Black Bag is a crime/espionage thriller brought to us by Steven Soderbergh. I saw a couple of trailers for this, liked the cast, and I had heard pretty good things about it. I decided to check it out in my local theatre before it ended its theatrical run. It was a kind of weird experience as I was the only person in the theatre and the staff from the cinema had to have come in five times during the movie! What did they think I was doing???
How to Download Black Bag
Black Bag was released on March 14, 2025. As it is a Universal release you can expect it at some point to become available on Peacock as a download or streaming option the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review check the current availability.
The Movie Review
Cast Chemistry and Performances in Black Bag
Anyway, Black Bag turned out to be a pretty solid thriller, and Cate Blanchet (she is Irina Spalko in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Lady Marian in Robin Hood (2010) and Galadriela in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) Michael Fasbender (he is young Magneto in X-Men: First Class or David in Prometheus) had fantastic chemistry together, and they are the ones leading the promotional push for this movie. However, we have a great supporting cast here, and it was so awesome to see Pierce Brosnan have a pretty solid role here.
The Espionage Premise and Twisting Narrative
The thing with a movie like Black Bag is that you need to go into this as blind as possible. The premise of the story is that we have this married couple played by Michael Fasbender and Cate Blanchet. George and Kathryn are both high up secret agents, and George has been tasked with finding out who has leaked a top-secret piece of software called Severus from the agency.
Dinner Party Suspicion and Tension
As George does his work, George has a list of five suspects who could have done this, and one of them is his wife, Kathryn. Geroge invites the other four suspects around for dinner, all of whom work for the agency and interestingly are couples too. What we get is a tense game of cat and mouse as George tries to figure out what really happened. A great deal of the tension in the movie comes from Kathryn’s looking like she is the main suspect.
Pacing, Suspense, and the Big Reveal
I would not say that Black Bag is an action packed kind of thriller, but it still moves at a very quick pace, coming in at around 90 minutes. It is a very tight story that does keep you wondering back and forth if Kathryn really is the one behind all of this. If I am being honest, the big reveal at the end of who was behind this was a bit of a letdown, but the stuff leading up to the ending was well done, and I did enjoy it.
A Sequel Worth Considering?
I have seen many other thrillers that fail to stick the landing, but this could be a personal thing. From what I have read, I am in the minority here, as most people seem to like the way the movie comes to an end. Also, now that I think about it, they could have something here with the characters of George and Kathryn, and I certainly would not be against seeing these two again in some kind of sequel.
Final Verdict on Black Bag
While I am not sure I would say that Black Bag is a movie you have to rush out and see in the theatre before it ends its theatrical run. I would say that this is well worth a watch when it eventually comes to streaming. It is a fun thriller and one that truly kept me guessing until the end. Still, I have seen much better thrillers, but I have also seen far worse.
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