Black Bag: Blanchett and Fassbender Bond Beautifully in Smartly Scripted Spy Whodunit

By Jim Slotek

Rating: A-

Many espionage-themed action films hit the ground running. The smartly scripted espionage-themed inaction film Black Bag somehow manages to do likewise.

A whodunit from Steven Soderbergh, Black Bag cleverly lays its premise entirely on the table in its first few minutes. Top British spy George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) meets in a back alley with a colleague Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgård), who provides him with a list of five suspect agents, all equally likely to have smuggled an as-yet-unidentified object that, we’re told, could result in the death of thousands.

George remains poker-faced when informed that his wife Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) is one of the suspects.

So, what does one do with a list of suspects like that? You invite them all to dinner, of course.

Added to the menu is a subtle truth-telling drug that George pointedly omits giving Kathryn, a signal of the level of love he holds for her (though they accept that each will keep secrets from the other by the nature of their job, they have an, um, interesting marriage with, “I would kill for you” as a mutual declaration of love).

“Black bag,” by the way, is a euphemistic response the spies employ among themselves whenever they’re asked a question they’re not allowed to answer.

But I digress. This first scene is a clever entry into the whodunit, giving us a quick rundown of the characters and their cross-connections. And when you – or scriptwriter David Koepp – are telling a story with so many permutations and possibilities in a tight 90 minutes, almost entirely with dialogue, you do things fast. (Also, as a viewer, the pace of revelations coupled with spy-tech-talk requires you to pay attention).

If the drug indeed prompted a confession, this would be an even shorter movie. Instead, it provides an entertaining entry into the love/hate connections of the guests/suspects. Psychiatrist Zoe (Naomie Harris) is toying romantically with James (Regé-Jean Page), Booze-hound and womanizer Freddie (Tom Burke) is in a tempestuous relationship with cyber-wiz Clarissa (Marisa Abela). The evening produces acidic sarcasm, wounded feelings as well as a wound of a physical sort.

Koepp, who has scripted plenty of action in his day (Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, an Indiana Jones film), shows he also knows what to do with people, their emotions, distrust and dark secrets (Soderbergh’s territory), as well as produce sparks of wit (there are some good laughs in the dialogue, reminiscent of the terrific streaming series Slow Horses).

Actual acts of violence are few and quick. The onus is on the identity of the mole, of course, and the part that might have been played by the suspects’ mutual boss Arthur Stieglitz (Pierce Brosnan, who deserved more scenes, but uses his few well).

But mainly, it’s a plunge into the nature of George and Kathryn’s marriage. To quote the Bee Gees, how deep is their love? Fassbender and Blanchett do a terrific job of playing coy, straight-facedly. Are they, indeed, lying to each other, despite their frequent vows that they never will? Are either of them actually connected to the smuggling of a certain device?

There are not many films on the release schedule with good writing and plotting, wit and solid acting. That’s an exceptional combination in a quick bite of the spy movie genre.

Black Bag. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Written by David Koepp. Starring Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Naomie Harris and Tom Burke. Opens Friday, March 14.