Black Bag is a spy thriller starring Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Tom Burke, Regé-Jean Page, Marisa Abela, Naomie Harris, and Pierce Brosnan. It's also directed by Stephen Soderbergh, in case you wondered whether he meant it when he retired.
George (Fassbender) is a counterintelligence officer for the National Cyber Security Centre, married to Kathryn (Blanchett), also a spy. He's told about secret MacGuffin program called "Severus" that has been stolen, and told to figure it out. Based on who had access to the program, he has a little dinner party for four of his colleagues: staff shrink Zoe (Harris), old schlubby agent Freddie (Burke), young hot agent James (Page), and satellite imager Clarissa (Abela). Said dinner reveals that everyone in this agency is fucking everyone else, but doesn't tell George who the leak is. He does, however, find a movie stub in the trash that seems to indicate his wife may be keeping secrets!
The rest of the movie is a lot of cat-and-mouse between George and basically everyone else, and it ends up with another dinner party (this time with no dinner) during which all is revealed and the real villain is shot. But as with a lot of Soderbergh movies, Black Bag lives and dies on the chemistry in the cast, the dialog and delivery, and the build-up to a reveal in which the process is just as satisfying as any twist.
We're used to "spy thrillers" being at least partly action flicks, and this one really isn't; it's more in the vein of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or Bridge of Spies. But in addition to that, it's fun to watch George go out of his way to make sure he doesn't have to second-guess Kathryn's motives or her love for him. I also really appreciate that they compare notes at the beginning of the third act, revealing to the audience that they're on the same page and they're still working together, because it frankly would have been a little tedious to play up the kind of Mr. & Mrs. Smith thing during the last bit of the movie.
Props too for casting Pierce Brosnan as the head of the agency, the spy who has been in this business far too long and is willing to cut too many corners to get ahead. Honestly you can kind of see James Bond becoming his character if he lived long enough.
My Grade: A-
Rewatch Value: Medium-high
Next up: The Bone Collector
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