Severus has slipped its leash. It was never supposed to leave the cavernous, cold corridors of British Intelligence’s chic HQ. But it did. There is a mole. Severus is in the wind. If it’s used, thousands will die. Badly. Thus, intelligence operative Philip Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgård) turns to George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender), a superb analyst who hates liars to ferret out Severus’ thief. 

There are five suspects. Colonel James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page) is a rising and passionate star in the corridors of power. Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke) is a screw-up whose personal blundering doesn’t entirely cancel out his skill. Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela) is a young surveillance expert who’s good on the job and a freely admitted disaster off the clock. Doctor Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris) is a thoughtful in-house therapist who knows everyone’s secrets and plays her cards close to the chest. Kathryn St. Jean is a master field operative whose ruthlessness is surpassed only by her abiding love for her husband, George. Each had the ability, the access, and the motive to swipe and sell Severus. 

George will find the thief. The trouble is that Kathryn is the most suspicious of the suspects. She would never lie to him, but she lies for a living. If she’s the mole, can George bring her in? If she’s not the mole, who wants to make it look like she is?

Director/cinematographer/editor Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight) and screenwriter David Koepp (Jurassic Park) are very good at filmcraft. Black Bag is their third collaboration after 2022’s excellent Kimi and this year’s Presence. I cannot speak to Presence, but Black Bag is a ball as someone who enjoyed Kimi and digs Soderbergh’s frothier work (Out of Sight, Logan Lucky). Koepp and Soderbergh, working with a superb cast who bring their best and get the best out of each other, have spun a cutting, sexy comedy of manners.

The core of Black Bag’s narrative success is its acidic conception of spycraft. Yes, Black Bag’s spies are beautiful people who dress to the nines and shape the world. They’re also, to the last, weird nerds. Weird, amoral nerds. In some cases, this is obvious—George is an obsessively passionate cook who loves fishing and combining party games with mind games when hosting colleagues for dinner. In others, it’s subtler. James may be a dashing man of action, but his idea of a good date is marathoning Call of Duty. Everyone’s boss, Arthur Steiglitz (Pierce Brosnan), is a ruthless spymaster, but he so desperately wants to be James Bond’s M that he might as well be carrying a sign that says, “I Demand to be Taken Seriously.”

Black Bag’s players deceive and play power games for a living, which bleeds into their personal lives. Zoe finds Kathryn exhausting to work with since Kathryn treats therapy like chess. Freddie is emotionally intelligent enough to acknowledge that his being a screw-up has probably trapped him in mid-level work but not emotionally intelligent enough not to resent being passed over for promotion. George will appear outside Clarissa’s apartment to ask for a risky favor at 11 PM. It never occurs to him that showing up at a colleague’s house late at night and asking questions about her relationship might read closer to “Do you want to sleep together?” than “Will you put your career on the line to help me with an off-books project?”

Koepp and Soderbergh’s spies are clever, ruthless, and decidedly ridiculous. As funny as their pomp and circumstance can be, Black Bag never forgets the consequences. Severus is an impressive idea and a prime example of the sort of “What were you thinking?!” nonsense the so-called great powers like to pull. It’s of a piece with the chaos the Slow Horses would have to clean up—a high compliment for contemporary spy fiction. Black Bag’s players may not be as down and out as Slough House’s crew, but they’re foolish and foppish. Soderbergh and Koepp use this for comedy—opening and closing with wild dinner parties—and drama—the mole’s blasé attitude towards Severus’ massive potential collateral damage.

The cast takes these dapper knuckleheads and does terrifically entertaining work. My personal favorite of the players is Burke. He threads a tricky needle as Freddie—he’s a mess, but while his messiness colors his professional life, he’s good at what he does. The result is a perpetual bemused resignation that hasn’t scabbed over into apathy. It’s fun work, and between Freddie and Furiosa’s doomed, noble Praetorian Jack, Burke’s swiftly become someone I’m always glad to see on screen. Blanchett and Fassbender are excellent leads. Kathryn and George are compelling characters. Their marriage is both Black Bag’s dramatic core and a fascinating counterbalance to its absurd, deception-fueled world.

The nature of George and Kathryn’s work means that they keep secrets from each other. They love and trust each other, and there are things they will never tell each other. So they build their love and trust on knowing, from little things like how Kathryn likes her back scratched after a long day to core pieces of each other like how they think and approach their world. It’s honesty for a world that runs on deception. Fassbender and Blanchett sell the two as a couple who like each other as much as they love each other. Their intimacy is sexy, and the depth of their care is sweet. Their bond ups the stakes of the mole hunt with the awful possibility that they might become enemies.

Between the cast’s fine work, Koepp and Soderbergh’s impeccable story-crafting, and David Holmes’ sleek score Black Bag is a brainy, zippy joy. It’s one of the best times I’ve had at the movies this year.

Black Bag opens mole-hunting season on Friday, March 14th, 2025.

Black Bag Trailer: