Review: ‘Black Bag’ is a masterful, original spy thriller

By Jay Collura     4/1/25 11:11pm

Score: ★★★★

Over the three years I have been writing for the Thresher, I consider myself lucky when I’m able to review just one movie directed by one of my favorite filmmakers. Steven Soderbergh is the exception, somehow releasing two movies – “Presence” and “Black Bag” – in just two months. 

“Presence,” released earlier this year, shocked me, as the film’s craftsmanship significantly elevated its tacky horror premise. “Black Bag,” on the other hand, was unsurprising in the best way, meeting my high expectations set by the film’s excellent trailers.

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The film follows George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender), an MI6 spy tasked with investigating a group of his coworkers, one of whom has supposedly leaked top-secret code with the potential to destabilize a government. Woodhouse, however, is faced with an immediate difficulty — his primary suspect is his wife and fellow MI6 operative Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett). 

If you aren’t sold on the idea of Fassbender and Blanchett playing married spies in an Agatha Christie-esque whodunnit, you probably don’t like movies and should stop reading my reviews. Fortunately for the rest of us, “Black Bag” lives up to that premise. The film channels the trademark slickness and deceitfulness of Soderbergh’s classics (“Ocean’s Eleven,” “Out of Sight”) while benefiting from the sharpness and economy of his more recent pictures. 

This latter element can likely be attributed to the screenplay by veteran David Koepp, who has served as the sole writer for Soderbergh’s last three feature films. Koepp’s latest mystery interrogates how workplace stress interacts with romance. “Black Bag” is simple but makes all the right moves, maintaining intensity throughout by constructing fascinating ensemble interactions.

Fassbender and Blanchett have a chemistry that extends beyond physical space. They portray a fiery, romantic interiority, contrasting their cold outward appearances. These characters firmly control the screen, but somewhat disappointingly, they feel a bit too familiar with other roles in Fassbender and Blanchett’s respective catalogs (“The Killer” immediately comes to mind).

Outside the leading duo, the other suspects embroiled in the plot bring a needed depth to the production. Tom Burke is delightfully scuzzy as a managing agent, Marisa Abela balances intuition and naïveté as a satellite communications worker and Regé-Jean Page and Naomie Harris portray a surprisingly realistic dysfunctional relationship that foils the film’s main characters.

Having great performances locked into a well-crafted script is enough to make “Black Bag” worthy of recommendation, but Soderbergh’s filmmaking, once again, steals the show. Nothing feels accidental: The lighting always has a gorgeous blue tint or warm glow, the characters move with dramatic precision and each scene is structured to mount tension without overplaying its hand.

Best of all, everything I have described is done in 90 minutes. The pacing is sublime compared to the inflated runtimes that define most movies in cinemas today. “Black Bag” is a must-see because it stands in opposition to overstuffed, underdelivering films. It's a mysterious, sleek and – most importantly – original thriller made by one of the greatest working filmmakers. See it before Soderbergh somehow releases another movie this year.

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