"Black Bag" Review: A Return to Form For Steven Soderbergh

A strong ensemble elevates this refreshing espionage thriller.

March 18, 2025

It’s been 25 years since Steven Soderbergh became the first and only director nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. It would be safe to assume that a filmmaker who so expertly stylized his most revered works (Traffic, Erin Brockovich, the Ocean’s movies, etc.) would be a step behind as he surges back into the Hollywood consciousness.

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Yet, as the box office stumbles through another uninspired March and the long-term viability of movie theaters gets continually questioned, Soderbergh brings us Black Bag: a sleek espionage thriller that feels like a call-back to a bygone age. What precisely makes it those things are just as much a means for its director to recapture his early-millennium magic as a detriment to the film’s ascension to the highest highs of its genre.

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The film follows George, a straight-laced British intelligence agent coolly but fiercely devoted to his fellow spy wife, Kathryn. When informed that someone in the agency has stolen a top-secret software program and that one of the suspects is Kathryn, George commences his investigation and uncovers a potentially lethal conspiracy.

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If that sounds by the book, it is, and the film’s 94-minute runtime effectively indicates that it will be absent any subversions. It will come, present itself plainly, and exit stage left without any theatrics. From the moment they’re on screen, the “rat” is glaringly obvious. At no point do you question their innocence and the film ends in the exact expected fashion. Why, then, is Black Bag so good? Well, the same way most good movies are good: a talented cast, a lack of pretense, tight storytelling, and an unquantifiable something that brings all the key ingredients together.

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Make no mistake: the film has flaws. The cinematography feels fuzzy; what psychological possibilities lay within the film’s narrative remain unearthed, primarily because of how banal the film is visually. Regé-Jean Page, playing the all too obvious villain, is wooden, lagging behind an otherwise brilliant ensemble. Also, the film is too short. The story boils with potential, and with its pacing and sleekness, an extra half hour to fully explore the overarching caper and each person accused of perpetrating it would’ve done the film wonders and been easy to pull off. Sadly, without completely immersing itself, Black Bag, though very good, does feel somewhat like an exercise in wasted potential.

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Alas, every creation in the history of the world is imperfect, and Black Bag is ultimately worth commending for its many strengths more than condemning for its flaws. Absent Page, Hollywood will have trouble challenging this as the year’sbest ensemble. From top to bottom, the cast is pitch-perfect. The film would crumble if we went unconvinced that George is just as much a merciless employee as a devoted husband. Our lead character is a tricky and fascinating balancing act that makes him a rare and sorely needed protagonist. A typical spy thriller would have used him as a control and let everyone else color the festivities, but George's subtle humanity makes him and his choices more interesting.

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Unsurprisingly, Cate Blanchett shines as Kathryn, Naomie Harris and Tom Burke add some sleazy ethical greyness as an unprofessional therapist and a Lothario spy, respectively, and Marisa Abela is fantastic as Clarissa, the one agent seemingly unaffected by the darker aspects of the organization’s work but similarly damaged nonetheless. When the story feels like it has more to offer than its giving, its cast rises to the occasion.

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Thankfully, as compensation for what it leaves on the table, Black Bag nips many of the trappings of its genre in the bud. Espionage generally requires a slow burn as the film lays the extensive groundwork for the plot that its central character will ultimately unravel. Black Bag’s opening 15 minutes are more sluggish than contemplative, but once it picks up, it wastes little time furthering its various developments. Although more time would’ve left more hanging before the conclusion, screenwriter David Koepp makes exquisite use of each conversation, effectively developing each character enough to justify their place in the story.

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Is that story interesting? Though topical, the plot to cause a Russian nuclear meltdown and end the war is uninspired. It feels like the movie knows this and sees more value in the people involved than the plot itself because it glosses over the why of everything in favor of bouncing its characters off one another. Whether this was the intention or a happy accident is impossible to say. Regardless, it winds up serving the movie wonders.

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If you think of filmmaking like dating, the harder you try, the more likely you'll fail. Soderbergh takes his film’s inherent qualities and maximizes them to brilliant effect, underlying them with a signature style instead of imposing himself without boundaries. Black Bag may be a victim of that restraint as much as a beneficiary of it, but the result is definitively worthwhile, and considering we’re coming off a very rough year for movies (and in general), that packs a lot of value.

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Ultimately, Black Bag is great: acted to (near) perfection, slick and unpretentious, concerned only with being a good film that hits all the points that a film of its kind needs to hit. In a sense, it’s frustrating because one could spend an eternity dissecting how any movie's visual choices maximized or mitigated its potential, how its short runtime left avenues underdeveloped or neatly wrapped, and how, like many modern films, it feels like it’d work better as a miniseries, but some movies wind up not doing much to inspire that conversation. If you love something, discussing it is an extension of that passion, and the less room a film leaves for discussion, the more lifeless it can feel.

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Black Bag isn’t lifeless. It is very good, but the specifics of why boil down to components that can only translate if you see it. Sean Baker, who just won the Best Director Oscar for Anora, has urged studios to make films intended for theaters. In truth, very few movies need to be seen in a theater, and audiences are becoming increasingly aware of that fact. Perhaps the better course is making good word-of-mouth films that have those indescribable qualities that urge people to see it for themselves.

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As such, let it be said: Black Bag is a movie you should see. It’s refreshing, tight, compact, and well-acted. Beyond that, it's an enigma. Maybe it’s best that way and maybe Soderbergh has earned that consideration. So, suffice it to say that although putting down the exact mechanism of its accomplishments proves difficult, there’s something admirable about that, and you’ll just have to see it for yourself.