Steven Soderbergh’s Modern Spy Thriller Is A Good Good Time

It would be means too trite and (dare I say it) pretentious to assert that “Black Bag,” Steven Soderbergh’s second film of 2025 following the minimalist ghost story “Presence,” is definitely a feature-length dissertation about how filmmaking has extra in widespread with spycraft than you’d assume. Watching this slickly-made espionage thriller, nonetheless, would possibly depart you with the impression that the thought has crossed his thoughts a few times. For somebody who routinely directs a number of films (and TV present episodes!) a yr and insists on dealing with all the things from enhancing to cinematography himself, it is truthful to surprise when precisely this man sleeps, eats, or lives something near a traditional life exterior of the digicam. So, possibly it was solely inevitable that he’d lastly mirror this actual expertise on the display with one of many smartest, laser-focused, and downright obsessive spy films in fairly a while.

Soderbergh hasn’t returned to this setting since 2011’s “Haywire,” however the passing of years has solely given rise to as refined and grown-up an expertise as you will ever see on this style. Working from an authentic script by common collaborator David Koepp (who additionally wrote “Presence”), Soderbergh’s newest stars a pair of acquainted veterans in Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett as married spies working for MI6. When one is given purpose to suspect a traitor on the coronary heart of MI6 would possibly very effectively be the individual sharing their mattress, “Black Bag” kicks into gear and delivers a tense, darkly comedic thrill experience. What actually elevates this to the following stage, nonetheless, is how a collection of dialogue-heavy conversational scenes flip into one thing way more thrilling than conventional James Bond-style motion.

That is actually all I knew in regards to the premise going into the movie, which Soderbergh and Koepp all however weaponize towards us as we’re taken by means of the narrative’s heady twists and turns. (Do not fret if, like me, you wrestle to maintain up at instances. Like “Michael Clayton” earlier than it, “Black Bag” makes use of the truth that it is perpetually a step forward or two forward of its viewers to unimaginable impact.) This would possibly start as a time-honored story about disloyal intelligence brokers preventing over an all-important MacGuffin. But it quickly transforms right into a self-contained chamber piece marrying the very best of each worlds: the nail-biting rigidity from “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” and the virtually stage-like exploration into middle-aged marriage taken straight out of the “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” playbook.

There is a purpose why spy tales so usually default to the drama of lovers set towards one another, and “Black Bag” does not a lot as reinvent the wheel because it perfects it. The movie opens with a muted, “Goodfellas”-esque lengthy take shot from behind Fassbender in an ideal introduction to this equally restrained, understated world of backstabbing and lies. Summoned to a gathering with a contact (Gustaf Skarsgård, proving that one other member of the Skarsgård dynasty in all probability lurks behind each nook), George quickly learns that MI6 has a mole inside its midst and top-secret, life-threatening intel might presumably fall into the incorrect palms. For somebody who’s primarily a human polygraph check, whittling down an inventory of 5 potential suspects in his speedy circle would not ordinarily be an issue. (“I do not like liars,” he bluntly states at one level after revealing another person’s significantly brutal secret.) It rapidly turns into one, nonetheless, when his personal spouse is included amongst them.

So far as husband and spouse depictions on movie go, you will be onerous pressed to seek out any extra devoted to 1 one other than George Woodhouse and Kathryn St. Jean. Projecting a chilly, impassive, and totally indifferent veneer, Fassbender’s steely efficiency as George is each off-putting and alluring on the similar time. His first notable character second is one the place he all however shrinks into the background, inviting viewers to see into these inscrutable eyes hidden behind a pair of blocky glasses (a subtly efficient little bit of costume design) to determine the gears consistently turning from inside. Blanchett’s Kathryn, then again, is all smoke and mirrors. Outwardly seductive and capable of command a room with ease, her true nature is saved at a take away for causes that we will seemingly guess. All of the whereas, we’re meant to key into the wedding drama of all of it much more than the plain style trappings of a spy movie.

However somewhat than devolving into “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”-style fisticuffs, Koepp’s script and Soderbergh’s shrewd course decide for a whole 180 — highlighted by an unbelievably tense dinner sequence between our six major characters. Right here, lies are forcefully delivered to the floor, interpersonal conflicts between coworkers are laid naked, and the strains between skilled and private blur past all recognition. Soderbergh has at all times had a sixth sense for casting (effectively, possibly aside from the primary lead of “Haywire”) and he wields that ability right here like a lethal instrument. Along with our major married duo, the forged of characters zero in on “Furiosa” scene-stealer Tom Burke because the trigger-happy wild card Freddie, Marisa Abela because the mousy tech wizard (and Freddie’s sad girlfriend) Clarissa, Regé-Jean Web page because the ultra-cool James, and Naomie Harris as a psychiatrist named Zoe, who would possibly as effectively be the match to this group’s tinderbox. Sparks virtually actually fly each time this sextet collect collectively beneath one roof … and “Black Bag” is aware of exactly how and when to unleash this ace within the gap to its benefit.

For all of the discuss how Soderbergh is one thing of an experimental filmmaker, aggressively pushing the boundaries of what the medium can pull off, “Black Bag” stands out as a throwback that really manages to really feel recent and distinctive on the similar time. Fassbender and Blanchett actually share their fair proportion of scorching chemistry, making it completely plausible that the 2 would do something for the opposite. However theirs is an old-school kind of star energy, the likes of which the place George merely verbalizing the lengths he’d go to guard Katherine causes one other character to breathlessly exclaim, “That is so sizzling.” I can depend on one hand the variety of films this century — spy, romance, or in any other case — that perceive the true energy of a pair in love. With Fassbender and Blanchett in full management of each scene they’re in, a movie with old style inspirations all of the sudden comes alive with the sense of fashion and modernity that solely Soderbergh can convey.

“Black Bag” is a film about contradictions. It is a attractive film even with out all that many precise intercourse scenes, a puzzle field that is not actually in regards to the puzzle, a ticking time bomb with out the literal bomb. Above all, it is a story about how the reality might presumably survive in a occupation the place life or dying hangs on each lie instructed and each misleading net spun. Do not be fooled by Pierce Brosnan’s brilliantly subversive casting as an M-type of management determine in MI6, both. As a lot as James Bond may be within the headlines lately, even 007 himself could be fully in over his head in a world the place fancy gadgetry are at a premium and bullets are much more scarce. It is no coincidence that the look, really feel, and literal identify of George Woodhouse calls to thoughts acclaimed spy novelist John le Carré’s well-known protagonist George Smiley (portrayed by Gary Oldman in 2011’s “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” adaptation). This can be a considering individual’s spy film, although an R-rated one which flies by at a speedy clip because of Soderbergh’s ever-efficient enhancing and its brisk 93-minute runtime.

“Black Bag” is an ideal instance of all of Soderbergh’s strengths and the heights he is able to reaching all through this run-and-gun part of his post-retirement profession. So long as he is nonetheless on the market doing his finest impression of this movie’s central spy grasp, relentlessly obsessed and hopelessly dedicated to his one real love of filmmaking and keen to do something it takes to defend its honor, the doom and gloom surrounding the state of the trade could be safely postponed. Here is yet one more reminder of why we’re all the best way within the bag for no matter he has up his sleeve subsequent.

/Movie Ranking 8 out of 10

“Black Bag” opens in U.S. theaters March 14, 2025.