“Black Bag” Is Stylish, Mysterious, and Fun

Black Bag (Steven Soderbergh, 2025) 4 out of 5 stars

After a brief venture into horror with Presence, acclaimed filmmaker Steven Soderbergh returns to the big screen with Black Bag, a fun, stylish spy thriller. Reteaming with screenwriter David Koepp, Soderbergh creates a world of deception where trust is the most valuable commodity. Imbued with the director’s typical 1970’s-inspired aesthetic, Black Bag follows George (Michael Fassbender, Next Goal Wins), a senior MI6agent with a goody-two shoes reputation. He does not like liars and will not hesitate to expose them, even if they are family. So naturally, George is thrust into a compromising situation. His wife and fellow spy Katherine (Cate Blanchett, TÁR) has been accused of selling state secrets to Russia. Now, George must decide whether he is more loyal to his country or to the woman he loves.

Since his feature debut, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Steven Soderbergh has been fascinated by human relationships. He wonders what drives people to love each other, lie to each other, and even cheat on each other. With Black Bag, he explores the ultimate relationship test: espionage. If both you and your partner lie for a living, how can you ever really trust each other? Several of George and Katherine’s coworkers wonder how their marriage works with all the compartmentalization involved. But for the two of them, it is quite simple. They can lie to anyone else, but they never lie to each other.

Fassbender has an almost detached quality to his performance as George, down to his thick Harry Palmer glasses. The only person he shows affection to is his wife. She is constantly keeping you on your toes, never quite sure if she is lying or why. This dynamic creates a great deal of tension, with George never quite convinced his wife is guilty and weighing what he is willing to do about it. Katherine, on the other hand, seems completely in control of every conversation they have. Surprisingly, this also leads to a lot of genre-bending. One minute, the film will feel like a relationship drama with spy tropes, and then the next it will have you roaring in your seat with laughter.

On that note, special praise must be given to the ensemble cast here. They truly demonstrate how personal relationships formed among spies can become messy without much effort. Regé-Jean Page’s James is the perfect cad, with all the toxic traits of 007 and none of the benefits. Naomie Harris’s Zoe provides a potential moral center for the group, at least as much as she can in a room full of spies. Tom Burke has a memorable turn as Freddie, the lecherous heavy-drinking coworker who knows he is more trouble than he is worth. But the biggest scene stealer by far was Marisa Abela as Clarissa, who displays a hilarious sense of weirdness with her Electra Complex. The best example of this is a scene from the first act, where George and Katherine invite two other spy couples from work to dinner. It goes from endearing to embarrassing quite quickly.

I had a fun time with Black Bag. Steven Soderbergh’s been doing well recently with tight 90–100-minute thrillers, and this film is no different. It keeps you entranced with a marriage that, on paper, should not work and invites you to consider why it does. I highly recommend it for longtime Soderbergh fans and n

George W. Campbell

George W. Campbell is a director/screenwriter/editor from Bowie, Maryland, whose films focus on themes of family and personal relationships. As a Nicaraguan-American filmmaker, he aims to highlight specific parts of his culture and personal experiences (songs, dances, foods, and language).