Thoughts on Black Bag

   Last Monday, I went to the Angelika Film Center in New York City and saw the 2025 spy thriller Black Bag, directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by David Koepp. The film stars Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett as a couple, George and Kathyrn, who work for MI6 in England as intelligence agents. George is given the task of investigating the leak of a top-secret software program code-named Severus, and Kathryn is suspected by the agency of betraying her country, and George is suspicious of his wife and his fellow agents, who are two pairs of couples and personal friends, playing psychological games with them to uncover the mole.

    I liked how tight this film felt in just 90 minutes, with a lot of excellent acting from Fassbender, Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page, Marisa Abela, and Tom Burke. The movie has a standout dinner scene early on where George plays a game with his guests to get them to make a resolution for their partner to improve their own habits, which inevitably leads to them pushing their buttons and insecurities. I really liked the one-on-one scenes with the three varying pairs of actors, like a therapy session between Kathryn and the agency psychiatrist Zoe (Harris) where they try to interrogate each other, or Clarissa (Abela) being dragged into hacking confidential surveillance equipment so a couple can spy on each other, or a scene where George is interrogating others through polygraph tests (even if polygraph tests are now largely seen as inaccurate and inadmissible in court) that is more light and comedic.

    I especially liked how characters, when in the MI6 offices, would wait until a door fully closed on its own before sharing confidential information, as a little detail. David Koepp, the screenwriter, wrote the screenplays for Carlito’s Way, Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man, and directed Stir of Echoes and Premium Rush, so I’m happy the film shares those films in common with combining suspense, action, and humor. And Soderbergh is a consummate filmmaker who has worked steadily for decades on independent films, thrillers, crime films, action films, and comedies, and manages to craft a fun caper with a stellar cast.