There’s no need to bury the lede: Steven Soderbergh is in his bag with “Black Bag,” a taut, sexy spy thriller that oozes with intrigue and rewards your patience and intellect. Filled to the brim with his greatest hits, for all the risks he takes (many of which are welcomed) the things the prolific director does best continue to the best of his filmography. He simply knows how to make movies; how to frame shots, how to get the best out of his cast, and how create riveting pacing from stripped down, barebones storytelling.
“Black Bag” is a riveting affair that thrives on strength of its performers up to the task of its masterful verbal sparring. It requires your full attention but never insults its audience. Finally, a film that trusts you to take it as it is and never once dumbs itself down with needless exposition.
That kind of confidence can only come from the vets behind the camera, and “Black Bag” is a genuine rarity in today’s movie climate. We live in a world where streamers are literally asking writers to makes things dumber for the at home half watchers, so it is refreshing to see an outright rebellion against stupidity and require our full attention. This is a slow burn whodunnit that rewards both patience and intelligence, and while the spy thriller genre should be full of films like these, it’s shockingly rare to find one like this. Somehow it’s also the best date night movie of the year, resting on an unbreakable marriage at its core among the globetrotting and interrogations. It keeps you guessing even when you’ve got it all figured out. Not because the story is overcomplicated, but because all of its characters are so fully realized and interesting their conflicting motivations all require their own resolve as the full picture comes into focus.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh from a script by David Koepp, “Black Bag” follows two married intelligence agents George (Michael Fassbender) and Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) whose relationship is called into question when one of them is suspected of treason. That treason has catastrophic consequences, and George is tasked with finding the rat even if it means betraying his wife. George is calculating and methodical while Kathryn is sultry and mysterious, and as they both go about their lives – both together and separately – there may or may not be a larger plot afoot that will test their love and all of their surrounding relationships with some other suspected co-workers. “Black Bag” also stars Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page (“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves“), and Pierce Brosnan (James Bond 007 franchise).
Koepp’s filmography is quite the rollercoaster, ranging from excellence like “Jurassic Park” and “Panic Room” to unwatchable duds like “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and “Angels and Demons.” Thankfully for us, “Black Bag” is the former, a true display of his sharp banter and dry wit delivered to perfection from its stars. Koepp’s script, Soderbergh’s eye and the tight editing from Mary Ann Bernard combine their strengths to let actors like Blanchett and Fassbender do what they do best: be sexy as hell and command the screen in every single moment. It is also darkly funny, the carefully crafted exchanges zing with consistently razor sharp battle of words and top notch line delivery. You can’t really have a weak link with a cast like this one, and it’s even harder to stand out underneath the shadow of people like Blanchett and Fassbender. But Tom Burke and Marisa Abela are big standouts even if that’s not really a thing you can do here.
Burke and Abela have some of the best scenes together, with Burke demonstrating he’s more than just the guy in face paint in “Furiosa,” and Abela apologizing for “Back to Black.” They have some of my favorite interactions in “Black Bag,” (including a dinner scene that I won’t spoil here but it had me both laughing and shocked and thrilled all at the same time) not just with each other but with both of the stars, too. Regé-Jean Page isn’t quite as memorable, but that has more to do with his character than his performance, which continues to get better and better when he is used properly. He too has a stand out scene with Harris, one that may rank as the funniest, sharpest therapy room scene to date. “Black Bag” truly gives everyone something to chew on, and Soderbergh’s interest in the living lives of professional liars creates a layered, patience exercise in espionage at its finest.
Soderbergh may be up to old reliable tricks, but this film is a reminder that those tricks work very well when done right. Sure, it’s a lot of hot people with trust issues and miserable personal lives, but all of that misery and mistrust is intertwined in the unfolding mystery that add a sense of grown up nuance to an otherwise straightforward spy story. The doohickey and security breaches and politics are all secondary to the lives of our characters and testing of a marriage, and “Black Bag” balances its humor and thrills elements with assured veteran savoy.
Sleek and sexy, “Black Bag” may not be the best of Soderbergh, but it is definitely one of the best films of the year and another welcomed thriller from one of the greats. It’s a film that respects you and rewards you if you’re willing to let it, and it is worth the engagement it asks for.
There’s a new “Couples Goals” in town and its George and Kathryn. I too would kill for Cate Blanchett.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
