Don Shanahan
THE MOVIE
For those that missed Black Bag in theaters back in March, you missed a gem of a good time. Leaning more into his “cool” pattern of the Ocean’s trilogy, Out of Sight, and Logan Lucky more than his “auteur” side, self-financing his own indie films, Best Director Academy Award winner Steven Soderberg teamed with Hollywood hit-maker David Koepp (the upcoming Jurassic World: Rebirth) to craft a gripping spy drama about renowned British intelligence agents George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) and his dearest wife Kathryn (Cate Blanchett). When Kathryn is suspected of betraying her beloved England, George is tasked by his superiors to investigate her and everyone else they work with to find the mole before an international incident comes to pass. His path of flushing out duplicity becomes a test of his loyalty to his country versus devotion to marriage.
This clandestine cat-and-mouse game boasts a top-notch ensemble of suspects and colleagues. Black Bag opens on a clever truth serum-spiked dinner scene that puts George and Kathryn in front of two other workplace couples in the middle of the investigation. One is the locquacious Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke of Furious: A Mad Max Saga) and tech specialist Clarissa Dubose (Back to Black star Marisa Abela), and the other is George’s immediate partner James Stokes (Bridgerton heartthrob Regé-Jean Page) and the office psychologist Dr. Zoe Vaughn (Moonlight Oscar nominee and former Bond series regular Naomie Harris). Throw in Pierce Brosnan as the big boss, and you’ve got a cast to die for. The highly entertaining guessing game kicks off from there.
Film Obsessive reviewed Black Bag back at its theatrical debut. Since its March release in theaters, Black Bag enjoyed critical favor and audience attention. The film grossed just under $43 million worldwide at the box office, fueled by good word of mouth and a sterling 96% “Certified Fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes. With luck, Black Bag will hopefully not be forgotten come awards season with its Oscar-worthy costume design, editing, writing, and a kicking electronic score from Ocean’s trilogy composer David Holmes.
THE DISC
The Black Bag disc offerings from Focus Features under the umbrella of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment are far and middling in the grand scheme of the film. The disc is lean without trailers and other studio-supporting fluff. However, the choicest missing piece is a director’s commentary track, and that’s surprising. Steven Soderbergh has normally been very open and active when it comes to sitting down for those stories on his other big studio titles. Considering the cast involved and the twisty story construction on Black Bag, those possible anecdotes and asides would have been delightful. Instead, here’s a quick breakdown of what is available on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K-UHD disc:
Deleted Scenes: Black Bag includes three deleted scenes. “George and Freddie Have a Chat” runs just under two minutes and brings together Fassbender and Burke for a small conversation. “Anna Calls Kathryn” is the longest of the three, stretching over three minutes, and contains a phone call after the Zurich satellite observation sequence. Lastly is a short one-minute-and-change encounter, “Clarissa Meets Dr. Vaughn,” between Clarissa and Dr. Vaughn filled with tenuous behavior. Each are small trims from longer sequences in the finished film, with no big or shocking reveals.
The Company of Talent. This 10-minute featurette spotlights the cast and their involvement. Fassbender, Blanchett, Brosnan, and a few others get their spots to discuss their preparation for the film and their interactions with each other. The congratulatory charm is on, for sure, but it’s a decent glimpse.
Designing Black Bag. One of the stylistic highlights of Black Bag is the superb costume work from Oscar-nominated designer Ellen Mirojnick (Oppenheimer). The feature goes straight to the best-looking men in suits, the former James Bond Pierce Brosnan and the woulda-coulda-shoulda 007 contender Michael Fassbender. In addition to the threads, location scouting and the set construction for George and Kathryn’s apartment are covered to emphasize Black Bag‘s goal of showing a modern, cool London that would be ripe and fitting for a proper spy thriller.
Those are the only elements that made the finished discs. Venturing down a YouTube rabbit hole on Focus Features’s channel for Black Bag, other “making-of” content was produced that would have been easy additions for a fuller disc. One can’t help feeling this disc ended up being half-complete and less comprehensive than it could have been.
