Black Bag: Twisty & Clever, but Not Quite Compelling (Blu-ray)

The Film:

Director Steven Soderbergh has had quite the amazing career, delivering plenty of films that have received not only critical acclaim, but plenty of awards attention. He first received an Oscar nomination in 1990 for Best Original Screenplay for "Sex, Lies, and Videotape," and then, many years later, pulled the amazing feat of receiving two nominations for Best Director in 2001 for his work on "Erin Brokovich" and "Traffic," winning the Oscar for the latter.

The last few years have seen something of a mix in quality, with Soderbergh delivering some low-key, decent work like "Let Them All Talk," "No Sudden Move," and "Kimi, but also duds like "Magic Mike's Last Dance" and "Presence." Now he returns for his latest feature, "Black Bag," a spy thriller that reunites him with one of his favorite go-to screenwriters, David Koepp, and brings together a cast headlined by two big stars who are no strangers to awards recognition themselves. Will a dive into the world of espionage be enough to snap his current streak of humdrum outings?

The film primarily focuses on intelligence agent George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender), who is tasked by his boss, Philip Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgård), with finding out who leaked a top secret software program called "Severus," a mission that is somewhat awkward given that his wife Kathryn (Cate Blanchett), also an intelligence agent, is one of the suspects. George invites the other four suspects, who are all in the same line of work, to a dinner party, including Clarissa (Marisa Abela) and her boyfriend Freddie (Tom Burke), as well as James (Regé-Jean Page) and his girlfriend Zoe (Naomie Harris).

After drugging them a bit to loosen them up, he tries to learn a little more by playing a psychological game, but doesn't learn much aside from the fact that Freddie is cheating on Clarissa. George's mission becomes more complicated when his boss dies of a sudden heart attack and suspicious activity starts to build up around his wife, including a meeting with a Russian operative and the discovery that seven million pounds has been transferred into a Zurich bank account using one of her fake identities. Could she really be the mole he's after, or is there more to this case than there appears to be?

As mentioned, screenwriter David Koepp has been a frequent collaborator of Soderbergh's of late, though it would be fair to say that he's more well-known for several well-regarded projects over the past few decades, including "Jurassic Park," "Panic Room," "and "Spider-Man." He also has great experience crafting twisty spy thrillers, having co-written the story and screenplay for the very first "Mission: Impossible" film from all the way back in 1996, so if anyone was going to be able to deliver a tense, compelling espionage outing, he was certainly a good choice to make the attempt.

When it comes to "Black Bag," the story is certainly twisty & clever as George goes about his investigation to find whomever leaked the top secret program, misdirecting you here and there, and providing some twists & turns along the way, but it becomes fairly noticeable throughout (and certainly by the end) that Koepp's main focus was on being twisty & clever, and not so much on telling a compelling story that would keep the audience interested.

You can certainly admire the crafting of the narrative and the way Koepp fits the various pieces of it together to form the little puzzle that George has to solve, but without taking the time to make sure that the narrative is actually engaging, that cleverness that went into the crafting ends up getting lost along the way, leading to a film that's smartly-written, but somewhat mechanical in the way it's executed.

That said, the marvelous cast was definitely up to the task of trying to bring it to life. It's always great to see two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett and two-time Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender on screen, with them playing a fascinating & formidable pair of characters. They are joined by some remarkable talent like Emmy and SAG Award nominee Regé-Jean Page, Oscar nominee Naomie Harris, and former James Bond, Pierce Brosnan. At the very least, the ensemble appears to be having some fun with the convoluted material, digging into their characters, and delivering some fine performances.

However, in the end, it all comes down to the writing, as it usually does. Soderbergh directs it with great skill, and the designs are impressive, but Koepp's screenplay is just too much of a slow-burner, taking quite a while to get a move on, and then concluding with a rather anti-climactic unspooling/explanation of events. There is quite a lot to admire here, but with its twisty plot that does little to grab hold of its audience, it ultimately ends up leaving little impact.

Video/Audio:

"Black Bag" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.39:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of excellent quality. The picture is bright, clear, and crisp throughout the film's brief 90-minute runtime, highlighting its gorgeous costume & production design. Likewise, the 5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio track is marvelous, giving you all of the dialogue and music in outstanding quality. Overall, Universal has done a great job in both areas for the film's Blu-ray release.

Special Features:

The Company of Talent (10 Minutes): A featurette that explores the cast & characters.

Designing Black Bag (5 Minutes): A featurette that focuses on the costumes & sets.

Deleted Scenes (3 Sequences, 6 Minutes)

Conclusion:

Steven Soderbergh's "Black Bag" features slick direction, impressive costume & production design, and a remarkably talented ensemble, but unfortunately it's held back just a little too much by David Koepp's slow-burning screenplay, which seems more interested in being twisty & clever than in telling an engaging story, ultimately making for a well-made spy thriller that doesn't leave much impact.

Score: 3/5

Available on Blu-ray starting today.

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