Black Bag - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

“Something's really are best swept under the rug.”

Such is the way of these things. Originally, we only received a Blu-ray review copy of Black Bag, which my colleague Mr. Russell squared away his thoughts about quite nicely. Then we were given a 4K copy too, and wouldn’t you know it, now we get to review this one again! For this review round, I wanted to step in and offer my two cents. Now, I don’t necessarily disagree with what Mr. Russell had to say about this film. After watching it through a couple of times now, I totally get and understand his more middling-to-positive thoughts about it. However, I do think this film is a lot better than his assessment. I think Black Bag is a first-rate chamber room thriller that happens to masquerade as an international espionage thriller. Void of any sort of guns-blazing sequences, the “action” of the film is two bookending dinner parties.

British Intelligence Agent George Woodhouse (Fassbeder) has been given a list of five names, people who possibly made off with a covert weapon designed to destabilize an enemy’s nuclear reactor capabilities. While that weapon may be all well and good on paper, in practice, it’d cause massive radiation contamination, killing thousands of innocent people in the process while destabelizing an enemy government. If that wasn’t enough pressure for George, the list of names is his close friends within the Circus - including his wife, Kathryn (Cate Blanchett). To suss out the identity of the mole, George is going to have a little dinner party. The guests include the newly promoted James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page). The passed-over for promotion, Freddy Smalls (Tom Burke). Tom’s new girlfriend and surveillance technician Clarissa (Marisa Abela) and section therapist Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomi Harris) will also be attending. Together they’ll play a little game, one where George makes the rules, and the “winner” is the mole.

I’ll be up front, Black Bag is exactly my kind of thriller. Set the stakes, get six people in a room for a party, and then watch them rip each other apart. If they're not the mole, they're going to leave the party, forever damaging their careers, friendships, and personal lives on their way out the door. If the whole film was just a dinner party where the clues unraveled with each course, I would still be sitting on the edge of my seat, ready for every twist and turn. It’s the small, seemingly innocuous moments that matter most. Those slight turns of phrase that make you ask, “Why did this person say this thing that way?” “Why did they do that particular thing?” I love that kind of thriller. I love it in Black Bag because you quickly realize that’s exactly what George is doing at all times. He's constantly watching and assessing his friends and enemies. 

While I can see some of the criticisms of some of the red herrings, I look at a lot of those as assets to the plot and the key characters. To put a point to it, Fassbender’s George is a meticulous personality; he sees everything and therefore knows all. The tell that George is already calling “checkmate” before the game is even played is when he’s prepping dinner, and he accidentally sloshes a little sauce on his cuff. It’s a small splash, no one else would have noticed, but George takes a moment to end a personal conversation to change his shirt. That conversation doesn't matter anymore because he knows they're not a threat. It’s those small details that make Black Bag crackle. In my estimation, anyway. 

I also loved that this film understood the value of less is more. There’s a slew of deleted scenes and scene extensions that aren’t only needless, but would absolutely give away the show. I like that Soderbergh and Koepp kept this plot straight and narrow enough to trust the audience’s intelligence without spoon-feeding the importance of certain details. Too often, a smart thriller is undermined by dumbing things down so the nitwits with their phones out can keep up. Black Bag isn't catering to those people and is the better for it. And, at a remarkably swift 94 minutes, it moves breathlessly along, unraveling the plot and twists without feeling shortchanged. It sets the dinner table, lets you eat, and then you go home. At a time when movies just don’t seem to know when the hell to end or edit, Black Bag is a refreshing change of pace. 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
Black Bag joins the 4K conversation with a two-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital release from Universal. The 4K is pressed on a Region Free BD66 with a Region Free BD50 pulling in the 1080p. Both discs are housed in a two-disc black case with identical slipcover art. The discs load directly to a static image main menu with basic navigation options.

Black Back in 2160p with HDR10 is something of a case of the film looking as excellent as Soderbergh and his longtime “cinematographer” wants it to look. Clarity in one shot can be razor sharp and detailed. In other shots, the edges can be soft and nondescript, or even almost the entire image, save for one central object or person. Is that person or object important top the moment, or is that as much of a misdirect? Visually, it might not seem like a whole lot is happening in some scenes, but that’s part of why you pay attention right through to the big reveal. One thing I loved about this film is the color choices. When we’re at home with George and Kathryn, it’s a darker, more golden/amber view with deep shadows. When the couple is at work, it’s brighter, colder, and more clinical. When George goes fishing, he’s surrounded by trees and open sky, and the image exhibits more natural hues. Through it all, the HDR10 grading scales these location differences perfectly. While some of the lighting choices may skew primaries, it’s not out of the ordinary or an entirely artificial appearance. Actually, compared to the Blu-ray, I felt like there was more subtlety and nuance to the coloring and black levels/shadows, giving the image a more attractive look. It might not be the biggest leap from format to format, but I'd certainly tip the 4K as the stronger option.

On the audio side, this 4K disc shares the same impressive Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track as the Blu-ray we previously reviewed. Front to back, I thought it was an excellent mix for what this film sets out to achieve. No need for a big, huge, expansive, and active mix if the scene doesn’t call for one. More often than not, it’s making the most of some very tight confines. Dialog is carried through without issue, and that’s what matters most here.

Bonus features are the same for both discs, and unfortunately, it’s a rather anemic lot. The featurettes are insightful to a point, but they’re all so brief you don’t really glean a hell of a lot of information about the production beyond the basic EPK-type materials. The deleted scenes run over six minutes, and most of them are extensions. Like I said in the main review, these are wise cuts, a lot of audience plot hand-holding “IN CASE YOU DIDN’T GET IT” sort of explanations of what we just saw in case that was the moment someone decided to look up from their phone and ask “what just happened, I missed it.”

Black Bag is my kind of thriller. Firmly rooted within the spy genre, at its heart, it's also a Christie-style chamber room thriller by way of John le Carré where anyone at the table could be the hero or the enemy. Finding out the true nature of anyone all boils down to paying attention to the actors and how they play their characters. I was riveted for 94 minutes. I wanted more, but was grateful that “more” wasn’t arbitrary nonsense that wouldn’t have made a difference. Really, the only “twist” I wanted to see that wasn’t delivered was that George and Kathryn’s last names. I was ready for their mailbox to read “Smiley,” but that didn’t happen. I will forever kick myself for being too busy and not seeing this film in theaters. I will atone for that by getting anyone in front of this film that I can. On 4K, we get a lovely presentation with some distinct flairs for location. The HDR10 transfer manages it all perfectly while the TrueHD audio mix keeps our focus on every spoken word. Bonus features aren’t a whole lot to speak of, but it’s interesting to see how some wise trims and cuts to certain scenes made for a better film. Might not be a film for everyone, but I enjoyed the hell out of Black Bag, Highly Recommended