Black Bag centers on George Woodhouse, an intelligence operative working to expose a mole within the National Cyber Security Center. The tension heightens as George suspects that his wife, Kathryn St. Jean, might be involved.

Black Bag Review

Steven Soderbergh brings his signature cool to a film dripping with high-fashion espionage, posh London settings, and crisp British accents. While the script doesn’t offer much intrigue (don’t expect a mystery you can piece together), it thrives on the dynamic between Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett, whose marriage is tested amid the high-stakes world of cyber intelligence. Fassbender, effortlessly charming even when saying nothing, turns in a performance so smooth he could win an Oscar for reading a grocery list. Throw in a suave Pierce Brosnan and impeccable tailoring, and you’ve got a film that may not be deep, but it’s undeniably fun to watch.

Charming. Black Bag is the best 93 minutes I’ve had in the theater in months. Unashamed of what it is, a style-over-substance excuse for high fashion and slick performances, Soderbergh cuts away all of the fat and channels his Ocean’s 11 instincts through a British lens. The result is a trim film that appears to be much smarter than it is, but is so much fun that it matters little.

Surprisingly, one of the key ingredients to the success of Black Bag as a piece of entertainment is that its main character is a competent and well-respected man, most especially by his wife, who adores him and trusts him implicitly. This dynamic, one that we rarely see in modern cinema, allows the audience to also trust him, which in turn raises the stakes as they contemplate his possible duplicity. It’s the kind of empathic connection that moviegoers used to take for granted but has become more uncommon than red diamonds.

As Black Bag’s central character, Michael Fassbender, who, between The Agency and The Killer, has been playing in the espionage genre quite a bit as of late, is nothing short of brilliant. Only a performer of Fassbender’s caliber could make his character’s near-psychotic devotion to his wife, played by Cate Blanchett, charming and heartwarming. This is especially true as he spends much of the film calculating— coldly deciding which of his coworkers will live and die. While the rest of the cast is strong, Fassbender is the reason that this movie works.

The plot is nothing special, and there is a reason that the film is listed as a thriller rather than a mystery. A good mystery gives the audience all of the necessary clues to solve it, whereas Black Bag’s script relies on the instincts of its characters and a lot of technobabble. Fortunately, the crews on both sides of the camera lift up the middling material to popcorn-munching fun.

Ultimately, Black Bag isn’t a genre-defining spy thriller, but its surprising heart and Fassbender’s superior performance make it well Worth it. This is the date night movie you’ve been waiting months for.

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