Black Bag
When highly respected British intelligence officer George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) contacts Philip Meacham (Alexander and Bill brother, Gustaf Skarsgård) for a list of possible traitors willing to give up Severus, a secret device capable of wiping out thousands of lives, he is dismayed that his wife, Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett), is one of the five names on it. He stages a dinner party in his and Kathryn's London townhouse with the remaining National Cyber Security Centre suspects, but evidence keeps pointing towards her and his questions can conveniently be evaded with the classified need-to-know buzz phrase "Black Bag."
Laura's Review: B
Director/cinematographer Steven Soderbergh and writer David Koepp's third film together (after "Kimi" and "Presence") is a slick espionage thriller complicated by the three personal relations among its six main characters, but while it entertains in the moment, its pieces don't click together as cleanly as they should. More like a drawing room game of Clue than the twisty puzzle it presents itself as, the film is elevated by its casting.
'I can feel you looking at me' Kathryn says, sensing George lurking behind their bedroom door, eyeing her as she slips on slinky silks preparing for their dinner party. That statement will prove more and more provocative as the film goes on. Before the couple leave the bedroom, we will learn that Kathryn has unwarranted financial insecurity and George will discover a suspicious movie ticket in the wastebasket beside her dresser. Downstairs we see that George is extremely fastidious, every hair in place, a small spattering from his roast on his white shirt cuff causing him to go change just as their guests arrive. Things are about to get messier.
George, who privately admonished Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke, "The Souvenir," "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga") for his drinking, drug use and adultery, the reason Jimmy Stokes (Regé-Jean Page, Netflix's 'Bridgerton') was promoted in his stead, is publicly outed by the man at dinner as having blown up his father's marriage and career by exposing his transgressions with a video recording during a family dinner. George replies that he hates liars and disloyalty, two things he will be contending with in spades. Then George proposes a particularly invasive party trick - each person at the table will make a resolution - but not for themselves, instead for the person seated to their right. When Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela, HBO's 'Industry,' "Back
to Black") speaks for Freddy with 'I'm going to stop sleeping with her,' Freddy denies having cheated on her, but George will set the record straight, naming George's day, time and hotel of choice. Clarissa stabs Freddy in the hand with a steak knife, bringing the evening to a climatic finish.
Psychologist Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris, "No Time to Die," "The Wasp"), who was also at the dinner and is dating Jimmy, will have a series of illuminating sessions with her colleagues, including a particularly hostile one with Kathryn and illuminating one with Jimmy. Meanwhile George is sticking his neck out to save his wife, putting underlings in compromising positions and their overall chief, Arthur Stieglitz (Pierce Brosnan), appears to have picked up the scent.
"Black Bag" unfolds over the course of a week, George's opening dinner held on a Sunday. This is another of Soderbergh's economical shoots, locations limited to a townhouse, a pub, the office, a movie theater, a lake where George goes fishing and a surveilled park bench. As usual, he also acts as his own cinematographer, but his use natural light means much of the movie is underlit, that opening dinner, lighted by candles within glass globes, having a supernatural quality. It is the cast that enlivens the proceedings here, the uptight Fassbender paired with a playful Blanchett a Mr. and Mrs. Smith coupling that keeps us guessing. Burke and Harris, although not a couple, are also several chess moves ahead of us. Abela is expanding her range, here the most open of the lot, whereas Page is somewhat bland, the least interesting of the bunch.
"Black Bag" is a frisky romp, a lightweight adult entertainment that goes down easy as long as you don't think about it too much.
Focus Features opens "Black Bag" wide in theaters on 3/14/25.
