Black Bag
Black Bag
When intelligence agent Kathryn Woodhouse is suspected of betraying the nation, her husband - also a legendary agent - faces the ultimate test of whether to be loyal to his marriage, or his country.
rg9400 reviewedApril 2, 2025
Black Bag is another Soderbergh/Koepp production that aims to be as lean as possible. Where their last two collaborations have felt slightly gimmicky, Black Bag is a no-frills techno-thriller, examining the marriage between two spies. That said, it does still feel unlike any other spy movie that I can recall, where almost the entirety of the battle of wits takes place through dialogue. Its rapid pace with tons of technobabble, laden with intention that if you blink, you might feel like you've missed a crucial part of the puzzle. At times, this makes it hard for the viewer to get their feet under them, especially in the first half where you're just thrown into the world, trying to quickly grasp what the conspiracy is, who the various 6 players are, what their interpersonal relationships entail, and even what their jobs technically are. However, halfway through, as the lines start getting filled out, it becomes easier to immerse yourself in the suspense as tensions ratchet up. The plot is a very tightly wound clockwork machine, but the rapidfire dialogue and pacing will lose some viewers. This isn't an action-laden spy movie a la Mission Impossible or any of the other movies that played during the previews, but it still has some of the sleek stylistic flourishes. Having just recently watched Presence, it's really impressive how drastically different this movie looks and feels. Beyond the style, it does offer up an interesting examination of a marriage, but it does feel mostly like a movie driven by its clever plotting. I found this pretty entertaining once I felt like I understood what was going on, but I could tell a lot of my audience wasn't as engaged. I've made a comment that Soderbergh's recent output has felt a bit inconsequential. I am not sure if this will change people's minds about that, but it does feel like he's trying to do something more substantial here. Regardless, he remains a maestro of these extremely efficient 90 minute movies, and I am so glad that he's able to showcase how much can be achieved with less.