A Spouse To Die For
This could only have been more fun if Blanchett and Fassbender got locked in the trunk of a car.
Black Bag
Director: Steven Soderbergh • Writer: David Koepp
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Regé-Jean Page, Naomie Harris, Tom Burke, Marisa Abela
USA • 1hr 34mins
Opens Hong Kong May 15 • IIA
Grade: B+
Ever since Daniel Craig took over as James Bond and modernised that venerable character, and Tomas Alfredson made the minutiae of the world’s second oldest profession compelling in 2011’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, ultra-stylish, super-cool agents putting clever, high-tech tradecraft front and centre have become the order of the day for spy thrillers. The Americans, The Diplomat (Keri Russell twice) and The Agency, starring Michael Fassbender were series that needed to be listened to, and perhaps even demanded a working knowledge of global relations – despite the middle one being produced by second screen champion Netflix. This new breed has also come at sex from a different angle, with less goofy Bond-ian quips and women named Pussy or Honey (no hate, but c’mon) and more adult sexuality. And you could argue they’re picking up where Steven Soderbergh left off with the tension of that car trunk scene in his 1998 stone classic-though-not-a-spy thriller Out of Sight.
The very not retired Soderbergh brings that same sexy flair to Black Bag, a fleet, witty marriage drama dressed up as an espionage romp that’s solid as both. The beauty of Black Bag aside from the cast is that you can take it however you like. If you want to focus on the “Which do I put first, King and Country or my relationship” story, go ahead. If you prefer the mystery over who leaked a highly classified piece of software that could fuck with geopolitics, then have at it. Soderbergh has always been a master of tying complementing yet opposing narrative threads together, and writer David Koepp (Apartment Zero, Jurassic Park, we’ll forgive Mortdecai) gives him plenty of knottiness to work with here. This is fun and thoughtful, the way the best entertainment should be. In 94 minutes.
Put them in the boot!
Proving people still meet potential spouses at work, ice cold agent George (Fassbender) and his wife, fellow intelligence officer Kathryn (Cate Blanchett), are spies for MI6, living in a ridiculously swish London townhome (is government work really paying that much?). George is a great cook; Kathryn has an impeccable sartorial eye. They do know where to draw the line between job and home, and have hit peak work-life balance. If they can’t talk about a mission it’s “black bag” and the other lets it go. One night, George’s boss Meacham (another Skarsgård, Gustaf) asks him to find a leak within the agency and plug it. A top secret, critical app called Severus has been stolen and it was stolen by one of five suspects – among them Kathryn. Meacham asks George point blank if he can do “what needs to be done” if it’s her, and he says yes. No problem.
But is it? George begins his investigation by inviting the other four suspects for dinner at his and Kathryn’s, perfect for twisted mind games and getting a handle on the players. The suspect-guests include one of the agency’s handlers, the belligerent addict Freddie (Tom Burke, Furiosa), whose current squeeze is an agency satellite analyst, Clarissa (Marisa Abela, Amy Winehouse in Back to Black). Yet another handler, the ambitious colonel James (Regé-Jean Page, doubling down on Dungeons & Dragons and proving he is, in fact, charismatic) is getting it on with MI6’s official shrink, Zoe (Naomie Harris). See? You can meet people at work. And MI6 probably has a “no fraternisation” clause in contracts for a reason. Either way, the mystery sends George down a rabbit hole of double crosses, hidden agendas, secrets and lies. It’s all very crafty and deliciously duplicitous.
Black Bag works for the most obvious reasons imaginable: Fassbender and Blanchett are flawless as ace spies who are clearly into each other and would really rather not have to commit spousal murder. I mean, how often do you meet someone who truly understands the demands of the job? Soderbergh and Koepp prioritise characters spouting razor sharp dialogue and the dynamics that creates ahead of action, and suspense rooted in knowledge and information rather than weaponry. They make it easy to fall under the film’s rapid fire, efficient sway thanks to a stacked cast that includes Fassbender in his third spy outing recently (if you throw in David Fincher’s The Killer), Page who did the (CIA) spy thing in the woeful The Gray Man, and the clever meta casting of Harris with her Bond bona fides – she was Craig’s Moneypenny – and 007 #4, Pierce Brosnan, as agency director Arthur Stieglitz. The first dinner scene sets the table (rimshot, please) for the intricate plotting and ambiguous motivations to follow, most of which feel as vintage as Blanchett’s fabulous wardrobe. Through it all there are the requisite dark corners, shadowy doors and imposing high angles, all precisely photographed by cinematographer “Peter Andrews” – who’s just Soderbergh shooting for himself.
Which is not to say there isn’t a little bit of action – if you can call typing satellite coordinates, ultra-high tech lie detector tests and walking to a park bench action, but it’s a lovely change of pace to make most of it come from George figuring out where the loyalties lie and the betrayals are coming from. And how to reconcile a potential clash between his job and the love of his life. Fassbender is strangely… warm? Approachable? Human in Black Bag, and it’s a good look for him, one he doesn’t often expose. All that and he still gets to be the smartest guy in the room.