Don Reviews "Black Bag"

The game of chess actually has its origins from India, and the second book ever printed in English was actually about the game.  I have always been intrigued by the game, and in learning how to play it I was fascinated that there are so many possible moves in really only forty moves.  I do understand that am not that great at it, but I will play if asked.  Even more intriguing is the concept of mental chess, and that is where Black Bag comes in.

Steven Soderbergh’s latest offering stars Michale Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Tom Burke, Rege-Jean Page, Marisa Abela, Pierce Brosnan, and Naomie Harris in the story of George Woodhouse (Fassbender), who works in British intelligence with his wife, Kathryn (Blanchett).  Alongside his teammates Freddie (Burke), Clarissa (Abela) Zoe (Harris), and James (Page), George finds out that there is a mole amongst them as they are chasing after a Russian target. As he looks deeper, he realizes that the mole may be closer than he realizes.

The majority of this film is the members of the group and Brosnan, who is the intelligence supervisor, and they are all great and work together very nicely. As good as these performances are, I would not see any nominations at the end of the year.  The cinematography is very good and matched the tone of the story, with a standout being the office they all work from.

This IS a basic spy film, but the action is only a small part of the whole thing, which really seemed to be misleading from the trailer.  Instead of a fast-moving, edge-of-your-seat story, it was more of that mental chess that I mentioned earlier with those action sequences in the trailer itself.  The plot is good, and I did enjoy the psychological aspect of the story, so I will still recommend Black Bag to those that are mystery fans to be watched at home on whatever streaming service it lands on.