Movies

Black Bag

Garrett

May 20, 2025 — 2 min read

Synopsis

An intelligence agent is informed that their spouse, another agent, may be implicated in being a double agent. This puts him in a spot that could test his loyalty to his marriage and his country.

Review

Michael Fassbender is at it again with a stellar performance taking most of the rest of the cast to school. That makes it sound like they did bad, they didn't, but Fassbender is just excellent. Cate Blanchett is also superb in her performance. When these two are together, there is a lot of subtle acting that makes this spy thriller one of the better modern ones.

As far as being a spy thriller goes, this one is good. They do a great job of hiding and blaming everyone that you come in contact with, only for the real person to out themselves 2/3 or 4/5 of the way through. It, again, is subtle, but it is the biggest sign this movie gives away in my opinion. I enjoyed not being able to guess who it was straight away. Reminded me of Glass Onion or Knives Out.

There isn't a lot of action, in fact I am not sure the violence can be considered action, or maybe more accurately it should be called abrupt chaos. The feeling of tenseness is constant and what makes this a great thriller.

My Rating

As you can tell, I enjoyed this movie a lot. It is a bit slow at times and as an American, that bothers me. I think in the UK this would be a 9 as the acting is awesome, and the story is enriched. But I want a bit more than abrupt chaos. So for me, it is an 8. Still a great score, but could have been better.

Parental Rating

Limited visual sex, limited scenes with violence, and some language. Overall, I think both my parents would watch this. I know in the past I have said that UK English kind of goes over my parents head sometimes, but this one is on par with us and is not overtly British. The violence is graphic, but is very limited, and the story is about protect your family. I think my parents both approve.