Nobody makes a cool little movie like Steven Soderbergh. Never tied down to a single genre or style, his latest is a sexy spy thriller that forsakes shootouts and explosions in favor of mind games and incisive dinner table conversation. Black Bag is light, unpretentious entertainment for grown-ups, a solid 90 minutes of pure, mostly bloodless fun.
BLACK BAG ★★★ (3/4 stars)
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Written by: David Koepp
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page, Pierce Brosnan
Running time: 94 mins.
Married couple George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) and Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett) are high-ranking British intelligence agents who are accustomed to keeping secrets from each other. But when George learns that a deadly cyber weapon has been stolen from the agency, the list of plausible suspects is extremely small—and Kathryn is among them. Could George, whose ability to sniff out a lie is a point of professional pride—be blinded by his devotion to his wife? And, if she is the leak, is his loyalty to her or to his country?
One can easily imagine the above logline applying to a $200 million dollar action blockbuster, particularly since neither actor is averse to a big studio production. It could also describe a somber, self-serious prestige picture, something to finally earn Blanchett her third Oscar. Instead, Black Bag lives in between the two, a snappy adult drama that’s more entertaining than it is demanding.
The deadly international stakes of Black Bag are almost incidental. The real drama is in the romantic entanglements at George and Kathryn’s workplace. Dating within the spy community, it turns out, is not only common but essential, since few civilians could cope with a partner whose entire life is strictly classified. The drawback, of course, is that spies are practiced liars and skilled cheaters, and none of them trust each other. Except, somehow, for George and Kathryn, who are as revered within their community for their seemingly perfect marriage as they are for their individual accomplishments as spies.
As it happens, each of the suspects in George’s secret investigation is paired up with one of the others, and deciphering their possible motives essentially amounts to testing the strength of their relationships. George picks at the tangled web between them: the hotshot field agent (Regé-Jean Page) that George recently promoted is dating his on-site psychiatrist (Naomie Harris); she’s treating the protégé that George passed over (Tom Burke); said protégé is dating a young surveillance satellite technician (Marisa Abela), who’s got a crush on George. Forget who’s possibly selling state secrets — who’s cheating on who with whom? Black Bag is less like a Bourne or Bond movie and more like the Mike Nichols drama Closer if all the lovers happened to be secret agents.
That Fassbender and Blanchett command their every scene, either together or separately, is no surprise. George is a perfect Fassbender role, a quietly intense intellectual who’s equal parts sexy and threatening. Blanchett, of course, can play just about anything, and is totally at home as an enigmatic smooth operator who you absolutely believe has killed people, like a mix of her roles from Carol and Thor: Ragnarok. The surprise standouts, however, are Tom Burke and Marisa Abela as the agency’s most dysfunctional couple, who steal their scenes right out from under their Oscar-adorned colleagues.
Black Bag is crisp and understated on every level. It’s got a dry, cerebral wit, never reaching for a laugh but earning a few nevertheless. It’s intriguing, but with only a few scenes of suspense or immediate peril. It’s sexy by mere suggestion, allowing the electricity between Blanchett and Fassbender to crackle in a glance or a brief, fleeting touch. Soderbergh doesn’t show off much behind the camera, mostly letting the actors and Phillip Messina’s slick contemporary production design speak for themselves. No one in the movie ever runs or breaks a sweat, and neither does the movie itself. It’s an exercise in cool confidence.
In an interview last year with Filmmaker Magazine, Soderbergh expressed a desire for his next film to be “something entertaining, like Howard Hawks,” something in a “pure pleasure space.” Black Bag definitely hits that mark, but when the “pleasure space” is typically dominated with far more sensational work, a film as restrained as this one can feel like it’s missing some adrenalin or spectacle. On the other hand, for an adult drama, it’s pretty slight, which could leave an audience member asking, “Where are my vegetables?” This is a movie set in the world of political sabotage and surveillance, but doesn’t have anything to say about that world other than “It’s murder on relationships.” It lacks the depth or critique of power that one might expect from the director of Traffic or High Flying Bird.
Still, one of the things that’s refreshing about Soderbergh as a filmmaker is that where others are chasing big box office or critical acclaim, Soderbergh is simply vibing, producing whatever interests him at the moment and then moving on to the next thing. Can that make each release feel disposable, like the 42nd Stephen King novel or Guided By Voices album? Maybe, but the world of cinema is better for him being out there, just doing his thing.
