A Brief Review With No Spoilers
Snappy dialogue, spies, and sexual tension are a near perfect recipe for a Steven Soderbergh film, but somehow Black Bag doesn’t always hit for me. The movie is a simple story of world-ending plans falling into the wrong hands and a few married spies caught in the middle. Allies become foes, twists become turns, and the ending is predictable, but exciting. The result is a solid, by-the-numbers, spy film that is well-written, but won’t set the genre on fire.
The story centers around a trio of couples working for a British intelligence agency as they try and navigate the difficulties of monogamy in a field where infidelity is easy. With the excuse of ‘black bag’, code for ‘can’t talk about it’, dishonesty is almost baked into the relationship. The exception to this rule is George (Michael Fassbender), an agent/interrogator—notably not a fan of liars—and his sultry, presumably deadly wife, Kathryn (Cate Blanchett). For this couple, honesty is the secret sauce, to a degree.
Somewhere in the background there is a terrorist plot about a super weapon that is about as boring as they come. There’s a threat of nuclear annihilation, dictators rising to supreme power, and crooked agents, but fortunately, that’s not the focus. Instead, the movie centers around uncomfortable dinner parties—with games designed to put guests on edge—and broken relationship dynamics. It’s in these tense moments where the audience is dragged into the middle of these couples’ dirty laundry that Black Bag shines.
David Koepp (writer of Black Bag) has written some absolute classic scripts (Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible, Spider-Man, and many others), but in Black Bag, the story feels constrained. The twists and turns of a typical spy movie are there, but they’re not telegraphed to the audience in a way that would make me say ‘Oh, if I watched closer, I could have figured this out.’ In my opinion, that’s a hallmark of great writing. If you can show the watcher/reader the answer in plain sight without them realizing, it acts as its own reward later. Despite the background crisis not being the main plot, it’s told rather than shown.
Koepp’s big reveal at the end of the movie feels rushed and the character motivations are too convenient. There’s also a heavy dose of ‘this was my plan because it was a good plan’ as the only explanation—pretty much word for word. No spoilers, but for being premier spies, the characters act quite dumb. They fall into traps, break obvious rules badly, and just generally don’t act like spies. Once more, I understand it’s not the point of the film, but if you’re going to make a spy movie, you need more than two out of six spies to be good at their job.
I enjoyed my time with Black Bag, but I’m not sure I’ll be revisiting it anytime soon. It’s a fast-paced watch at 1hr33m and yet still manages to take its time in the parts that matter. I wish there was more detail on the intrigue in the background, but I also recognize that it wasn’t the point of the film. As usual, I will buy a ticket to watch Michael Fassbender do just about anything (as long as it’s not another Assassin’s Creed). If you like spy thrillers, I recommend giving this one a watch.
Sometimes sexy spies lying to each other at dinner is enough.
What did you think of Black Bag? Let me know in the comments below or hit me up on Blue Sky. I’d love to get into it.
Also, if you haven’t yet, pre-order my new sci-fi adventure, One Night at Kedasi, available everywhere 9/23/25.
Ashton Macaulay 