Latest news with #Severus
Tatler Asia
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender deliver a masterclass in espionage and intimacy in ‘Black Bag'
Dive into this meticulous spy thriller, where a British intelligence officer must confront the possibility that his wife may be behind a devastating security breach—featuring impeccable performances from Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender and more With work at the centre of one's life, it can be difficult to prioritise other relationships. But the stakes are higher when your job is to be an international spy working alongside your partner in the same field. 'When you can lie about everything, how do you tell the truth about anything?' This question forms the beating heart of Black Bag , a sophisticated spy thriller that defies genre expectations. Rather than flashy action sequences and explosive set pieces, director Steven Soderbergh delivers a methodical, detail-oriented espionage tale that demands your full attention. Every glance, every casual comment and every seemingly innocuous object potentially carries a double meaning in this world of professional deception. In case you missed it: Looking for your next summer read? Add these 7 Pulitzer Prize picks to your list Above Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender in the spy thriller 'Black Bag' (Photo: IMDB) Michael Fassbender plays George Wodehouse, a British intelligence officer investigating a devastating security breach at the National Cyber Security Centre. The culprit has leaked Severus, a cyber worm capable of destabilising nuclear facilities and putting countless lives at risk. Four suspects emerge among his colleagues at the NCSC. But the fifth and most troubling is George's wife, Kathryn St Jean (Cate Blanchett), a formidable intelligence agent. As George follows subtle clues—a discarded movie ticket, a secret meeting abroad—he faces an unsettling possibility: the person he trusts most may be the person he's hunting. Meanwhile, his relationships with coworkers deteriorate, particularly after a remarkably tense dinner party at the couple's London townhouse that Soderbergh films from inventive angles that heighten the paranoia permeating every interaction. Above Cate Blanchett in the spy thriller 'Black Bag' Above Michael Fassbender in the spy thriller 'Black Bag' (Photo: IMDB) Fassbender delivers a masterfully understated performance, his character's fastidiousness extending from his immaculate appearance to his hobbies of fishing and cooking. George is a solitary figure who allows the moral dilemma to unfold around him before reaching conclusions. Blanchett matches him perfectly, imbuing Kathryn with an air of intrigue and authority. Her performance carries an Old Hollywood flair that makes her utterly compelling even in silent moments. Photo 1 of 4 Cate Blanchett and Pierce Brosnan in spy thriller 'Black Bag' (Photo: IMDB) Photo 2 of 4 The guests having dinner at George and Kathryn's home in spy thriller 'Black Bag' (Photo: IMDB) Photo 3 of 4 Marisa Abela as Clarissa in spy thriller 'Black Bag' (Photo: IMDB) Photo 4 of 4 A therapy session between Kathryn and Dr Zoe Vaughan in spy thriller 'Black Bag' (Photo: IMDB) The supporting cast adds necessary volatility. Tom Burke's Freddie Smalls represents unrealised potential. He is a promising agent undone by self-destructive tendencies, including alcoholism and a string of younger girlfriends. One such girlfriend is Clarissa (played by Marisa Abela, fresh from her BAFTA-nominated turn as Amy Winehouse). She is the youngest suspect, whose earnest belief in the value of their work clashes with the cynicism of her colleagues. Dr Zoe Vaughan (played by Naomie Harris) is the NCSC's staff psychiatrist, tasked with keeping operatives stable while bearing the weight of their secrets. Her illicit relationship with Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page's character—a charismatic but condescending agent who views himself as the hero—adds another layer of complexity. Pierce Brosnan brings gravitas as Arthur Stieglitz, the NCMC's head, balancing questionable morality with impeccable tailoring. More from Tatler: Netflix's 'The Devil's Plan' returns: get to know the cast and players of season 2 Above Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender in the spy thriller 'Black Bag' (Photo: IMDB) Above Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender in the spy thriller 'Black Bag' (Photo: IMDB) Black Bag is exceptional for blurring the boundaries between professional and personal life. For George and Kathryn, their loyalty to each other transcends institutional allegiance. The gravity of their relationship isn't conveyed through grand gestures but through quiet moments of domesticity—getting dressed together, cooking breakfast, lying in bed. Both actors excel at doing more with less, communicating volumes through subtle body language and tonal shifts. Even the production design enhances the narrative. The couple's sophisticated London townhouse features an open floor plan that makes concealment nearly impossible. More than a setting, the home becomes a physical manifestation of the transparency they struggle to maintain with each other. Above The guests having dinner at George and Kathryn's home in spy thriller 'Black Bag' (Photo: IMDB) The film's most captivating sequences occur around the couple's dining table, where suspicion and camaraderie intermingle, and where Soderbergh's camera work brilliantly intensifies the discord among the suspects. Each character harbours different motivations and connections to Severus, creating a puzzle box that requires meticulous attention and empathic insight to unravel. Black Bag is that rare spy thriller that prioritises human psychology over spectacle. It invites viewers to explore the complexity of relationships forged in secrecy and deception, culminating in a fascinating conclusion that rewards the patient observer. This film reminds us that the most dangerous secrets are often those we keep from those closest to us. Even in a world of professional liars, the truth inevitably finds its way to the surface. NOW READ In 'Nosferatu', true horror lies within the human Jericho Rosales and Janine Gutierrez are stealing the spotlight as the most talked-about 'It' couple in town How Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners' raises the bar for the horror genre
Chicago Tribune
13-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
‘Black Bag' review: Workplace romance goes rogue in a witty spy game starring Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett
What's a dinner party among spies really like? Is even the smallest of small talk fraught with deception? Does anyone dare mutter a single un-strategic comment about the food? Not once but twice, as strategic bookends, director Steven Soderbergh's sleek, droll guessing game 'Black Bag' drops us into an intimate gathering at an elegant London townhouse. Around the dining room table are six coworkers, employed by the British intelligence agency MI6. The hosts, George and Kathryn, have their reasons for this dinner event, though it's George's show tonight. He's the one who adds a smidgen of some sort of truth drug to his chickpea curry recipe in order to learn what he needs to know. What he needs to know is the thing on which writer David Koepp's plot depends. A mole within the agency has slipped a top-secret cyber worm, code name Severus, to the Russians. It's a potential geopolitical nightmare. Who's the mole? Is it Zoe (Naomi Harris), the coolly observant agency psychiatrist whose lover is intelligence agent James (Regé-Jean Page)? Or is it agent Clarissa (Marisa Abela), who appears to be a little sweet on George, while currently sleeping with another suspect on George's list, the brash, sloppy Freddie (Tom Burke)? No one's immune from suspicion, not even Kathryn, who has a way of smiling and purring through her answers to anyone's questions. She and George seem a little too perfect for each other. Their 'flagrant monogamy,' as one character characterizes their marriage, sets the house of Woodhouse apart from the riskier sex lives of their cohorts. From there, 'Black Bag' follows George as he follows Kathryn's whereabouts, remotely, as she conducts what appears to be a routine assignment in Switzerland. He's doing double duty, keeping an eye on her safety as well as her potential culpability. And in Fassbender and Blanchett, director Soderbergh benefits from a choice pair of sphinxes. Unfolding over a few days, the cat-and-mouse intrigue of 'Black Bag' sustains a dense but adroit comedy of workplace manners. It's also a performance lesson in the art of the conceal, as opposed to the reveal, and Koepp takes care to delineate everyone's smarts in different ways. A standout scene, as written, filmed and acted, pits psychiatrist Zoe against agent James, with Harris, enmeshed professionally and personally, matching wits with Page in every terse exchange. Shooting digitally — Soderbergh was an early digital convert, and once again serves as his own cinematographer and editor — the director favors a slightly queasy clinical quality in his lighting when a scene's uneasiness calls for it. In the psychiatric evaluation sequence, the light outside Zoe's office window makes it a bit hard, on purpose, to fully discern the faces in the foreground two-way interrogation. We squint a little, watching two characters narrowing their own eyes, wondering if they're hearing anything close to the truth. There are times in 'Black Bag,' its title invoked whenever somebody can't or won't talk about something because it's confidential, when Fassbender's restraint feels rote, verging on not-entirely-human. (You wouldn't be surprised if George turned out to be the android Fassbender played in his two 'Alien' movies.) As always, the actor's work holds the screen, in its precise and unblinking focus. At the same time he's giving what might be called a turtleneck performance; in the role of an emotional cipher, but a hunky one, Fassbender has a way of letting the clothes, in this case a dashing turtleneck sweater, do the heavy lifting. There's not much violence in 'Black Bag,' the result being it matters more. In their three projects together — this one preceded by the crafty, minimalist ghost story 'Presence' and the terrific, COVID-lockdown 'Rear Window' riff 'KIMI' — Koepp and Soderbergh mine their genres in their own eccentric ways. Soderbergh has had his share of hits across the decades (he and Koepp are now in their early 60s), but more and more he has less and less interest in delivering what audiences have come to expect from a contemporary spy thriller. You know. Noise. Bombast. Disposable, anonymous, soulless, jokey slaughter. 'The Gray Man,' in other words. 'Black Bag' may be modest, and frivolous, but it's sharp-witted. Every performance feels right, with several Bond alums coming and going, including Pierce Brosnan as the imperious agency director. The movie's vibe stays closer to the murmured intrigue of John le Carré than to the schoolboy fantasies of Ian Fleming. Fassbender's George Woodhouse suggests George Smiley, the spymaster of 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' and others, if Smiley took an obsessive interest in his wardrobe and borrowed big black specs from Michael Caine's Harry Palmer movies. If anything, 'Black Bag' is too short; it gets the whole job done in a tick under 90 minutes, not counting end credits. Another 15 or 20 minutes might've fleshed out the elliptical marriage at the well-hidden heart of the story. On the other hand: When was the last time you saw a movie, spy-driven or otherwise, and thought it felt 15 minutes too short? 'Black Bag' — 3.5 stars (out of 4) How to watch: Premieres in theaters March 14
New York Times
13-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Black Bag' Review: Blanchett v. Fassbender
'Black Bag' is the third movie written by David Koepp and directed by Steven Soderbergh that's been released since 2022, and it's a banger. It's also sleek, witty and lean to the bone, a fizzy, engaging puzzler about beautiful spies doing the sort of extraordinary things that the rest of us only read about in novels and — if we're lucky — watch onscreen. It's nonsense, but the kind of glorious grown-up nonsense that critics like to say they (as in Hollywood) no longer make. That's true to a great extent despite exceptions like Koepp and Soderbergh, even if they're too playfully unorthodox to be prototypically Hollywood. The filmmakers' latest duet stars Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender as Kathryn and George. Cozily and happily married, the couple lives in austere luxury in a townhouse in London, where they keep long, eventful hours working for a British intelligence agency, the (real) Government Communications Headquarters. As spies go, the two certainly look and speak their roles, or at least the fictional versions of them: They're cunning, suave and as enigmatic as the title suggests. Unlike their famed counterpart James Bond (he's at MI6), though, they put in serious face time at the office. Inside a glass tower, they watch and are watched in turn, tracking enemies and sometimes eliminating them. The setup involves an explosively dangerous threat in the form of malware called Severus, presumably named after the despotic Roman emperor. There appears to be a mole in the agency, and George is among a select few trying to identify the culprit. He has a list of five possible candidates, all of whom work in the agency's power ranks. Among the suspects is — ta-da! — Kathryn. Because this isn't a problem that George can take to a marriage counselor — even if one of the main characters is an agency shrink — he does what he's trained to do: He spies on her. It gets tricky. It also gets funny and predictably violent, with some of the sharpest, nastiest scenes unfolding across a family dining-room table. Koepp and Soderbergh are virtuosos of genre, and 'Black Bag' is right in their wheelhouse. Each has made a range of films (Koepp also directs), and they last collaborated on the ghost story 'Presence,' which came out earlier this year. If the two excel at thrillers, it's partly because, I imagine, high-stakes intrigues give filmmakers room to push norms to extremes and even ditch them. Koepp and Soderbergh's 'KIMI' (2022) is another tight genre piece that embraces and detonates conventions. Its myriad influences include films about trapped women as well as claustrophobic paranoid thrillers from the 1970s like 'The Conversation' and 'Three Days of the Condor,' reference points that also inform 'Black Bag.' To judge from George's chic glasses and turtlenecks, the filmmakers revisited some older Michael Caine movies, too. Fassbender doesn't have Caine's charms, and he's less persuasive as a romantic foil. 'Black Bag' has its share of intentionally outlandish moments, some giddily funny (there are more ticklish moments than thrills), but among the less convincing plot points is George and Kathryn's oft-stated devotion to each other. Onscreen, Fassbender and especially Blanchett have an otherworldly quality that makes them reliably interesting to watch, but it's one that can feel like a membrane separating them from more ordinary souls. They both draw you to them, but, unlike, say, Brad Pitt, they don't necessarily invite you in. Whether these nagging doubts about George and Kathryn's relationship are intentional, they work in a movie that teases you with secrets and weapons, border-crossing and misdirection, and is filled out with a note-perfect supporting cast that includes Regé-Jean Page, Naomie Harris, Tom Burke and Marisa Abela. Even as the story heats up and starts to get crowded, George remains the intrigue's central question mark. He prowls into the movie like Henry Hill strolling into the nightclub in the famously long take in 'Goodfellas,' a scene that slyly suggests that George isn't to be trusted. He may be hot for Kathryn, but there's something 'bloodless and inhuman' about him, too, as Le Carré wrote of his famous spy, George Smiley. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Movie Review: Soderbergh's sleek spy thriller 'Black Bag' crackles
If you're hosting a dinner for half a dozen British intelligence agents with the aim of ferreting out a mole, what should you cook? For George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender), who's preparing for four colleagues, plus himself and his wife, Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett), who, like him, is a high-level operative, it's chana masala with a few drops of truth serum. 'Will there be any mess to clean up?' Kathryn asks her husband as they're getting ready. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. 'With any luck,' he responds. So goes much of the crackling patter of 'Black Bag,' Steven Soderbergh's delicious marital drama cloaked as a sleek spy thriller. Lean and taut, the 93-minute 'Black Bag' is more a sizzling amuse-bouche than full-course meal, but it's simmered to perfection. George and Kathryn, as fellow agents at London's National Cyber Security Centre, don't seemingly have what you might call a traditional marriage. Each has their own secret ops, leaving large swaths of their lives off limits to the other. When George asks where Kathryn is flying off to on Wednesday, she shrugs with a smile, 'Black bag.' In the movie's opening scene – a slinky tracking shot that trails George into and out of a nightclub – an agent named Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgard) gives him the assignment to track down the mole, with the added wrinkle that Kathryn can't be dismissed as a possible suspect. A cyber-worm device called Severus that's capable of hacking into nuclear facilities has gone missing. The fate of the world, as it so often is, is said to be at stake. But, really, the state of George and Kathryn's marriage is what interests us. Extreme though their situation is, their union is one that, like any couple, is built on trust and devotion, even if their professional lives demand the inverse. When George, lying on top of Kathryn tells her he'd do anything for her, she coos, 'Would you kill?' It's a fair-enough test to the bounds of wedded bliss, sure, but her second question matters even more. 'Would you lie?' Over that dinner – a scintillating set piece around a darkened dinner table inside their London town house – we can quickly gather just how much the truth means to George. He's renown for his powers with a polygraph. As a youngster, he even brought down his own father, uncovering his affair. 'I don't like liars,' George says through clenched teeth. They're joined by Colonel James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page); the in-house psychologist Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris); the carousing spy Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke); and the newest NCSC recruit, cyber specialist Clarissa (Marisa Abela). Both are paired off in clandestine relationships that quickly emerge, among other secrets. More than state secrets, infidelity dominates the conversation. Fassbender's spook is an agent of precision. He wears gleaming black-framed glasses. When only a few drops of sauce land on his cuff, he immediately withdraws to change his shirt. Hard as it would seem, Fassbender has found a character almost as dispassionate and monotone as his methodical assassin in David Fincher's 'The Killer.' This time, though, he's not a loner. Blanchett's Kathryn is kept more at a remove from us. She's mysterious and aloof – a femme fatale, maybe, we're led to wonder. An 'aroma of hostility' accompanies her, Zoe tells her in a psych evaluation. Is she the mole? This is an insular film, taking place mainly in crisply composed interiors, aside from the lake George occasionally fishes for bass in. There, in a fitting encapsulation of a movie full of smooth surfaces with currents twisting underneath, the camera gently rests on the water's surface. 'Black Bag' follows a run of agilely directed thrillers by Soderbergh made with screenwriter David Koepp ( 'Presence,' 'Kimi'). They are both at the height of their almost-too-easy powers; the script, especially, is peppered with delectable dialogue. Their movie adopts the air of menace and suspicion of a John Le Carré novel, yet hinges on the sturdiness of its married couple, like a super spy version of Nick and Nora from 'The Thin Man" or a more cerebral 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith.' All of the supporting players – while they make up a fine ensemble – are ultimately playthings in their game of love. In a casting coup, a former James Bond – Pierce Brosnan – drops in late in the film as Arthur Stheiglitz, the head of NCSC. In his handful of scenes, Brosnan is rageful and ferocious, chomping into both Ikizukuri (prepared live fish) and the scenery. His presence both enlivens a movie already humming with the uber-cool chemistry of Blanchett and Fassbender while transforming 'Black Bag' into a twisty rejoinder to that notoriously skirt-chasing spy. Here, Mr. Bond, is how sexy monogamy can be. While directing a satellite to peer down upon his wife on some unknown mission in Europe, George explains their mystifying dynamic to Clarissa: 'I watch her, and she watches me. If she gets into trouble, I will do everything in my power to extricate her.' In her response, Clarissa speaks for everyone: 'That's so hot.' 'Black Bag,' a Focus Features release is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for language including some sexual references, and some violence. Running time: 93 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.
Associated Press
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Movie Review: Soderbergh's sleek spy thriller ‘Black Bag' crackles
If you're hosting a dinner for half a dozen British intelligence agents with the aim of ferreting out a mole, what should you cook? For George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender), who's preparing for four colleagues, plus himself and his wife, Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett), who, like him, is a high-level operative, it's chana masala with a few drops of truth serum. 'Will there be any mess to clean up?' Kathryn asks her husband as they're getting ready. 'With any luck,' he responds. So goes much of the crackling patter of 'Black Bag,' Steven Soderbergh's delicious marital drama cloaked as a sleek spy thriller. Lean and taut, the 93-minute 'Black Bag' is more a sizzling amuse-bouche than full-course meal, but it's simmered to perfection. George and Kathryn, as fellow agents at London's National Cyber Security Centre, don't seemingly have what you might call a traditional marriage. Each has their own secret ops, leaving large swaths of their lives off limits to the other. When George asks where Kathryn is flying off to on Wednesday, she shrugs with a smile, 'Black bag.' In the movie's opening scene – a slinky tracking shot that trails George into and out of a nightclub – an agent named Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgard) gives him the assignment to track down the mole, with the added wrinkle that Kathryn can't be dismissed as a possible suspect. A cyber-worm device called Severus that's capable of hacking into nuclear facilities has gone missing. The fate of the world, as it so often is, is said to be at stake. But, really, the state of George and Kathryn's marriage is what interests us. Extreme though their situation is, their union is one that, like any couple, is built on trust and devotion, even if their professional lives demand the inverse. When George, lying on top of Kathryn tells her he'd do anything for her, she coos, 'Would you kill?' It's a fair-enough test to the bounds of wedded bliss, sure, but her second question matters even more. 'Would you lie?' Over that dinner – a scintillating set piece around a darkened dinner table inside their London town house – we can quickly gather just how much the truth means to George. He's renown for his powers with a polygraph. As a youngster, he even brought down his own father, uncovering his affair. 'I don't like liars,' George says through clenched teeth. They're joined by Colonel James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page); the in-house psychologist Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris); the carousing spy Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke); and the newest NCSC recruit, cyber specialist Clarissa (Marisa Abela). Both are paired off in clandestine relationships that quickly emerge, among other secrets. More than state secrets, infidelity dominates the conversation. Fassbender's spook is an agent of precision. He wears gleaming black-framed glasses. When only a few drops of sauce land on his cuff, he immediately withdraws to change his shirt. Hard as it would seem, Fassbender has found a character almost as dispassionate and monotone as his methodical assassin in David Fincher's 'The Killer.' This time, though, he's not a loner. Blanchett's Kathryn is kept more at a remove from us. She's mysterious and aloof – a femme fatale, maybe, we're led to wonder. An 'aroma of hostility' accompanies her, Zoe tells her in a psych evaluation. Is she the mole? This is an insular film, taking place mainly in crisply composed interiors, aside from the lake George occasionally fishes for bass in. There, in a fitting encapsulation of a movie full of smooth surfaces with currents twisting underneath, the camera gently rests on the water's surface. 'Black Bag' follows a run of agilely directed thrillers by Soderbergh made with screenwriter David Koepp ( 'Presence,' 'Kimi'). They are both at the height of their almost-too-easy powers; the script, especially, is peppered with delectable dialogue. Their movie adopts the air of menace and suspicion of a John Le Carré novel, yet hinges on the sturdiness of its married couple, like a super spy version of Nick and Nora from 'The Thin Man' or a more cerebral 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith.' All of the supporting players – while they make up a fine ensemble – are ultimately playthings in their game of love. In a casting coup, a former James Bond – Pierce Brosnan – drops in late in the film as Arthur Stheiglitz, the head of NCSC. In his handful of scenes, Brosnan is rageful and ferocious, chomping into both Ikizukuri (prepared live fish) and the scenery. His presence both enlivens a movie already humming with the uber-cool chemistry of Blanchett and Fassbender while transforming 'Black Bag' into a twisty rejoinder to that notoriously skirt-chasing spy. Here, Mr. Bond, is how sexy monogamy can be. While directing a satellite to peer down upon his wife on some unknown mission in Europe, George explains their mystifying dynamic to Clarissa: 'I watch her, and she watches me. If she gets into trouble, I will do everything in my power to extricate her.' In her response, Clarissa speaks for everyone: 'That's so hot.'
