Black Bag

Fair to say that Steven Soderbergh is a busy man in the film industry and has released a feature film every year since 2017 without fail. It is quite remarkable but I just wish I could say they were films people were talking about; instead many seem to rank averagely among audiences for some time now. His last few films that I saw were Contagion, Side Effects and Logan Lucky, which were all pretty good but he hasn't found quite the same success since the Oceans trilogy. Just recently I had the chance to see his latest film, Black Bag, and this was one that really caught my interest. It looked slick, boasted a great cast and was all about spies so I was in. Sadly it seems this won't be a box office success but I went in ready for anything to tide me over until the next Bond film.

Set in London, Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett are a married couple who work for an intelligence agency. Both are excellent at their work in a world of cat-and-mouse but when piece of highly sensitive programming is leaked, they soon start to suspect there is a traitor somewhere in their midst. Could it even be from within their very home?

Running just over 90 minutes, Black Bag is a thoroughly engrossing and tightly written little spy thriller directed with complete efficiency by Soderbergh. The cast are all terrific, visually flawless and the story hooked me in right away, but then it takes a few tangents in the pacing which might not be to everyone's tastes. I call this a "little spy thriller" because in many ways it feels neatly compressed for the most-part but there are a couple of scenes involving a therapist that felt unnecessarily long when I would have preferred a little more of the precious running-time dedicated to the overall plot, which moves very quickly and will leave some behind.

However, I wouldn't call this a major issue given it is still a very enjoyable ride and I hope we get to see Soderbergh do more spy films like this. Black Bag has a number of fun moments, a great cast of names and it just looks great from start to finish, benefiting from Soderbergh's talents not only as a director but also as cinematographer and editor here. Spy fans will find plenty to enjoy as well and I hope this film finds an audience as it an easy one to recommend for 90 minutes of your time even if it might not stick in the memory for long.