‘Black Bag’ review: Fassbender, Blanchett spy up a storm for Steven Soderbergh

Dir: Steven Soderbergh. US. 2025. 93mins 

Steven Soderbergh’s icy spy thriller is populated by knowledgeable operatives working on the high of their recreation — an applicable milieu for a director whose cool intelligence and stellar craft are at all times a spotlight of his footage. Black Bag stars Michael Fassbender as a seasoned British agent who fears his spouse (Cate Blanchett), a fellow agent, could also be double-crossing their authorities. However his investigation opens the door to different potential suspects as Soderbergh ratchets up the suspense and deploys one intelligent twist after one other.

Fashionable and sensible

Black Bag involves UK and US theatres on March 14, solely a few months after Soderbergh’s psychological horror Presence, which has grossed roughly $9.3 million worldwide to this point (and premiered at Sundance in 2024). His newest is a way more star-studded affair, with Blanchett and Fassbender joined by Tom Burke, Rege-Jean Web page, Naomie Harris, Pierce Brosnan and Marisa Abela. Fashionable and sensible, Black Bag ought to draw sturdy critiques and strong grosses.

Set in London and spanning the course of about 10 days, the image introduces us to George (Fassbender), a high-ranking spy who learns that there’s a mole inside his company, the Nationwide Cyber Safety Centre (NCSC). Like George Smiley in his Tinker Tailor time, George is clandestinely given the identify of 5 operatives who may very well be the mole — together with his spouse, the well-respected Kathryn (Blanchett) — and requested to do some digging to find out who the wrongdoer is. Uncertain that she may betray her nation, George informs Kathryn of the accusation, inviting the 4 different suspects – spies Freddie (Burke) and James (Web page), psychiatrist Zoe (Harris) and new recruit Clarissa (Abela) – to a cocktail party at their residence, with out revealing his motives. Over the subsequent week, George will attempt to pinpoint the mole, whereas hoping that his religion in his spouse isn’t misplaced.

Lately, Soderbergh has jumped from style to style with every new mission, displaying a playfulness as he immerses himself in, say, the claustrophobic horror of Unsane or the crime-thriller trappings of No Sudden Transfer. However the Oscar-winning director’s enthusiasm for these disparate kinds has not at all times translated into absolutely satisfying experiences. Black Bag is a cheerful exception. Extremely entertaining from begin to end, the movie advantages from David Koepp’s creative screenplay and Soderbergh’s storytelling swagger.

Fassbender and Blanchett make for a riveting married couple, their duplicitous line of labor including intrigue and spark to their relationship. George and Kathryn’s foreplay entails flirty interrogations — “Would you kill for me?” “Would you ever misinform me?” — and Black Bag has monumental enjoyable with the truth that, as a lot as they love each other, they can not completely belief one another. Blanchett radiates chilly reserve, her darkish eyes immediately sizing up anybody she encounters, whereas Fassbender exudes the identical poised detachment he wielded in David Fincher’s The Killer. The actors are dangerously seductive as George begins to imagine that his spouse may very well be masterminding a plot throughout the company.

Not that Black Bag ever lets us really feel sure who the mole is. After a fascinating, prolonged dinner-party opening sequence through which we get to know the 5 suspects — particularly, Freddie’s romantic infidelity, Zoe’s kinks and James’ ambition — George begins the meticulous technique of on the lookout for clues. However as quickly as George thinks he is perhaps on the appropriate path, a shocking flip of occasions modifications his thoughts, and unexpectedly locations him within the crosshairs of the  investigation.

The characters discuss in dazzlingly dense jargon, the back-and-forth dialogue at all times snappy, even when we solely perceive the naked bones of what’s happening. And the ensemble isn’t overwhelmed by the manufacturing’s modern, witty tone. (Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick attire these characters in gorgeous fits and beautiful nightwear.) As a substitute, the actors play their roles with stiff-upper-lip professionalism consistent with profession spies who know the destiny of the nation hangs within the steadiness.

As soon as once more serving as his personal editor, underneath his standard pseudonym Mary Ann Bernard, Soderbergh delivers a punchy thriller that runs to solely 93 minutes — and options only one explosion and one fired gun. And but Black Bag electrifies, all of the whereas evincing a sly sense of humour about, amongst different issues, the issue of constructing love final when you understand your accomplice is hiding secrets and techniques. Soderbergh additionally appears to be having a chuckle casting Brosnan, the previous 007, because the company’s gruff boss — to not point out bringing aboard Harris, that franchise’s most up-to-date Moneypenny. Black Bag affords not one of the blockbuster escapism of a James Bond image, however when Soderbergh is working with this degree of confidence and management, he’s simply as deadly.