Steven Soderbergh’s hotly anticipated spy drama Black Bag is here, and I can confidently say it’s exactly that: hot. Aesthetics aside, this is a delicious tight 90 that adds some much-needed flavor to an oft-impersonal genre, begging the question, “Why aren’t Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett in everything, actually?”
Not gonna lie, Presence wasn’t exactly a slam dunk for me, so I was a bit weary going into Soderbergh’s second outing of 2025, Black Bag—two movies in two months? Your fave could never. Thankfully, my concerns ended up being completely unfounded, as I had a great time at the movies watching all the twists and turns play out in this cerebral 94-minute thriller. The script, penned by David Keopp, is smart but not too smart, and trusts its audience to reach their own conclusions.
Black Bag is sexy, marital spy perfection
Black Bag stars Blanchett and Fassbender as intelligence agents Kathryn St. Jean and George Woodhouse, respectively. When a valuable asset is stolen from within the agency, a conspiracy unfolds, pitting George against his wife. Kathryn is one of five suspects being investigated by George for treason, as he’s responsible for smoking out the rat before the Russians can get ahold of the missing intelligence.
Considering Black Bag stars two 007 alums, Moneypenny actress Naomie Harris and former James Bond himself, Pierce Brosnan, it was never really a question of whether or not this cast would deliver. Fassbender and Bridgerton vet Regé-Jean Page—IMO, two of the strongest contenders for the next Bond, and no, I do not care that Fassbender is pushing 50—do exactly what they need to do here. They’re both imposing in their own ways, Page’s posturing alpha male Col. James Stokes engaging in psychological warfare against Fassbender’s mild-mannered George.
While the others try to outsmart each other, however, some unexpected stand-outs for me were Marisa Abela’s Clarissa Dubose and Tom Burke’s Freddie Smalls. They play an on-again-off again age gap couple who are kind of a match made in Hell. Their squabbles (a.k.a. that brilliant dinner scene) are hilarious and wildly unpredictable, adding some occasional bits of comedic relief that highlight the absurdity of the situation. Claire trying to flirt with a vastly uninterested George? Cinema. And what’s there to say about Blanchett at this point? I will need the link to her sassy leather jacket, though, thank you very much.
Black Bag understands what viewers want out of a spy movie
At its core, Black Bag isn’t all flashy spy gadgets and action sequences. It’s a close examination of marriage and loyalty, subverting much of what we’ve come to expect from the genre. I mean, Michael Fassbender playing a dorky bureaucrat who wears too-big glasses and matching pajama sets? Cate Blanchett as his mysterious black cat wife, who’s equally as obsessed with her husband? I’m seated. Monogamy is so back!
Plus, the score, composed by David Holmes (the mastermind behind other killer soundtracks like Ocean’s Eleven and Killing Eve), constantly reminds you that yes, this is still an espionage thriller, with lots of jazzy “spy sounds” like zingy harpsichords and bongos galore. Black Bag knows exactly how to balance the best of the genre (i.e., the score, George’s truth serum-spiked curry, that polygraph montage) without ever making it feel predictable or exhausted.
Ultimately, Black Bag isn’t doing anything crazy different here, and I’m not mad about it. It’s a return to form for the genre and pays homage to spy classics, but really, the film is at its best when the focus is on George and Cathryn. I mean, these two clearly want to bone like, all the time.
Black Bag injects some panache into your average spousal drama, making those high-stakes espionage elements all the more juicy. And given how much I enjoyed this, on top of Paramount+’s The Agency, I’m so here for the spy Fassy-issance.
Published: Mar 15, 2025 2:47 AM UTC