Just about as dashing and irresistible as a 1930s matinee idol, Steven Soderbergh’s spy thriller “Black Bag” seduces and charms, a perfectly made cocktail that is as sparkly and efficient as it is enjoyable. David Koepp’s oh-so-witty screenplay meshes with Soderbergh’s sly canon; the duo collaborated on “Kimi” and “Presence” and are tailor made for crafty material such as this. That applies to its attractive cast, each actor relishing the chance to toy around with his or her castmates and doing so with crisp timing and so much panache.
Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett give off body heat as an erudite married couple employed as spies at England’s National Cyber Security Center. George is a master at calling out liars, and is an equal to Thomas Keller in the kitchen. He always looks dapper in his crisp, snug-fitting white button-down shirts. Kathryn wafts of sheer elegance wherever she roams, and is shrewd and one step ahead of anyone around her. She can smell a rat a country away. The two share a passionate love, but it gets threatened when George is told she might be a mole and could be moving around a potentially lethal cyber worm. To figure out if she’s the guilty party or if the culprit is one of their four colleagues (played by Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris and Regé-Jean Page) George throws a posh dinner party where tea gets spilled, as does some blood. The paranoia escalates from there.
There are a boatload of tasty red herrings to get you tangled up in the plot, and then there’s Pierce Brosnan as Kathryn’s smug boss, Arthur Steiglitz. It’s his best performance in a while. “Black Bag” peppers in dashes of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” as well as tastes of Hitchcock, Soderbergh’s “Oceans” romp, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and even a jigger of a John le Carré spy thriller. But never does it seem derivative or an outright copycat.
Everyone in the cast is impossibly attractive and wears fashionable threads that never have the indecency to express one unfortunate wrinkle or unseemly seam (costume designer Ellen Mirojnick’s excellent work must be highlighted) while the production design is filed with eye candy, and will make homeowners want to redesign their kitchen to look something akin to what George and Kathryn have. But what’s really so polished like cutlery about “Black Bag” — besides its wicked humor and dialogue — is how vivid and fully developed each character is. That’s not easy for a film that runs just over 90 minutes.
Its success is not just due to the sets, the fashions, the writing and the cast but also the director, who also serves as cinematographer and editor. He knows how to be playful and coy but never loses sight of the sleight of handiwork he must pull off with confidence and aplomb — just like the master chef George in the kitchen. “Black Bag” is pure movie magic, a flaming Cherries Jubilee that you can’t get enough of.
‘BLACK BAG’
4 stars of 4
Rated: R (language, some sexual situations and language
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Pierce Brosnan, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris and Regé-Jean Page
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes
When and where: Opens March 14 in theaters nationwide
