内容摘要：Erin Greene, center, owner of Sup North, stands on her paddleboard in the Churchill River while leading a tour, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Erin Greene, center, owner of Sup North, stands on her paddleboard in the Churchill River while leading a tour, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

They’re joined by Colonel James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page); the in-house psychologist Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris); the carousing spy Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke); and the newest NCSC recruit, cyber specialist Clarissa (Marisa Abela). Both are paired off in clandestine relationships that quickly emerge, among other secrets. More than state secrets, infidelity dominates the conversation.Fassbender’s spook is an agent of precision. He wears gleaming black-framed glasses. When only a few drops of sauce land on his cuff, he immediately withdraws to change his shirt. Hard as it would seem, Fassbender has found a character almost as dispassionate and monotone as his methodical assassin in

This time, though, he’s not a loner. Blanchett’s Kathryn is kept more at a remove from us. She’s mysterious and aloof – a femme fatale, maybe, we’re led to wonder. An “aroma of hostility” accompanies her, Zoe tells her in a psych evaluation. Is she the mole?This is an insular film, taking place mainly in crisply composed interiors, aside from the lake George occasionally fishes for bass in. There, in a fitting encapsulation of a movie full of smooth surfaces with currents twisting underneath, the camera gently rests on the water’s surface.“Black Bag” follows a run of agilely directed thrillers by Soderbergh made with screenwriter David Koepp (

“Kimi”). They are both at the height of their almost-too-easy powers; the script, especially, is peppered with delectable dialogue. Their movie adopts the air of menace and suspicion of a John Le Carré novel, yet hinges on the sturdiness of its married couple, like a super spy version of Nick and Nora from “The Thin Man” or a more cerebral “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.”All of the supporting players – while they make up a fine ensemble – are ultimately playthings in their game of love. In a casting coup, a former James Bond – Pierce Brosnan – drops in late in the film as Arthur Stheiglitz, the head of NCSC. In his handful of scenes, Brosnan is rageful and ferocious, chomping into both Ikizukuri (prepared live fish) and the scenery.

His presence both enlivens a movie already humming with the uber-cool chemistry of Blanchett and Fassbender while transforming “Black Bag” into a twisty rejoinder to that notoriously skirt-chasing spy. Here, Mr. Bond, is how sexy monogamy can be.

While directing a satellite to peer down upon his wife on some unknown mission in Europe, George explains their mystifying dynamic to Clarissa: “I watch her, and she watches me. If she gets into trouble, I will do everything in my power to extricate her.”That September night in 2022 marked a turning point for Tesfaye. He mines the scene in

” where, ironically, it arrives too late. The tedium of an incoherent first act paints the charismatic performer — one of the last few decades’ most popular — as an unempathetic protagonist in a nonlinear and nonsensical world.But how much of The Weeknd is here, really? In his first leading role in a feature film, directed by Trey Edward Shults, Tesfaye plays a fictionalized version of himself, an insomniac musician (as made explicitly clear in the “Wake Me Up” leitmotif, where he sings, “Sun is never rising / I don’t know if it’s day or night”). He’s marred by a recent breakup from an ex portrayed in a cruel voicemail message (“I used to think you were a good person,” she says) and a hedonistic lifestyle, instigated by his superficial friend-manager Lee, played Barry Keoghan.

Shortly after Tesfaye loses his voice, a psychosomatic ailment, he meets superfan Amina, portrayed byShe offers temporary comfort and, in return, is afforded no agency. She exists for him. Soon, the uninspired horrors begin, culminating in what recalls the torture scene in