Review 744: Black Bag

When his wife, intelligence agent Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett), is suspected of committing treason, her husband, intelligence agent George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) is assigned to investigate her. He faces the ultimate test - faithfulness to his marriage or loyalty to his country.

Opening with a beautiful tracking shot following Michael Fassbender's George from behind as he enters an England bar to meet his contact Meachum (Gustaf Skarsgard), Black Bag turns into a tangled web of espionage and mystery  The screenplay by David Koepp  The emotional core of the film is the marriage between George and Kathryn. They are 

At its core, Black Bag is a an espionage thriller wrapped up in a marriage story with modern fears of drone strikes, satellite surveillance and A.I. powered eavesdropping. All very relevant and topical, almost like a 

The film features tones of gorgeous lighting to frame the shots and gives so much texture to the locations. Warm colours are used at night and when we are at George & Jean's house whilst more muted and sterile colours are used for daytime scenes particularly for scenes at the Agency.  all set to a wonderfully jazzy  score by Soderbergh's regular composer David Holmes. The production design is splendid, George & Jean's house's is so idyllic and does a fabulous job of expressing who George and Kathryn are which is incredible particular, incredibly meticulous, but also incredibly controlling. This contrasts beautifully with scrupulously high tech work area of the NCSC building which is very high tech but also . The costumes are fabulous  the locations are fantastic; London as presented in this film is very cool, fun and glamorous.  

It wouldn't be a Steven Soderbergh film without an ensamble cast and Michael Fassbender, Cate Blenchett, Naomie Harris & Pierce "James Bond" Brosnan. In supporting roles are actors who audiences will recognise for their roles on  for those who know their TV: Tom Burke from BBC's Strike, Marisa Abela from BBC/HBO's Industry, Rege-Jean Page from Brigerton and Gustaf Skarsgard from Vikings and Westworld. This cast is a nice mix of heavyweights and relative newbies. 

Michael Fassbender & Cate Blanchett are splendind in this film, with Fassenber in particular, clearly channeling his inner Michael Caine from Alfie and The Italian Job. His name seems like an homage to George Smiley from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. George is very much an old school spy, he's very meticulous, everything is specific, he's a perfectionist. 

Naomie Harris is also very strong playing Dr. Zoe Vaughn. She's a very complex woman in that she's able to penetrate people's thick skin and  She's taken the rule book and thrown it all out the window.She's also extremely judgmental in the way that she treats her clients which is not what a trained psychologist is meant to do. 

Pierce Brosnan isn't in the film that much but whenever he is onscreen he makes a strong impression. He plays Arthur Stieglitz, head of NCSC and a man of questionable morality. He has quite an ego that's a mile long  

Tom Burke  Freddie is one of George and Kathryn's closest friends, their's is a complicated friendship that's not all fun and games and laughter. 

Clarissa is relatively new in this world of espionage and she likes to present herself as incredibly strong and fierce. Marisa Abela plays her like an alternate version of Yasmin from Industry.

Rege-Jean Page proves to be a very charismatic presence playing Col. James Stokes. James is a moral absolutist whether he admits it or not. 

Much like Soderbergh's Ocean's 12 in 2004, Black Bag is about behaviour, style and cat-and-mouse games. I thought it was actually kind of fun. 4/5.

The Anonymous Critic.