Black Bag

There’s a jazzy eccentricity to Black Bag, the second of Steven Soderbergh’s films in 2025, that kept me engaged throughout. This is a film teeming with intelligence and maturity, keeping the story fresh and colorful from start to finish. The story is simple, yet the nuanced additions and contemplations create real depth, making it a film that can be enjoyed over and over.

I definitely left the theater feeling like I needed to see the film again to fully grasp the story — which is both a positive and a negative. This is certainly a “blink and you’ll miss it” kind of film. The story structure almost functions like a two-act play, with virtually no fat in its hour-and-a-half runtime. I found this compelling, though I can understand it feeling dense for some audiences.

The cast doesn’t miss a beat, and the tight, densely serious yet simultaneously tongue-in-cheek dialogue feels refreshing and challenging all at once.

Stylistically, the combination of mid-century sleek bohemian spy thriller charm blends perfectly with modern touches — AI, vape pens, your therapist asking if you’re still taking ashwagandha — creating a playground for a classic modern film. It fits seamlessly into the films of 2025, yet still harkens back to an earlier era, making Black Bag a potential timeless classic. The thoughtful blend of pop espionage and bare-bones political thriller created a story I welcome with open arms, and it deserves a high spot in Soderbergh’s filmography.