2025 - BLACK BAG a spy film or a domestic drama?

From Steven Soderbergh a filmmaker who's always game to film something different comes this story of two married spies one of who is suspected of being a traitor.

Michael Fassbender is the agent tasked with figuring out who the traitor is.  Cate Blanchett is his wife who he is deeply in love with but might be supplying a malware to the Russians that would cause a meltdown at a nuclear power plant.  To get to the truth Fassbinder invites all of the chief suspects for a gourmet dinner and drugs their food with truth serum as he interrogates them in a highly amusing scene.

I always enjoy Soderbergh's films he has a total command of the tools of film making and knows how to use them, he's not a showoff of a director.  However this film would seem like one of his more minor efforts.  It's kind of an interesting film but even with the threat of nuclear meltdown this crisis seems like a minor problem at best. The focus is mostly on the uninteresting marriage of Blanchett and Fassbender.

 

You can't argue with the casting, Blanchett and Fassbender are good.  One time Jame Bond, Pierce Brosnan  amusingly shows up as their spy boss.  The rest of the cast, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris and Regé-Jean Page are all very talented if somewhat unknown British actors.

If you are a fan of Soderbergh's films you should enjoy this, but it's an extremely lightweight thriller/drama.

Written by the talented David Koepp, the running time is 94 minutes.