What a delight it is to live in the same time as Steven Soderbergh. In 2025, we have already been treated to a new take on a ghost story with Presence and now coming to our screens this month is Black Bag, a taught spy thriller that is a mix between Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Slick, thrilling and brimming with energy, Black Bag is one of the best spy movies in recent memory.
George and Kathryn seem to have it all figured out. They have a loving marriage and are both incredible at their jobs – being intelligence operatives at the NCSC. Their devotion gets put to the test when one night George is alerted to the fact that there is a mole in the agency who is trying to leak out a destructive cyber worm. Given a list of five suspects, including Kathryn’s, George must figure out whether to be loyal to his country or to his marriage.
David Koepp’s screenplay is a marvel here. It manages to be twisty without being confusing (a miracle given that 93ish minute run time), dramatic without being mauldin, and perhaps most impressively, extremely funny. That’s a lot of elements to balance but the script does so with ease. I’m not surprised at all that Steven Soderbergh can make a movie that balances multiple tones to great aplomb, but I am always eager to see where his film will take me. There’s not a ton of action in this movie, but despite that, through his choice of shots (he is also the film’s cinematographer) and blocking, it feels like there’s something interesting happening, even when characters are sitting still.
You can have that kind of kinetic energy in your filmmaking when the ensemble in your movie is firing on all cylinders. In playing the two halves of our married couple, Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender are equally as grounded and devoted to their characters as their characters are to each other. Fassbender has the unenviable task of play the more composed, meticulous character amidst the more higher volume characters, and he rises to the task. Blanchett feels looser here than in most projects she’s involved in, flowing in and around the movie in a way that invites suspicion and admiration. Naomie Harris, Tom Burke, Rege-Jean Page, and Marisa Abela play the other four NCSC employees under suspicion and from the first extremely messy dinner sequence I was sold on every one of them. Whether needing to be vicious to the other person or steely in the presence of George, each actor brought a unique energy. Discussing them together both feels like a slight and celebration, it’s truly exquisite supporting work and I would hate to give away all the intricacies that make them integral to the narrative. I will say that Marisa, who is on Industry, a show I have not seen, was a revelation for me in this film.
Black Bag almost feels like a dream in that we don’t get many movies like this. Thoroughly entertaining, it’s a movie that demands to be seen at your earliest convenience and with a large audience to commune with the newest offering of one of our sharpest directors.