Black bag fun to open

Spy games play more like word puzzles than football contests in Black Bag. Co-writing with David Koep, director Steven Soderberg takes advantage of a strong cast headed by Cate Blanchett in a variation of Whack-a-mole. Someone—possibly her—puts Britain’s spy activities at risk and the guy playing her husband gets tasked with finding the traitor in  the country’s Cyber Security Centre. His beloved wife? Or just another co-worker? Playing the fastidious, regimented husband, The X-Men’s Michael Fassbender stages a dinner party with suspects, ferreting out weakness and probing them without care for the pain it may cause. He devises situations designed to unravel the truth, a truth he may not want to learn if it means condemning his wife. With Naomie Harris, Tom Burke, and former James Bond Pierce Brosnan in the mix, characters prove distinct and complicated, well suited to a whodunnit mindset. Though the movie includes an explosion and killing or two, Black Bag focuses on talk rather than action tropes, inviting viewers to share the conundrum of friends and lovers whose relationships involve jobs that require not just hiding truths, but outright lying. Intelligent and perceptive, Black Bag proves well worth opening.