Title: Black Bag
Starring: Micheal Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Gustaf Skarsgard, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke
Script: David Koepp
Director: Steve Soderbergh
Black Bag is code for the way in which spies avoid divulging confidential or top-secret information. And there are plenty of secrets, lies and mystery hidden in this Black Bag.
Black Bag stars Micheal Fassbender and Cate Blanchett as British intelligence agents and married couple George and Kathryn. It sounds like Mr and Mrs Smith so far. But thankfully it's much more than that. Less comedy, more drama.
George is told by his boss Meachum (Gustaf Skarsgard) to find the double agent who leaked Severus - a top-secret software. In the wrong hands the software is damsels dangerous and thousands of people are at risk. There are several suspects including Kathryn. Also on the list is the satellite specialist Clarissa (Marisa Abela) and her boyfriend Freddie (Tom Burke). Somehow the agency therapist Dr Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris) is also in the frame maybe because of her romantic links to James.
Director Steven Soderbergh has created a slick and flashy thriller but the plot is tricky to follow. Writer David Koepp is known for his dense screenplays usually focusing on crime and spies. He's created a world full of well rounded characters, but their motivations are muddy. The ending is certainly satisfying but some of the middle of the film feels less urgent than it should, dragging at times. Still it's a film full of intrigue, a fantastic score which makes delicious use of jazz music and it looks supremely slick.
Blanchett is delightfully suave, Fassbender is gruff and brooding and their mutual chemistry is good. The rest of the cast fill their roles nicely and compliment the central stars well.
The film looks fantastic in 4K Ultra High Definition. The colours are excellent, and the blacks are as deep midnight. The sharpness of the image is very high and the sound is also perfect for this sort of movie... the jazz score sounds fantastic in 7.1 and the bass rumbles throughout the film to create tension and drama.
Black Bag is a slick spy movie that makes good use of its attractive and talented cast. It's another hit movie from Soderbergh and Koepp.