The 2025 spy film from Steven Soderberg; Black Bag, can be seen as letting the fish out of the bag. A look at international give and take while contemplating a nuclear melt down, all while fishing for answers. Ah, the spy game and none do it so well as the Brits.
There is a wicked bit of irony in that George, Fassbender’s character, is an angler. He needs to let the fish out of said bag.
The Story
George and Kathryn are the perfect couple. The only ones who have an almost perfect record. Fidelity, happiness and a devotion to the job that is enviable. They are both spies, aka spooks, aka narks.
George must slowly determine who is leaking information from the firm. Every single one of the top spies is a target for investigation, even his wife.
the main cast
Michael Fassbender is George Woodhouse.
Cate Blanchett is Kathryn St Jean.
Tom Burke is Freddy Smalls.
Naomie Harris is Dr Zoe Vaughn.
Marisa Abela is Clarissa Dubose.
Regé-Jean Page is Col James Stoker.
excellent cameo
Pierce Brosnan is Arthur Stieglitz.
Black Bag BTS
Soderberg directs the David Koepp written screenplay with agonizingly slow aplomb. *If Koepp’s name is familiar he is associated with Mission Impossible and the often over-looked thriller, Stir of Echoes. Check it out, you will thank me.*
Steven Soderberg also acts as DP and editor. In terms of sets, costumes, et al, the film looks brilliant. The set pieces, although very slow, play out well. they are almost musical, with the aid of the art directors and art department each complementing the other.
*Side note. It is a wonderfully wry touch that in Black Bag the lead couple have the names George and Martha. Although Martha is a false ID, it is still Kathryn’s “other” name. In Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor played the leads. George and Martha. They are the oddly attached couple who terrorize their younger counterparts at a meal they host. Not too dissimilar to what George and Kathryn do to their dinner guests.*
It works, but so slowly
Black Bag drags. There is no other way to put it. It is intimate and so slow that at times it is almost painful. There is a reason for this that becomes apparent at the film’s end. It you can stay the course, the punch line is worth the journey.
Soderberg knows when to use silence and when to have a score underlying the dramatics on screen.
He also knows how to crank up suspense. Black Bag is almost a nod to the spy films of yesteryear. Stanley Donen’s Charade, for example, *Itself a homage to Hitchcock’s spy films.* and other slowly paced movies about espionage. This one works in that capacity.
Fans looking for a Tom Cruise type spy movie will want to give this one a miss. Black Bag is a spy caper for the intellectual. Not the thrill seeking “every man” fan looking for gratuitous violence and spectacular stunts.
The verdict
Black Bag earns a reluctant 4.5 stars out of 5. It loses half a star due to the, at times, awkwardly slow pace. Sometimes, I felt like screaming at the screen. Despite understanding what Soderberg is doing here, it is frustrating. One does become used to the faster pace often on offer.
Black Bag is streaming on Peacock. Go and check it out. Remember, Mission Impossible it ain’t.
the trailer
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