REVIEW #439 Black Bag (2025)

Black Bag

Synopsis

Legendary intelligence agent George Woodhouse is put to the test when his wife is suspected of treason.

My Review

Steven Soderbergh has created an incredibly tense thriller that merges espionage with a classic ‘whodunnit’ style, exploring the politics at play within England’s intelligence agency. I absolutely love these types of roles for Michael Fassbender, who portrays George to perfection! His mannerisms, tone and overall demeanour, exudes intelligence and informs the audience that this is a man incredibly confident in his craft and ability, but with a quiet, yet deadly subtlety, which was crucial for the film to work in the way it did. Black Bag doesn’t need any action, it thrives in its ability to keep the audience on the edge of its seat, apprehensive and filled with tension. It achieves this brilliantly through the more technical components of the movie, particularly its editing, lighting and musical score, all of which is illustrated perfectly in the introductory dinner sequence, which not only establishes the key characters early on, but also the tone we can expect for the rest of the film. Soderbergh utilises a wonderful soft glow effect here, which provides an interesting juxtaposition. It creates an intimate, welcoming, yet high class setting, which is a direct contrast to the intentions of the dinner and the kinds of people involved, which is reflected by the sour turn the event takes shortly after. It was probably my favourite scene in the entire film!

To be honest, I didn’t really head into this film with any expectations, I hadn’t watched the trailer but I read the synopsis and expected your traditional spy espionage movie. To be presented with this incredibly intimate, yet relentless political thriller film, was a welcomed surprise and they had the perfect cast to pull it off. Unfortunately I have seen very little advertising for Black Bag, with my friends and family, who I’d consider general audiences (not necessarily film lovers), having not even heard of it at all. I think that’s a real shame, with a budget of just $50m, I hope it gets the traction it deserves and smashes that figure. I’d go as far as saying it was one of my favourites of 2025 so far and although I’m not the most well versed person when it comes to Soderbergh movies, I will say it’s my favourite film I’ve seen from him, albeit, I’ve only seen a few! George and Kathryn put Mr and Mrs Smith to shame and didn’t need any action whatsoever to pull it off. I hope you can get out to see it and that you enjoy it as much as I did.

My Rating: 9 out of 10

Thanks for reading.

Film Review Club