Black Bag Review: Steven Soderbergh's Sleek Spy Thriller Is A Smart, Sizzling Good Time

It'd be way too trite and (dare I say it) pretentious to claim that "Black Bag," Steven Soderbergh's second movie of 2025 following the minimalist ghost story "Presence," is actually a feature-length dissertation about how filmmaking has more in common with spycraft than you'd think. Watching this slickly-made espionage thriller, however, might leave you with the impression that the thought has crossed his mind once or twice. For someone who routinely directs multiple movies (and TV show episodes!) a year and insists on handling everything from editing to cinematography himself, it's fair to wonder when exactly this guy sleeps, eats, or lives anything close to a normal life outside of the camera. So, maybe it was only inevitable that he'd finally reflect this exact experience on the screen with one of the smartest, laser-focused, and downright obsessive spy movies in quite some time.

Soderbergh hasn't returned to this setting since 2011's "Haywire," but the passing of years has only given rise to as refined and grown-up an experience as you'll ever see in this genre. Working from an original script by regular collaborator David Koepp (who also wrote "Presence"), Soderbergh's latest stars a pair of familiar veterans in Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett as married spies working for MI6. When one is given reason to suspect a traitor at the heart of MI6 might very well be the person sharing their bed, "Black Bag" kicks into gear and delivers a tense, darkly comedic thrill ride. What really elevates this to the next level, however, is how a series of dialogue-heavy conversational scenes turn into something much more exciting than traditional James Bond-style action.

That's really all I knew about the premise going into the film, which Soderbergh and Koepp all but weaponize against us as we're taken through the narrative's heady twists and turns. (Don't fret if, like me, you struggle to keep up at times. Like "Michael Clayton" before it, "Black Bag" uses the fact that it's perpetually a step ahead or two ahead of its audience to incredible effect.) This might begin as a time-honored tale about disloyal intelligence agents fighting over an all-important MacGuffin. Yet it soon transforms into a self-contained chamber piece marrying the best of both worlds: the nail-biting tension from "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," and the almost stage-like exploration into middle-aged marriage taken straight out of the "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" playbook.

There's a reason why spy stories so often default to the drama of lovers set against each other, and "Black Bag" doesn't so much as reinvent the wheel as it perfects it. The film opens with a muted, "Goodfellas"-esque long take shot from behind Fassbender in a perfect introduction to this similarly restrained, understated world of backstabbing and lies. Summoned to a meeting with a contact (Gustaf Skarsgård, proving that another member of the Skarsgård dynasty probably lurks behind every corner), George soon learns that MI6 has a mole within its midst and top-secret, life-threatening intel could possibly fall into the wrong hands. For someone who's essentially a human polygraph test, whittling down a list of five potential suspects in his immediate circle wouldn't ordinarily be a problem. ("I don't like liars," he bluntly states at one point after revealing someone else's particularly brutal secret.) It quickly becomes one, however, when his own wife is included among them.

As far as husband and wife depictions on film go, you'll be hard pressed to find any more devoted to one another than George Woodhouse and Kathryn St. Jean. Projecting a cold, emotionless, and utterly detached veneer, Fassbender's steely performance as George is both off-putting and alluring at the same time. His first notable character moment is one where he all but shrinks into the background, inviting viewers to peer into those inscrutable eyes hidden behind a pair of blocky glasses (a subtly effective bit of costume design) to figure out the gears constantly turning from within. Blanchett's Kathryn, on the other hand, is all smoke and mirrors. Outwardly seductive and able to command a room with ease, her true nature is kept at a remove for reasons that we can likely guess. All the while, we're meant to key into the marriage drama of it all even more than the obvious genre trappings of a spy film.

But rather than devolving into "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"-style fisticuffs, Koepp's script and Soderbergh's shrewd direction opt for a complete 180 — highlighted by an unbelievably tense dinner sequence between our six main characters. Here, lies are forcefully brought to the surface, interpersonal conflicts between coworkers are laid bare, and the lines between professional and personal blur beyond all recognition. Soderbergh has always had a sixth sense for casting (well, maybe except for the main lead of "Haywire") and he wields that skill here like a deadly instrument. In addition to our main married duo, the cast of characters zero in on "Furiosa" scene-stealer Tom Burke as the trigger-happy wild card Freddie, Marisa Abela as the mousy tech wizard (and Freddie's unhappy girlfriend) Clarissa, Regé-Jean Page as the ultra-cool James, and Naomie Harris as a psychiatrist named Zoe, who might as well be the match to this group's tinderbox. Sparks almost literally fly every time this sextet gather together under one roof ... and "Black Bag" knows precisely how and when to unleash this ace in the hole to its advantage.

For all the talk about how Soderbergh is something of an experimental filmmaker, aggressively pushing the boundaries of what the medium can pull off, "Black Bag" stands out as a throwback that actually manages to feel fresh and unique at the same time. Fassbender and Blanchett certainly share their fair share of sizzling chemistry, making it entirely believable that the two would do anything for the other. But theirs is an old-school type of star power, the likes of which where George simply verbalizing the lengths he'd go to protect Katherine causes another character to breathlessly exclaim, "That's so hot." I can count on one hand the number of movies this century — spy, romance, or otherwise — that understand the true power of a couple in love. With Fassbender and Blanchett in full control of every scene they're in, a film with old-fashioned inspirations suddenly comes alive with the sense of style and modernity that only Soderbergh can bring.

"Black Bag" is a movie about contradictions. It's a sexy movie even without all that many actual sex scenes, a puzzle box that's not really about the puzzle, a ticking time bomb without the literal bomb. Above all, it's a story about how the truth could possibly survive in a profession where life or death hangs on every lie told and every deceptive web spun. Don't be fooled by Pierce Brosnan's brilliantly subversive casting as an M-type of leadership figure in MI6, either. As much as James Bond might be in the headlines these days, even 007 himself would be completely in over his head in a world where fancy gadgetry are at a premium and bullets are even more scarce. It's no coincidence that the look, feel, and literal name of George Woodhouse calls to mind acclaimed spy novelist John le Carré's famous protagonist George Smiley (portrayed by Gary Oldman in 2011's "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" adaptation). This is a thinking person's spy movie, though an R-rated one that flies by at a rapid clip thanks to Soderbergh's ever-efficient editing and its brisk 93-minute runtime.

"Black Bag" is a perfect example of all of Soderbergh's strengths and the heights he's capable of reaching throughout this run-and-gun phase of his post-retirement career. As long as he's still out there doing his best impression of this film's central spy master, relentlessly obsessed and hopelessly devoted to his one true love of filmmaking and willing to do anything it takes to defend its honor, the doom and gloom surrounding the state of the industry can be safely postponed. Here's yet another reminder of why we're all the way in the bag for whatever he has up his sleeve next.

/Film Rating 8 out of 10

"Black Bag" opens in U.S. theaters March 14, 2025.