REVIEW: ‘Black Bag’ Offers Old Tricks Done Well

What they can’t talk about goes into their “Black Bag.” But everything else is completely fair game between husband and wife spies George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) and Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett). George, especially, will tell his wife the truth at any cost. For Kathryn, it’s a bit less cut and dry. He will also protect her at any cost, including treason. This setup is perfect for the dark humor and whodunit that follows in Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag.

The beginning of this movie is designed to disorient. George is warned that an important government resource has been stolen and that his wife is among the suspects. To start weeding out the lies among the suspects, George hosts the awkward dinner party of the century. George is famous in his agency for being impossible to lie to—he catches absolutely everything. So, as he drugs his guests to help loosen their tongues, the set is lit entirely with distracting natural lights.

The room is shadowy, but candles and dim glows shine so brightly by contrast that it creates a blurry effect on the screen. Similarly, for much of the movie’s first half, the dialogue is so overstuffed with technobabble and classic spy talk that it’s hard to follow exactly what some conversations are really about. But right at the moment when these elements might start becoming overwhelming and take the movie down, a big twist shakes up the entire film.

Black Bag disarms the audience so its thrills can reach another level.

All of these distracting elements ultimately serve to make the audience throw up their hands in exhaustion over trying to solve the ongoing mystery themselves so that the rest of the movie can become a whirlwind of twists and turns. The whodunit of it all becomes about the journey rather than the destination. Without wasting time wondering how the movie will end, the second half becomes an elevated thrill that lets the conclusion feel exciting—perhaps even unexpected—even if it lacks total novelty.

The characters all act more or less how you’d expect them to in a spy thriller. There is the highly capable but mightier-than-thou Col. James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page) with a dark past, the somewhat aloof Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke), the tight-lipped Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris), the loose-lipped Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela), and the all-business commanding officer, Arthur Stieglitz (Pierce Brosnan). The characters and their circumstances are genre staples, but at least each one of them does a stand-out job fulfilling them.

Black Bag is full of old tricks done masterfully. Once its effects and its twists disarm, it’s a subtly hilarious movie. George’s frequent reminder that he hates liars quickly becomes humorous when it becomes clear that he is the biggest and perhaps most obvious liar in the movie. While he can deduce truths from nothing, the lies he has to tell to get information or escape sticky situations grow bigger and more obvious as things proceed.

There’s an entire scene where he sits among his colleagues, looking completely racked with guilt in the background of the shot, while the master spies around him seemingly have no clue that his face is giving everything away. When he lies out loud, he has a tell that nobody seems to notice. It’s a dry humor that may take a few scenes to recognize and appreciate, but as it builds more boldly scene by scene, the comedy of this man and his marriage is quite entertaining.

The interpersonal intrigue is even better than the central whodunit.

Especially because Blanchett is so spectacular as Fassbender’s foil. She has him wrapped around her finger. The movie rarely gets steamy, but when it does, toying with their colleagues is what gets her going. It’s a joy to watch the little bits of satisfaction run across Kathryn’s face as she watches George do his work. Her character suffers at times from having things happen to her more than she creates her own action, but when she does become the center of the action here and there, it’s as exhilarating as any character gets.

The rest of the cast plays their parts well. Even the smarmiest among them feel charming, and the most charming are exceptionally so. The most interesting thing that George uncovers over the course of Black Bag isn’t the answer to who stole the government asset. It’s the interpersonal dirt he uncovers about his colleagues. The movie is willing to let characters other than George or even Kathryn lead scenes. This way, they all feel equally fleshed out. If they didn’t, their personal baggage would likely not be as entertaining.

Black Bag is smartly crafted for a subtly humorous and fully thrilling experience. While its base elements are somewhat typical, they are all played to perfection.

Black Bag is playing in theaters now.