WATCH: Black Bag is a spy thriller that executes with British charm
VIDEO REVIEW
Writer-director duo Steven Soderbergh & David Koepp take a sharp change in gear from their paranormal haunting feature Presence to a smart British spy thriller that executes with charm. If you thought that your journey with Presence may have faltered from impatience with its slow pacing and lack of urgency to get things going, Soderbergh and Koepp swiftly reverse that as they deliver a thriller that has its foot pressed firmly on the gas pedal.
Our story opens with a tight over-the-shoulder long take as Michael Fassbender’s character, George smoothly shifts his way through an ambiguous London venue during the night to meet someone out back. This seductive visual technique ends abruptly as his contact reveals that the traitor he is seeking might be his wife. Black Bag values its audience's attention as it wastes no time getting straight to the point as we’re introduced to the plot within just a few minutes. We’re then swiftly transported to George’s house as he prepares dinner for his wife Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) and colleagues to suss out who among them is the liar in a scene that is flavoured with dramatic tension and supplemented by sharp and witty dialogue.
The masterful craft we’re presented with early on in our journey ensures it's not set to depart. Black Bag remains consistent with its intelligence. Soderbergh directs every scene with precision, transforming the most basic visual storytelling such as cooking a meal into something worth paying attention to. During the first dinner scene, Soderbergh occasionally cuts to angles that capture the event as though we’re witnessing it from the perspective of hidden cameras. Although visually unfamiliar, Soderbergh ensures that a technique as minimal as this is one of high importance, serving a purpose behind everything he conducts.
Koepp rewards our time with seductive lines such as when George is watching Kathryn undress she says “I can feel you’re watching me”. George apologises yet Kathryn responds with “I like it”. As George plays a game with his guests at dinner to provide him with clues of whom the deceiver is, he says to Kathryn “That was the rock, now I watch the ripples”. Tom Burke delivers the most killer line among them all “This is the most boring thing you’ve done hands down”. While this provides more context to understand the witt, it would be a disservice to spoil what provokes it.
The high-stakes tension presented at the first dinner follows through in stand-out scenes such as when George only has only a couple of minutes to find out what Kathryn is up to in Europe as he spies on her remotely via surveillance albeit forbidden. Likewise, when he later conducts a lie detector test on his spy colleagues as each of them tries to outwit him, showing convincing signs that any of them could be the traitor we’re hunting.
Evidently, there is much to praise about Black Bag, however, the technicalities of the plot may outsmart our ability to keep up with following it with clarity. Just when you think the complications may embark you on a downward path, you’re then saved by the intensity of drama between our characters. It also maintains the ability to surprise even when you think that you’re being led to a weak climax, which is anything but the sort. While Black Bag is perfectly satisfying, it's by far a work that stands out as something to get excited about. Even if it is the best film of the year so far as we speak in March of 2025. British cinema still has a long way to go to persuade audiences that it matches the same calibre as America and France, but Soderbergh and Koepp at least contribute a work that demonstrates a fine use of the resources available within the nation.
Out in UK cinemas now