“Black Bag” isn’t just a spy thriller. A lot of scenes are set at a UK spy office, but there are also some key scenes set at a dinner table. Most of the cast work for a spy agency, but what they do when they’re not working is equally as important as what they do when they’re working. At its heart, it’s a murder mystery (although it doesn’t start with a murder) wrapped in a spy thriller shell. It’s so good that I actually wish the movie was longer.
It starts with agent George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) going into a nightclub to speak to his contact Phillip Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgard) who tells him they have a rat in the agency who just stole a top-secret tool code-named “Severus”. He gives him a list of 5 people which includes George’s wife Kathryn St Jean (Cate Blanchett).
George proceeds to invite the other 4 “suspects” to his house for dinner. There’s agents Tom Burke (Freddie Smalls), and Col James Stokes (Rege-Jean Page) – James recently got a promotion instead of Tom partly thanks to George’s recommendation (I think – it’s only briefly mentioned in the movie), psychiatrist Dr Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris), and computer tech Clarissa (Marissa Abela). George adds some truth serum to the food – he warns his wife about it – which leads to some initial secrets coming out including who is sleeping with who.
After the dinner George continues investigating the 5 people. The audience can also do their own investigating while watching some conversations that don’t include George. However, George runs into a roadblock called “black bag”. The term stands for something top secret so one person can’t tell the other person anything about it. It’s just like a scene in the movie. George is looking through a glass wall until Arthur Stieglitz (Pierce Brosnan) – who I think oversees all the others in the office – pushes a button that makes the glass opaque.
Director Steven Soderbergh (who is also the cinematographer and editor) and writer David Koepp – who worked together on two other recent movies including the psychological thriller “Presence” which was released less than 2 months ago – created a suspenseful mystery that keeps you guessing. The dialogue is very clever during the conversations where each person is trying to get information from the other. Michael Fassbender as George is part Hercule Poirot and part devoted husband as he investigates his wife although he doesn’t want to. He’s a master at knowing when people are lying – with or without the polygraph machine. Cate Blanchett’s Kathryn remains mysterious while her husband and others question her. She’s a master at keeping secrets.
The only problem I have with this movie is that it’s a short 1 hour 33 minutes. It just starts to build up some suspense when it turns and starts heading to its conclusion with a 2nd dinner at the house with all the possible “suspects” (as Hercule Poirot would do at the end of his murder mysteries). I wish it would have kept the suspense up a little bit more and give some more details about some subplots like the murder of Phillip Meacham (I told you the movie is part murder mystery). There’s also a subplot about a movie ticket stub that George finds in Kathryn’s wastebasket which might be a key or might be a red herring. I’m not sure which it is because it’s only briefly mentioned – including a very clever scene where George and Kathryn go see the same movie.
I enjoyed this movie a lot and I think there is room for a possible sequel with George, Kathryn, and some of the other characters. If there is a sequel, I’ll definitely see it. Maybe I’ll even learn more about what happened in this movie.
Overall: 8.5 out of 10
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 