Black Bag (2025)

With the advent of streaming, quality older-audience fare in theaters has become less commonplace. As times change, it has become harder to make a crowd-pleaser due to audience fragmentation and an underabundance of originality in today’s cultural climate. Black Bag, a classic spy slow-burn flick with high-profile talent, is a high-stakes yet simplistic caper that entertains through craft, not flashiness. 

Marking the 2nd feature for Steven Soderbergh this year, “Black Bag” has all the bells and whistles one would expect from a mystery picture: alibis, suspicions, dead ends, and more. It’s nail-biting at how much Soderbergh aces tension here, in that, a slow start leaves clues untouched until the very end, increasing intrigue on what the very epicenter of this spy war is about. I couldn’t even keep up with the expository first act, but eventually got more invested as these characters started to become familiar to me. Another thing about this is that the cast is relatively small and focused on a group of people, despite having seemingly worldwide consequences. 

In terms of talent, “Black Bag” excels in casting notable faces that exude English formalness, such as Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Naomie Harris, and Pierce Brosnan. All involved give good performances by tapping into spy allure, but George (Michael Fassbender) especially is cunningly intuitive and advantaged in this cat-and-mouse game. The same goes for his wife, Kathryn, who is devoted to both her work and her marriage to George. The film portrays them as a power couple, adding to their overall dynamic. 

Realistic colors and practical shots make up the cinematography in “Black Bag.” Most of the film is dialogue-based, so there’s not a grand focus on visuals. Dining room conversations look graded, and outdoor scenes have naturality to them, with no artificial brightness whatsoever. In fact, the only action setpiece, involving a vehicle explosion, looks noticeably straightforward and quiet. Even in its loudest moments, “Black Bag” manages to be sleek and elegant.

Overall, “Black Bag” does something that many movies can’t claim to do nowadays: deliver a good, entertaining time for the 50+ age demographic. Younger viewers’s mileage with this may depend on attention span, but I found this to be a suspenseful time that kept me on my seat.

My Rating: 8/10 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿

Where to Watch: VoD (Video On Demand), In Theaters