Black Bag

Following January’s haunted-houser Presence, this is Steven Soderbergh’s second 2025 team-up with screenwriter David Koepp, and this one’s an absolute gas: a zippy, London-set spy yarn about the hunt for a mole and the secret to a happy marriage.

Michael Fassbender plays intelligence analyst George Woodhouse – unflappable, uncorruptible, and throwback chic in Michael Caine-circa-The Ipcress File thick-rimmed glasses and turtlenecks. His George has a job to do – hunt down a leak – and it’s a grim task, considering the list of five suspects includes George’s beloved wife, fellow spy Kathryn (Blanchett). We meet the rest of the suspects in short order when George sneakily invites them over for a Sunday roast. It’s the dinner party from hell – couples counseling meets Spy vs. Spy – and oodles of fun, watching this terrific clutch of UK actors trade verbal wits and occasional blows.

Soderbergh – still a directing, editing, and shooting triple threat, and still vibing effortless cool no matter what genre he turns his hand to – is smart to keep things moving at a brisk clip; if the film slowed down, I suspect it might expose a certain thinness to the plot. But at a silkily dispatched hour and a half, Black Bag is perfectly portioned and entertaining as all get-out.