After nearly 25 years as an acclaimed filmmaker, Steven Soderbergh claimed he’d call it quits with 2013’s Behind the Candelabra. As that review indicates, I greeted Soderbergh’s alleged retirement at the age of 50 with extreme skepticism.

Highly warranted extreme skepticism as Soderbergh returned to Hollywood with 2017’s Logan Lucky. Soderbergh resumed his old workaholic ways and 2025’s Black Bag represents his tenth “post-retirement” release.

When a secret and powerful software program called “Severus” gets leaked, British intelligence agent George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) gets the assignment to find the culprit. George and wife Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) – who also works as an operative – host a dinner party with friends/colleagues he suspects.

This turns confrontational, and George sees matters take an even darker twist when he begins to think Kathryn might act as the problematic party. As George investigates further, he finds a wicked web, one furthered by his inner conflicts between his competing loyalties toward his wife and his country.

Soderbergh made a splash with his feature debut, 1989’s Sex, Lies and Videotape. Given it offered a drama about relationships, one wouldn’t expect it to boast much in common with a spy thriller like Bag.

However, Bag doesn’t exist as an espionage tale in the manner one would assume. Instead, it becomes more about the lives of the agents.

Some of that seems inherent in the concept, given that George’s conflict between love and country turns into an issue. However, the film spreads to involve two other couples as well, all four of whom also work for the same agency as George and Kathryn.

This comes to a head at a dinner party during which George uses a so-called “party game” to try to suss out the traitor in his midst. The tale tends to explore the complications of relationships among people who must lie for a living.

If nothing else, this concentration on romantic connections makes Bag different than the average spy project. As noted, the film prefers to explore these situations, so the usual thriller shenanigans often take a backseat.

Though not entirely, as Bag manages the occasional scene of tension. Soderbergh milks these well enough along the way.

Bag melds its two sides to become fairly interesting, but Soderbergh might make the end result a little too chilly for its own good. We do see the notoriously dispassionate George start to unravel a bit as his conflicts grow, but the story nonetheless remains pretty detached.

As such, I occasionally wanted to see Bag spice up to some degree. The story feels like it could use a bit more pizzazz.

Still, this becomes a minor complaint, as Bag largely develops into a pretty compelling mix of relationship drama and spy tale. Nothing here makes the flick great but it turns into a fairly solid production.

Black Bag appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Shot 8K and finished 4K, the image didn’t live up to those resolution-based expectations, but it nonetheless looked good.

Overall sharpness worked fine. The movie’s diffuse photographic style meant a few shots leaned a little soft, but they remained in the minority.

The film lacked jagged edges or moiré effects, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws failed to manifest.

Bag went with a palette heavy on chilly blue/teal and warmer orange/amber. These seemed heavily stylized but well-represented.

Blacks felt feel and dense, while low-light shots offered appealing clarity. This became a positive presentation.

As for the film’s Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack, it lacked much sizzle. Still, it seemed more than suitable for the tale at hand.

Much of the soundscape focused on the movie’s score. This meant music emanated around the room in an engaging manner.

Despite the flick’s status as a thriller, it didn’t come with much in the action vein, and this meant the soundfield failed to pack a real punch. The ambience felt appropriately involving, even if it didn’t impress.

Audio quality satisfied, with speech that came across as natural and distinctive. Though effects didn’t come with a lot of pizzazz, they nonetheless appeared accurate and clean.

Music seemed full and rich. Expect a good soundtrack, albeit one without much to really impress.

Two featurettes appear, and The Company of Talent goes for 10 minutes, 12 seconds. It brings notes from producer AJ Riach, and actors Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Pierce Brosnan and Regé-Jean Page.

The show looks at story/characters as well as cast and performances and director Stephen Soderbergh’s work. We get some insights but we also find a lot of praise for the various participants.

Designing Black Bag runs five minutes, 28 seconds. Here we find info from Fassbender, Riach, Harris, Page, Brosnan, Blanchett, costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, hair and makeup designer Frances Hounsom, and production designer Phillip Messina.

The program looks at costumes, hair, makeup, sets and locations. Like “Talent”, “Designing” mixes facts and fluff.

Three Deleted Scenes occupy a total of six minutes, 25 seconds. Two just offer a bit of exposition, but another provides a dark plot twist.

On one hand, this adds some “traditional thriller material”, and that seems like a positive in this chilly project. However, the scene doesn’t match the rest of the film so its omission makes sense.

More a relationship drama than a traditional spy thriller, Black Bag offers an intriguing mix. While it doesn’t quite fire on all cylinders, the movie keeps us with it. The Blu-ray brings positive picture and audio along with minor bonus materials. This never turns into a great film but Bag still gets the job done.