Michael Fassbender Is a Killer in Crisis (Again)

It’s time for another foray into the heart-pounding world of international espionage and domestic discord in the new trailer for Mr. and Mrs. Smith I mean True Lies I mean director Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag. Okay, it’s not the most novel territory for a spy thriller. We’ve seen Michael Fassbender play an assassin at a crossroads before, and we’ve seen Pierce Brosnan as a suave intelligence agent a number of times, and we’ve definitely seen Cate Blanchett rock a brunette wig full of deception and Machiavellian ambition. But have we seen all these ingredients mixed at once? The movies are back, baby!

Not so secretly infiltrating theaters on March 14 (just two months after Soderbergh’s other 2025 film, Presence, comes out), Black Bag follows Fassbender as George Woodhouse, a spy who faces a test of loyalty when his wife Kathryn (Blanchett) is suspected of a terrorist threat that could kill thousands. Other cast members include Regé-Jean Page, Marisa Abela, Naomie Harris, and Tom Burke. David Koepp, who wrote the script for Soderbergh’s 2022 Zoë Kravitz–starring thriller Kimi, wrote the screenplay.

Based on the trailer, it’s safe to say we can expect plenty of car explosions, guns being pointed directly at the camera, and incredulous philosophical questions about the slippery nature of trust. The one thing the trailer doesn’t promise? The eponymous black bag! Blanchett’s handbag in the opening shot looks gray, or maybe even beige. I do not trust her!!

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