If there’s one director who loves to play with plot twists and unexpected U-turns, it’s Steven Soderbergh. After creating the atmospheric and twisty horror flick Presence this year, he once again heads to cinemas, this time with Black Bag, a slow-burning spy thriller that ultimately becomes the most dangerous loyalty test someone can face.
Soderbergh’s latest film certainly is an extremely inviting one from the start. A gorgeous setting, dim lights and a few candles burning, yes, spy couple George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) and Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett) their dinner table is all set for the guests. While we wouldn’t mind sharing a meal with Fassbender, Blanchett, and the rest of this fabulous cast, we do want to skip the dinners with George and Kathryn, though, cause they are everything but fun, friendly and relaxed. They’re backstabbing, mean and on-edge above anything else.
What seems like a casual dinner with colleagues, psychologist Dr Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris), Colonel James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page), tech-wizard and cyber expert Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela) and George’s associate Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke) is everything but that. A few days prior, George was warned that the top-secret weapon, Severus, had been stolen and that the people around the table, including his wife, were on the list of suspects. The dinner party is merely his way of weeding out the liars on the list.
While the characters in Black Bag are more or less the usual ones – not every aspect of this feature is as modern as the ultra-modern spy technology – they don’t feel too familiar or overused. This is due to the impeccable writing by David Koepp. Koepp, whose writing credits include Presence, War of the Worlds and Mission Impossible, clearly knows Soderbergh’s creative vision from the inside out as well as how to create a spy thriller that will keep the audience on the edge of their seat all the time without everything being overly dramatic. For a feature that evolves around espionage, secrets, deceit and the world of terrorism, Black Bag is far from becoming an equal to a James Bond film. Yes, there’s a well-timed and energetic explosion and a dangerous game called ‘Who picks up the gun first’, but long-lasting conversation trumps any action.
However, it’s not because no bullets are flying around the room (not initially, at least) that no one gets hurt. The words full of betrayal and anger are equally hurtful (if not even more painful). A sentence might mean one thing when said, while five minutes later, its true meaning reveals itself. Every word could be the one that detonates the invisible but clearly present timebomb.
There are moments during which the slick conversations linger on for too long for their good, but when a big twist reveals itself, those conversations finally find their true purpose. The movie becomes a whirlwind of broken trust, bold twists and turns, and a massive bag (black or not) full of dark humour. While being a master in distinguishing lies from truth, George is also a master in telling lies himself. The number of lies he has to tell to gather information and get to the truth is staggering.
It’s when he starts to weave that growing web of lies that we see Fassbender, who certainly looks like he escaped from the front page of Vanity Fair, truly excel. At first, he gives us an incredible stoic performance. His acting is cold, smooth and sturdy, and after delivering similar subtle and distant acting in David Fincher’s The Killer, it’s clear that Fassbender has found his genre. He might have recommended Daniel Graig for the role of James Bond when the Broccoli family were casting for Casino Royale. Still, in this feature, he shows that he doesn’t need fancy gadgets, fast cars, and a younger Bond girl to prove that he can portray a British spy in a razor-sharp and stellar way.
A spy, that after all, does care about the people around him. It’s when the stakes become higher and more personal and when the lives of thousands of people are on the line that George starts to show much more emotion. There’s certainly a vulnerable side to George and Fassbender’s performance, but don’t let the tears-induced eyes or the shaky hands fool you. He might be more cold than expected.
The same applies to Blanchett (Elizabeth, TÁR) and her Kathryn. While she certainly has more grace, suaveness and glamour, Blanchett reaches the same coolness and calm as her on-screen husband. While Kathryn certainly isn’t afraid of revealing everyone’s secrets in front of them, her poker face beautifully and charismatically hides her own. Is she able to beat George at his own game or not? It truly doesn’t matter because even if all she did was try, it resulted in the incredible tangible and palpable sexual and passionate chemistry between Fassbender and Blanchett. Whenever they lock eyes, you know something clever, witty, and sometimes even steamy is about to happen. The speed of the dialogue makes each conversation feel like a tango between two actors at the top of their game, while their looks and touches enhance their love for each other and the secretive nature of their jobs.
It frequently happens in a film with a stacked cast sheet like this one that not everyone gets the chance to show the greatness they’re capable of, but it’s different in this one. Despite the movie only lasting 93 minutes, Koepp meticulously and craftily created a script in which every actor has their moment in the spotlights. Whether it’s Burke (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Living) passionately giving the tense speech about broken trust, daddy issues and infidelity, Abela (Back to Black, Industry) her clever and deceitful polygraph scene or Page (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Inheritance) and Harris (The Wasp, Black and Blue) their heated discussions during which secrets slowly come out, there’s always a mix of backstabbing, suspense and entertaining acting present in every slick and twisty conversation.
Black Bag is less James Bond-y and certainly not a wanna-a-be Mission Impossible, despite what the film’s promo made you believe. It’s much more a sophisticated, sexy, psychological cat-and-mouse game played with words and led by an exhilarating cast.
Black Bag is out in cinemas now courtesy of Focus Features
Black Bag is less James Bond-y and certainly not a wanna-a-be Mission Impossible, despite what the film's promo made you believe. It's much more a sophisticated, sexy, psychological cat-and-mouse game played with words and led by an exhilarating cast.
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Subtitle translator by day. Film journalist by night.
