Black Bag
James Cameron Teaches Filmmaking
Overview
A top British Intelligence officer tries to find the person responsible for a critical security breach, with one of the suspects being his wife, in Black Bag. George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) is an operative at Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre, who is given a list by Philip Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgård) containing those suspected of a security breach, stealing destructive cyber worm called Severus. Included on the list is George’s beloved wife Katheryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchet), who is one of NCSC’s top agents.
George begins the investigation by inviting the suspects over for dinner. These include friends and colleagues such as Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke) and his girlfriend Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela), as well as Col. James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page) and his partner, and company therapist, Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris). As he tries to weed out the one responsible for the breach and decipher how involved is Katheryn, George begins to suspect that someone might be trying to lead him on.
Black Bag Synopsis
Black Bag is the third collaboration between director Steven Soderberg and writer David Koepp, following 2022’s KIMI and last year’s Presence. The film is an espionage thriller starring Michael Fassbender (The Killer) and Cate Blanchett (Borderlands) as husband and wife spies George Woodhouse and Katheryn St. Jean. George and Katheryn trust each other impeccably and share everything, except for top-secret knowledge, which is dismissed as a “Black Bag.”
George’s trust in Katheryn is tested when he finds out she is one of the suspects in a security breach. The other suspects are played by an all-star ensemble that includes Tom Burke (Furiosa) as Freddie Smalls, Marisa Abela (Back to Black) as Clarissa Dubose, Regé-Jean Page (Bridgerton, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) as Col. James Stokes, and Naomie Harris (Skyfall) as Dr. Zoe Vaughan. The ensemble cast is rounded out by, former James Bond himself, Pierce Brosnan as NCSC head Arthur Stieglitz.
My Thoughts on Black Bag
It’s hard to believe that it was only around 12 years ago when Steven Soderberg expressed his intention to retire from filmmaking and now he is in the midst of one of his most prolific runs in years, with Black Book arriving less than two months after the general of his haunted house film Presence. Remaining in the genre film space, thanks to his continued working relationship with screenwriter David Koepp, Black Book is an espionage thriller that also borrows from Soderberg’s previous films, such as 2011’s Haywire and his Ocean’s Eleven Trilogy. Viewers shouldn’t expect Black Bag to be as deep a spy thriller as something like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but it is still a satisfying viewing experience.
At the core of the plot of Black Bag is the husband and wife relationship between Michael Fassbender’s George Woodhouse and Cate Blanchett’s Katheryn St. Jean. One of the recurring questions asked by characters in the film is how George and Katheryn remain married when they reach work in a profession that involves deception. The simple answer is trust, though the events of the film put this to the test.
I don’t want to go into too many of the twists and turns of Black Bag, though the film is bookended by two gatherings of the prime suspects at the home of George and Katheryn. The first gathering gets quite heated, as George delves into infidelities between the two couples in the group. While seemingly inconsequential, this scene plants the first seeds for the final revelations that come toward the end of the film.
Michael Fassbender plays George in a somewhat autistic manner, as he comes off as cold and calculated in his conversations with others. The only one who can make George open up somewhat is Katheryn. As such, when his wife is listed as a suspect in George’s investigation, he often seems more interested in protecting than prosecuting her, which becomes an issue as all the signs point to Katheryn as the guilty party.
Ultimately, Black Bag stands alongside the better of the latter-day Steven Soderberg films. At this point in his career, Soderberg seems content with releasing genre fare as popcorn entertainment. The result is Black Bag being an enjoyable espionage thriller.
Trailer for Black Bag
