In a sea of direct to streaming movie “content” and an endless parade of poorly conceived big studio sequels; Black Bag is a nice break from the norm. An original intellectual property, not based on a book, or a previous movie, or a TV show, or a fairy tale. It’s a good, solid, grow-up, espionage thriller.
George and Kathryn are at the top of their game. A stylish London couple, living in a beautiful home, and with ambitions for the top spots at their place of employment. It just so happens that their job is espionage. George (Michael Fassbender) is a renowned agent at the UK’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC). His wife Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) also works at NCSC and has her eyes on the top position. When George is notified that a potentially catastrophic piece of malware called Severus has gone missing, and that it was an inside job, his world is turned upside down. Turns out Kathryn is a prime suspect, and the more that George tries to find the truth while protecting his wife, the more it seems she might actually be the traitor. In a world where every misstep or inconsistency can be explained away by secrecy of the job; George has to figure out if his wife is lying to him, discover which of his highly trained and experience colleagues might have betrayed their country, and save his own skin all before Severus is deployed.
Black Bag is a very good spy thriller, with an excellent cast, good writing, and high quality directing. The core cast of characters is kept pretty tight, with principally just George, Kathryn, and 5 or 6 other main players. This allows the story to focus on the individual motives and scheming of the small list of suspects, without going down too many underdeveloped side plots. Aside from Fassbender and Blanchett, the cast is rounded out by Naomie Harris, Pierce Brosnan, and a few others you might recognize. The film is shot well, with a good contrast between dark murky real world and high contrast sterile cyber security establishment, which both generate their own feelings of suspense.
The movie is directed by Steven Soderberg, and it has a distinctive Soderberg feel. The visual style, music cues, flashes forward and backward in the plot, all feel pretty familiar even if they’re not directly pulled from the Oceans formula. The movie is more suspenseful and deliberate, without the Oceans movies’ comedic beats. These days, it’s difficult to completely shock the audience with a surprise twist, but Black Bag does a good enough job of maintaining uncertainty that you don’t feel like you knew the ending from the very start.
Overall, Black Bag is a good spy thriller. I’d put it more in the vein of Tinker, Tailor than Jason Bourne. There’s a fair amount of cursing, violence, and some suggestive scenes or dialogue, but no nudity and not any real gore. Not a movie to take the kids to, mostly because it’s more slowly paced and built on adult themes.