Written by: Sky Cummings
As someone who spent much of her formative years glued to the James Bond franchise, I thought I had the spy thriller category figured out. Enter Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag (2025), a film of only ninety-three minutes that quickly made me realize the untapped potential of the genre. A whodunit dinner party and espionage thriller rolled in one, Black Bag takes the audience through a total chess match of a spy movie.
Without giving away any spoilers, a quick briefing: George Woodhouse, a British intelligence officer, is tasked with uncovering a mole within his own agency. The case takes a personal turn when his wife, Kathryn St. Jean, becomes one of the prime suspects, alongside a few of their charming coworkers. So, what does any self-respecting spy do when faced with potential betrayal by a friend or partner? He throws a dinner party! George and Kathryn invite all the current suspects and their partners over for a meal that devolves into a tense psychological game, testing the boundaries of security and fidelity. As the night progresses, you’ll find yourself wondering: can a spy ever truly trust anyone? Especially the person they sleep next to every night? Probably not, and that’s where the black bag comes in. Anything your partner shouldn’t know, just stuff it in the black bag, lock it up tight, and pretend it doesn’t exist – until, of course, it comes back to haunt you. “Darling, why are you going to Zurich on Wednesday?” Black bag. Done.
What struck me most about Black Bag is how it flips the script on the typical spy genre. Gone are the over-the-top brawls, gunfights, and car chases (well, there’s a distant explosion or two). The real weapon of choice? Secrets. The casualties are measured less in body counts and more in trust. Soderbergh cleverly keeps the audience in the dark, limiting our knowledge to what George knows in the moment – because, let’s face it, we’ll never have the same knowledge or access as George or Kathryn. I appreciate that commitment.
At the heart of Black Bag is truth, or rather, the lack of it. George – who, as you quickly learn, isn’t the biggest fan of liars – takes his investigation to the next level by employing a polygraph. (I, for one, am now curious about how to beat one). The only lies he seems willing to tolerate? Kathryn’s, of course – no doubt the result of decades of devotion and loyalty that can only be developed in marriage. Black Bag fearlessly dives into the ways in which partnerships and friendships complicate work matters, even up to the level of intelligence officers.
Black Bag is stylish, cerebral, and simmering with tension. George and Kathryn (my new romantic ideal…sorry James and Madeleine) have an uncanny ability to turn every conversation into a psychological minefield. Their relationship, along with those of their colleagues, lead viewers to ask themselves if personal relationships should impact occupational performance. By the end of the film, however, it’s clear that it doesn’t really matter where you stand on that question – the simple truth is that they do.
Soderbergh has crafted a film that’s both a love letter and a touchstone to the spy genre. It sets a new standard for directors, reminding us that cleverness and creativity should take precedence over flashy gadgets and convoluted plots. Black Bag is not just a film about spies – it’s about relationships, trust, and the terrifying possibility that the person you love most might just be the one holding the knife. So, what’s in your black bag?
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