced spy thriller that is uniquely interested in these relationships, romantic and otherwise, between people in an industry that rewards deceit. The suspects are all linked to each other beyond their work: George and Kathryn are married, but Clarissa and Freddie (Marissa Abela and Tom Burke) and Zoe and James (Naomie Harris and Regé-Jean Page) are also romantically linked. These strong emotions heighten the suspense of the main plot, while also introducing surprising humor. While ‘Black Bag’ is most focused on its spy thriller plot, this is also a romantic workplace dark comedy for the bizarre, amoral and career focused personalities that work for the Secret Intelligence Services. Spies want love too, even as they understand how difficult it is to achieve a storybook romance given their circumstances. At one point Clarissa, while helping George access some satellite imagery, asks him how he makes his relationship work. After an earnest yet clinical explanation of how devoted he is to his wife, how committed he is to his marriage, George’s monologue is punctuated by a taken aback Clarissa replying “that’s hot.” It’s a prime example of this film’s bizarre, off kilter people in bizarre, off kilter relationships in which everyday questions of how much you trust your partner are amplified by the thousands of lives at stake.

The acting is strong throughout this cast, even as none of the individual roles demand much depth or range. Fassbender and Blanchett specifically are convincing as uber-competent and ambitious spies who balance their love of their work with their love for each other. In addition to all of the principal suspects in the main plot, Pierce Brosnan has a small, enjoyable role as Arthur Steiglitz, everybody’s boss at MI6. Just like every other character, Steiglitz is not without his quirks, specifically a taste for eating live fish.

As a Steven Soderbergh film, ‘Black Bag’ is lean, coming in at a brisk 93 minute runtime, with stylish directing, lighting and music. With such a tight thriller script from David Koepp, there isn’t any fat in this runtime. Time isn’t spent exploring the world of these characters beyond the confines of the film’s mystery; the film has no interest in that and it’s better served for it. The resulting film is an interesting, engrossing espionage thriller that stands apart from its peers with its darkly comic relationship dynamics. ‘Black Bag’, like so many Soderbergh films, refuses to fit neatly into any one genre box, but it’s never less than a fun time with a bunch of weirdos in love trying to save the world.

Black Bag
Rated R for language including some sexual references, and some violence.
Running Time: 1 hour and 33 minutes

Director Steven Soderbergh
Writers David Koepp
Stars Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page, Pierce Brosnan
Rating R
Running Time 93 Minutes
Genres Spy, Drama, Thriller