PROFESSIONALISM: Steven Soderbergh's & David Koepp's BLACK BAG (dir by Steven Soderbergh, written by David Koepp, w/Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, 93mns, Universal, USA/UK, 2025)

It's strange when a movie feels both consummate and tossed off. Such are the eccentricities of talent and craft. 

BLACK BAG, written by David Koepp, is WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOLF by way of TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY with a dash of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot to season the salad.

A good light meal-totally passable, even enjoyable- to be served with chilled wine with friends at a dinner. Much like the one that kicks off this movie. 

Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? feels like a clear inspiration for some of the snipy interpersonal dynamics on display among the spies.

BLACK BAG follows British secret service internal affairs officer George (an OCD and buttoned down Fassbender) tasked with finding a mole who just may be selling "Severus" a computer virus that can destroy a nuclear facility and cause instant regime instability. That mole may be George's wife, Kathryn (a controlled yet seductive Cate Blanchett). And it puts George in a difficult spot. For you see, George HATES liars. 

And he LOVES his wife.

Soderbergh directs, designs, and lights this movie with the same impeccable craft with which George conducts his search for the mole.

Soderbergh, an avowed form and structure moviemaker (versus a storyteller), finds very clever and crafty visual analogues to support the serpentine movements of the story.

An early tracking shot into and out of an underground club leaves the character being followed roughly in the same place they were at the begining of the shot. A foxy hint of the structure that is to come.

The script, if not surprising, is very good at what it does. The twists and turns are good solid twists and turns, done with pristine scene construction, character economy, and brevity.

This is the kind of script that gets bought by somebody. And David Koepp is a master of those. And that's not a knock. Very few such screenwriters with this kind of haiku cinema skill are left. 

The movie runs 93 minutes and by the time it gets to a froth, you've just got 30 minutes left. Which is a nice feeling.

Pierce Brosnan shows up as the gruff bespoke boss of it all. As if James Bond got kicked up to management, aged into grumpiness, and somehow became a kind of dour King Charles of the spy set.

There was some talk earlier this year (2025) about the unfortunate fact that the movie was a little gem yet underperformed in the theater, further hastening the final demise of the mid-budget "adult" movie.

I'm not sure that's the right angle. 

BLACK BAG is a little gem. The delight is in watching film collaborators do their jobs infuriatingly well as a team. 

Blanchett and Fassbender. Consummate pros.

Still, BLACK BAG may have underperformed because Soderbergh had nothing to prove and maybe also, not much to say. The movie's message is what it is about: utter professionalism elevated by talent and love. Nothing less.

Also nothing more.

It's a confection. And that's plenty. But it doesn't feel like a story the director was BURNING to tell.

It is the cinematic equivalent of reading a really good Agatha Christie novel. 

This isn't a knock. Agatha Christie brought countless hours of joy to readers the world over. Watching THE SOUVENIR's and FURIOUSA's Tom Burke's dissolution, Naomie Harris's buttoned up compassion, and Marissa Abela's and Rege-Jean Page's exuberant youthful spies is a joy. 

And the circular structure of the film which begins and ends at a dinner table and then a bed is on point and appreciated.

Soderbergh, always finding the formal game to express the content.

It just reminds you that craft, quality, and talent ALONE don't quite get you to something inspired.

You also have to be driven to tell the story.

An underlying compulsion, conviction, and obsession helps directors find the impossible wings to soar.

As exhilarating as filmmaking is, it needs an underlying fascinating story AND a burning to tell that story to gird the entire cathedral.

Soderbergh is 3/4's of the way there on his craft and genius alone. If he can, he just has to rediscover what it is he wants to say.

Craig Hammill is the founder.programmer of Secret Movie Club