Black Bag
2025
Certificate 15 – THRILLER
Director: Steven Soderbergh
With Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender
Runtime: 93 mins
National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) agent George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) faces a challenging assignment. There’s a mole in the agency with plans to activate a destructive cyber worm called Severus. George is tasked with identifying the mole. His list of five suspects includes four of his agency friends and colleagues at the NCSC, with the fifth being his beloved wife Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett).
WHY WATCH THIS FILM? Who doesn’t enjoy a good spy story?
“There is very little in the way of action, if you were expecting that, and while it occasionally genuflects towards genre . . . its pleasures lie in the dialogue, the twists, the reveals. It all leads to a delightful Agatha Christie-style drawing room denouement, in which the rat is exposed, their best-laid plans laid to waste. Like the film as a whole, it’s deliciously, lip-smackingly satisfying.” Empire
“Deft editing, a typically smooth score from regular collaborator David Holmes and cracking cast chemistry guarantees a fun and absorbing ride, and all delivered in a taut and tidy 90 minutes.” Radio Times
“Sleek, witty, and lean to the bone.” New York Times