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I suspect to make things look as easy and effortless as director Steven Soderbergh often does you actually have to work really hard. Such is the case with his latest “Black Bag” (in theaters Friday, March 14), which is Soderbergh’s second film of 2025 after the similarly stripped-down “Presence” as well as his second collaboration with screenwriter David Koepp this year. It’s a lean (93 minutes) and mean espionage thriller with a killer cast where words equal action. This isn’t the movie that was advertised to us, but it’s arguably something better and more interesting. It’s slyly funny, smart as a whip, stylish as all get out and super-sexy.
Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett star as married spies George Woodhouse and Kathryn St. Jean. They must compartmentalize their lives working for MI6 despite George telling Kathryn he’d kill for and never lie to her. (Kathryn reiterates that she too would kill for him … and will only lie if she has to.) If there’s something professionally that they can’t or shouldn’t discuss one simply says, “Black bag,” and the subject gets changed.
Things get complicated when George receives a list from his colleague Philip Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgård, one of Stellan’s eight children). It’s a register of five spooks – one of whom is a mole in their midst looking to sell a McGuffin to Russian criminals Vadim Pavlichuk (Dan Dow) and Andrei Kulikov (Orli Shuka). The catalog is comprised of two other couples working for the agency. One is George’s philandering friend Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke) and his much younger surveillance expert girlfriend Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela, she played Amy Winehouse in last year’s “Back to Black”). The other is George’s protégé Col. James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page) and his shrink of a main squeeze Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris). The fifth person happens to be Kathryn and husband will now be forced to investigate wife.
“Black Bag” was advertised as a two-hander between Fassbender’s George and Blanchett’s Kathryn – when in reality it’s far more of an ensemble affair. The cast, which also includes Pierce Brosnan as MI6 head Arthur Stieglitz (a possible tip of the cap to past Fassbender flick “Inglourious Basterds”), is uniformly excellent. I was especially impressed by Fassbender’s tenacious yet tender turn. Abela – a performer with whom I’m largely unfamiliar – does wonders as Clarissa, the picture’s comedic relief and moral center … not a high bar with this bunch. I really liked Burke as Praetorian Jack in last year’s “Furiousa: A Mad Max Saga” and he similarly excels here despite essaying an entirely different character.
Koepp’s script is structured interestingly – we open with a demented dinner party, the second act largely focuses on George’s investigation and we conclude with a garish spin on game night – and it not only works … it cooks.
“Black Bag” serves multiple purposes. It’s an exercise in cool. It’s shot and cut (by Soderbergh) and scored (by frequent Soderbergh collaborator David Holmes) slickly. The costuming by Ellen Mirojnick and staging from production designer Philp Messina and set decorator Anna Lynch-Robinson scream cool. “Black Bag” is arguably the best espionage movie in which Brosnan or Harris have ever appeared and this really says something as he was James Bond and she played Moneypenny. It’s also one hell of an audition reel should Page have any interest in being Bond. At the end of the day it’s also a strong endorsement of marriage … dysfunctional though it may sometimes be.