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After failing to make a significant amount of money at the box office, Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett’s critically acclaimed Black Bag deserves a boost in viewership now that it’s available on streaming. Critics had a lot of praise to give the film, the bulk of which was aimed at Black Bag’s cast. Aside from Blanchett and Fassbender, the movie also scores big points with Pierce Brosnan’s relatively brief role, as well as scene-stealing performances by Tom Burke and Marisa Abela. Between the lot of them, Black Bag’s record-breaking 96% Rotten Tomatoes score is well-earned.
But there’s a lot more to the film than just its headliners. David Koepp of Jurassic Park and Mission: Impossible fame put together an excellent script, penning a spy thriller that maintains viewer engagement from end to end without requiring excessive violence to keep things interesting. The film seems to care almost more about its characters’ motivations than about the core mystery, which pays off rather provocatively with some of the reveals in Black Bag’s ending, up to its vert last line. Now, those who missed it in theaters can enjoy it from their own couch.
Michael Fassbender & Cate Blanchett’s Black Bag Is Now Streaming On Peacock
The Acclaimed Caper Can Now Be Watched From Home
Universal Pictures was responsible for Black Bag’s international release, with their unit Focus Features in charge of releasing the film domestically in the United States. It therefore follows naturally that NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock holds the rights for Black Bag’s streaming release. There aren’t an exceptionally high number of recent movies like Black Bag, so Steve Soderbergh’s intriguing tale of espionage and treason is an extremely welcome addition to the service.
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At 94 minutes, Black Bag runs a lot shorter than the majority of other movies in its genre. Fortunately, Koepp’s exquisitely tight screenplay wrings the most story possible out of nearly every page. Black Bag primarily focuses on Fassbender’s George Woodhouse, a counterintelligence agent for MI6. George is tasked with finding out who’s responsible for the treasonous sale of a software program known as Severus, with Blanchett’s Kathryn (George’s wife) topping the list of suspects. As George unravels the mystery, every single suspect begins to play increasingly vital roles in the movie’s twist-laden story.
Black Bag Received Rave Reviews, But It Didn’t Do That Well In Theaters
It Didn’t Even Make Back Its Budget At The Box Office
Image via Focus Features
Despite accruing a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes thanks to its overwhelming success with critics (and a lower yet still respectable audience score of 70%), Black Bag’s box office performance left quite a bit to be desired. Soderbergh shot the movie with a budget of between $50 million and $60 million, but Black Bag’s box office fell extremely short of turning a profit with only $38.4 million in revenue. That’s a bit higher than primary competitor Novocaine’s earnings of $33.8 million, but Novocaine also had a much lower budget to recuperate.
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Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh addresses his $36 million box office disappointment and the reasons behind its unfortunate failure.
Soderbergh was rather vocal about his disappointment over the movie’s box office failure. He had previously revealed that Koepp already had ideas for a Black Bag sequel, and the movie sets up its continuation subtly but effectively. Unfortunately, the chances of Black Bag receiving a follow-up movie were largely contingent on the first film’s success. If there’s a silver lining to the situation, it’s that Focus seemed relatively confident that the movie would still become profitable upon home release. Whether their assumption was correct remains to be seen.
Why Black Bag Is Worth Watching Now That It’s On Streaming
Blanchett Came Back From Borderlands In A Big Way
There are plenty of people who might have loved to see Michael Fassbender as James Bond, but he plays an arguably more intriguing role in Black Bag. George isn’t a man who solves his problems with bullets and exploding pens, nor is his wife. George and Kathryn’s relationship informs the movie’s events to an extremely large degree, to the point that their love for each other is instrumental to a secret plan enacted by two characters that isn’t fully explained until the film’s climax. And while Blanchett seemed largely disinterested throughout Borderlands, her talent’s on full display here.
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Aside from the compelling story and excellent performances, the movie is also full of individually memorable scenes. Michael Fassbender’s polygraph scene particularly springs to mind, as does Pierce Brosnan eating a live fish. Black Bag is also bookended by two vital dining room scenes in which the entire main cast aside from Pierce Brosnan are able to showcase their powerfully absorbing onscreen chemistry as a group. It feels like a totally unique experience compared to most spy capers, and those who choose to watch it now that it’s available for streaming are unlikely to regret their decision.
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