The second Steven Soderbergh film of the year, Black Bag centers in the world of espionage and deceit. Who can be trusted? Can the person you share your bed with be trusted, and if so, how far would you go to preserve your own life? Those are the big picture topics at the center of Black Bag, which utilizes heavy hitters like Oscar nominees Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett, alongside some talent seemingly on the right track for that same status. Marisa Abela is a standout, and it is worth mentioning that somehow Pierce Brosnan still has yet to be given a role worth Oscar consideration.

This twisty thriller uses a limited cast and a few locations to advance a plot about protecting an AI program that could be very dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands. But, when it inevitably falls into the wrong hands, it is largely up to Fassbender to determine how and who would have the means to leak sensitive information. While there are a few possibilities for him to explore, there’s a nagging feeling for the audience that his wife (Blanchett) might be duplicitous enough to have pulled the wool over her husbands eyes. All of this culminates not just in a surprising reveal, but a rather shock ending.

Black Bag is the kind of film that audio description has to fight to truly be heard, though I noticed it making a difference in a lot of non-verbal cues. Specifically, there’s a scene where Fassbender slowly pulls out a gun, like he needs to “solve a problem’, but ends up changing his mind. No one notices the gun, but I have a distinct feeling the audience did, and it supports the growing conflict within Fassbender’s intelligence expert.

This is a film that you can’t miss a moment of. The dialogue is rapid fire, and the way people gradually push and pull at each other during the back and forth are really what keeps the pulse of the film. it also pieces things together, hinting at a possible conclusion. Most of the time, people talk around something, not directly about it, so the playfulness would lead someone not paying attention to get lost fast. be ready to hit pause, or make sure you use the bathroom before the film.

I think critics have blown this up a little because of the dearth of excellent new work in the spring. If Black Bag opened in the fall, as Oscar bait, i truly believe no one would have noticed it. It only really succeeds in not being the worst of Soderbergh’s career, and better than Presence. For my money, I wouldn’t pay for another album.

Fresh: Final Grade: B, Audio Description: B