Black Bag: Movie Review

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Rege-Jean Page, Pierce Brosnan

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Soderbergh's second movie of the year offers another insight into the world of a family, the second film to do so after Presence a little earlier this year.

But unlike Presence's spooky goings-on, this one showcases a group unit of spies haunted by the fact one of them has betrayed the nation with thousands of people likely to die as a consequence.

Enter Fassbender's controlled, turtle-necked and icy spy George who's tasked with finding the mole and whose composed demeanour is rattled by the possibility the offender could be his spy wife and colleague Kathryn (Blanchett).

While it's fair to say that this 90.minute slice somehow feels langorous in pace in parts, it's a taut, twisty drama that's engrossing and intriguing - even if some of the dialogue us a little exposition-led.

While Fassbender and Blanchett feel detached throughout, the film actually belongs to Industry star and Amy Winehouse player Abela whose ambiguity the script plays with carefully and cleverly. Every scene she's in crackles with a nervous energy and her playful vibe with Fassbender's George as she needles him is a joy to behold.

In truth, all of the main cast shine in different ways, and with an "everybody lies" mentality throughout, both play the duplicitous edges to perfection.

Yet it's the script and its execution that also is the star here, with a story that chooses home soil and dinner tables for its drama, rather than globe-trotting and big set pieces and explosions.

There are traces of Agatha Christie as the slick spy thriller plays out and as the stylish edges come to the fore, the film cements its place as a movie that's a reminder that going back to basics in the spy genre is what makes it cool in the first place - and so enduring for years to come.