Black Bag (2025)

How much do you trust your partner? Are you a spy? Do those two questions make you uncomfortable? Love and trust form the chewy center of Black Bag's hard candy shell of pop music and spy intrigue.

     George loves his wife Kathryn and is the best at surveillance in whatever spy agency where they both work. The couple and their greater social circle have a "black bag" approach to work where any sensitive topics are left in the metaphorical bags when they are home. Then the agency gets wind of a mole with George given evidence Kathryn may be sneaking out.

     Damn it feels good to watch a violent, sexy movie for adults. The plot is deceptive enough that I can tell when it was written all four quadrants were not minded. We do not have a movie for everyone here, but we do have a movie that everyone should appreciate. The smart, beautifully playful script is backed by lovely chunks of shadows and indirect light that call forth the noir history without ever getting too dark for the censors to pay attention. All around, this is one of those films where they imply some wildness and keep it so tame that you have to imagine the clothes falling off and the blood spraying from bullets.

     Fassbender and Blanchett keep up the charade the movie presents. Early Kathryn says to George, "Darling, you may not dose our guests." Cold personas of still water drift through the performance while a wry humor and deep love and sexual passion boil beneath every action they have. Watching Kathryn's psychiatric visits, we learn her vulnerabilities that are being exploited. Without spoiling too much of the plot, we also learn most of George's vulnerabilties as he goes through the film, how he is exploited and how much he knows about the situation. 

      A date night movie for those who like movies, check it out.