Original caricature by Jeff York of the cast of BLACK BAG. (copyright 2025)
Who doesn’t love a good spy thriller? From James Bond to Jason Bourne to Jack Ryan, it might be the most venerable type of genre film in show biz these days. Each year it seems more and more A-listers sign up for such projects on both the big screen and small screen. Shows like SLOW HORSES and BLACK DOVES are such big streaming hits that their spy thrillers get renewed as soon as a season drops. Now along comes director Steven Soderbergh’s newest movie, an espionage whodunnit entitled BLACK BAG starring Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, and Pierce Brosnan. It’s smart, sexy, and gorgeous to watch, with cleverly calculated performances from the whole cast. Such adult fare should play well in theaters so don’t be surprised if this one earns a sequel or two. It’s that good.
The contribution of screenwriter David Koepp cannot be overpraised as his script is not only tight and economical, but it’s sprinkled generously with wit and ribaldry, let alone a lot of edgy twists and turns. The film’s many surprises start right off the bat when the central character George Woodhouse is instructed that there is a mole in MI-6 who’s stolen a secret device (the MacGuffin, natch) and it’s his job to weed out the traitor. Oh, and one of the five possible suspects happens to be his wife Kathryn, who’s also a spy for the agency.
Fassbender and Blanchett play the couple, or should I say underplay as they know the pulpy material is already big enough that they don’t have to overdo it. Woodhouse seems to be one of those analytical eggheads, a crackerjack who unearths the truth via interviews and polygraphs, while his wife is a field agent who travels on secret missions. When she announces she’s off on one, she intones “Black Bag” and that means it’s so secretive, she can’t say another word about it.
Woodhouse worries that perhaps she’s a double agent, working for the Soviets. The other four suspects he’s investigating are good friends or colleagues, so Woodhouse decides to invite them all over for a dinner party to get a read on any suspicious behavior. The rather tony suspects are MI-6 psychiatrist Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris), analysts Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke) and Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela), and agent Col. James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page). The set-piece in the Woodhouse home, with ol’ George serving as both the chef and secret interrogator turns into an instant classic. Tensions rise, secrets are revealed, and a lot is unearthed within a mere 30 minutes into the film.
Brosnan appears as a stuffed shirt of an MI-6 bigwig, a choice piece of ironic casting given his days as 007. He’s bitchy, cowardly, and a hoot! Director Soderbergh photographs every scene as the film’s cinematographer and he always gives every moment a genuine sense of purpose here. He also edits this time out and keeps it all humming to come in just over 93 minutes. Whew!
The performers give it plenty of bite and bile, with perhaps the best portrayal coming from Abela. She’s sexy and catty, stealing almost every scene, particularly one late in the film where she aces a polygraph test that Woodhouse puts her through via some cheating (ahem) body language. Kudos to the costumer Ellen Mirojnick too, one of the few jobs Soderbergh hired someone else to do for this one. She makes everyone look like a million bucks and gives Fassbender’s Woodhouse some real flair in his turtleneck and sport coat combos. (And is it a sly nod to Michael Caine’s famous 1960s spook Harry Palmer from THE IPCRESS FILE that Fassbender wears dark-rimmed glasses here? You bet your microfilm, it is.)
BLACK BAG is so deliciously done that you may worry while watching it that it’s all going to go south before the final scenes, but it keeps up its pace, energy, and mystery right to the end. Soderbergh, Koepp, and the cast ensure this spy thriller is a keeper and will keep the genre going even longer and stronger.
