Black Bag Rotten Tomatoes Debut Marks Steven Soderbergh’s Best Reviewed Movie In Over 35 Years

Black Bag

has now debuted on Rotten Tomatoes, and the score almost sets a Steven Soderbergh movie record. Marking Soderbergh’s follow-up to Presence (2024) and his third collaboration in a row with screenwriter David Koepp, the upcoming spy thriller stars Michael Fassbender as George Woodhouse, a legendary spy who must investigate his wife, Kathryn Woodhouse (Cate Blanchett), after she is accused of betraying the nation. In addition to Fassbender and Blanchett, the Black Bag cast features Naomie Harris, Tom Burke, Regé-Jean Page, Marisa Abela, and Pierce Brosnan.

Rotten Tomatoes now reveals that Black Bag has debuted to a 95% score from 21 reviews, as of writing. Though this score is sure to fluctuate as more reviews are added, it currently marks Soderbergh’s highest score as a director since Sex, Lies, and Videotape in 1989, which has a 96%. An audience score hasn’t arrived yet, but one should begin to take shape next week when the movie hits theaters.

What Black Bag’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Means For Steven Soderbergh

Will It Break A Recent Audience Trend For The Director?

Reviews for Black Bag praise Soderbergh’s efficient direction and cinematography, a strong script from Koepp, and the compelling performances. Aside from two exceptions, the positive reception to Black Bag continues an impressive streak for Soderbergh over the last eight years. The filmmaker continues to stay very busy making movies, regularly releasing new titles, and many of them have fared very well with critics. Check out the chart below of Soderbergh’s directorial Rotten Tomatoes scores dating back to Logan Lucky in 2017:

A clear pattern present in this chart is that the Soderbergh movies that earn positive reviews from critics don’t often fare well with audiences. In reviews for Presence, for example, the low-budget film was praised for its inventive storytelling from the point-of-view of a ghost and for its lack of reliance on jump scares, but a common sentiment in the audience reviews is that the movie wasn’t all that scary. With Black Bag earning a glowing score, a major question facing the film is whether it can break this trend and appeal to general audiences.

Black Bag marks Fassbender’s second recent espionage project after his starring role in the generally well-received The Agency on Paramount+ with Showtime.

Our Take On Black Bag’s Rotten Tomatoes Score

The Spy Thriller Could Be More Mainstream

One of the reasons why Soderbergh makes movies at such a rapid pace is that the films don’t often feature very large budgets; the risk per movie is generally fairly small. Lower budgets also mean that the movies tend to feature fewer special effects and less bombastic action. This could be part of why general audiences haven’t responded well to many of his movies over the past decade. It’s telling, for example, that one of his highest audience scores over the last few years is for Magic Mike’s Last Dance, which is one of his most commercial and mainstream movies.

Related

This Michael Fassbender Action Movie Could Have Been The Start Of A Massive Franchise (If Only It Hadn’t Been A Disaster)

Assassin’s Creed could have kicked off a franchise with the rich storytelling that the games have honed over years, but the movie was a flop.

At least one estimate has put Black Bag‘s budget at a hefty $60 million, which admittedly doesn’t sound entirely accurate. Still, trailers have teased that the film will have some tense moments of action and impressive production design on top of lots of star power, and this could help endear the movie to audiences. It remains to be seen how Black Bag fares with audiences, but it’s evidently off to a great start with critics.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes

Movie

My Favorite Movies
My Watchlist

Black Bag

Release Date

March 14, 2025

Writers

David Koepp

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}