This film is equally strange for being one of the most expensive and highly produced pieces of fan fiction that completely missed the point – and also for being an incredible attempt by domestic abuser Michael Fassbender to reinvent himself as a character actor placing himself around good actors and looking blankly into space.
The plot is essentially a modern fan fiction of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) but with a complete lack of appreciation for what made the original work – counting instead on there being a lot of talking to have labelled as a psychological and clever.
Between this at The Killer (2023) I am starting to think there’s a pattern here and Fassbender is now basically on a quest to erase past with forced accolades – and Netflix is either trying to make Fetch happen or exploiting him as cheap talent.
Spoilers ahead for Black Bag (2025) and The Killer.
Weird Adaptation
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is one of many novels by former spy John Le Carré, which features George Smiley and, through him is highly critical of the notion that there is any glamorous or healthy about being involved in espionage. Smiley is the anti-James Bond. He is a short, pudgy man with glasses who seems so ordinary that even his friends who know is capabilities regularly under estimate him – who is trapped in a vicious cycle with his personal life.
Smiley loves his wife, Ann, deeply – but she’s not a spy and he can’t talk to her about being a spy and he often had to make big sacrifices which meant she was often isolate and alone – so took to having extra marital affairs – so Smiley avoids his own home for fear of running into one of her lovers. George and his colleges generally lives in depressingly relatable, rented accommodation.
Smiley is clever and devious, but socially awkward in many ways and so bad at office politics he can spin a monumental victory into a demotion. Smiley often reflects on the cost his work exacts from his own soul, is forever aware of the human cost of his work, and loathes himself for the wicked traps he crafts, assists with springing – preying on the weaknesses of his opponents or pushes his friends into giving more than they ought to.
The message is clear: Espionage is a dirty business built on deception and betrayal, it cannot be glamorous, and it corrodes the souls of those who practice it. The violence of it isn’t righteous, doesn’t make heroes and doesn’t solve anything – it just makes corpses and suffering.
Black Bag sees all that, and then asks: What if being a spy isn’t destructive to the human soul, if you’re Cool Guy™? What if George Smiley:
- Was very conventionally attractive and suave; and
- Had a wife who was both very conventionally attractive, suave and a fellow super spy (specifically a cool assassin type one); and
- They had an amazing marriage that was actually strengthened by their work; and
- Being spies, didn’t harm their psyche or have any negative side effects; and
- They could just solve problems with violence, wrapping them up in a neat bow with no long term consequences; and
- There were clear black-and-white lines of morality with the goodies and baddies.
- Actually what if everyone in espionage were hot and straight?
Essentially it’s less Le Carre and more “James Bond but no stunt budget”.
Obviously, this isn’t officially an adaptation but all the essential elements are there – a collection of spies (one of whom George has a strong emotional connection to), an obvious treason, and a need to uncover which one is the traitor. Le Carre isn’t officially credited, and isn’t alive to give his opinion.
In that way it’s lot like The Killer given in the original comic the main character is French, not conventionally attractive, has essentially the opposite demeanor to the movie and continually finding that his is not a professional where one can remain calm and methodical, and then simply walk away – like the Fassbender character does in the movie adaptation because he’s a Cool Guy™.
Overall the effect is the same, the tension and drama of the story is gone – replaced with less memorable and less engaging scenes.
This is a definite 2/2 of taking well established, complex, and interesting character then just… making them the opposite of that seemingly so that Fassbender can fit into the role. Essentially instead of casting the actor to suit the part, they’ve re-written the adaptation as much as necessary to carry Fassbender.
Proximity to Acting
The other thing that is baffling is that Fassbender, no longer able to simply stand around being cool now that it’s public knowledge he’s not dangerous in a sexy way – he’s dangerous in an actual domestic assault way – is just… not acting?
Like he did this in The Killer too. He just walks around being unemotional, not really reacting to what’s going on and we get close ups like we’re supposed to be reading the nuances of his expressions – but there’s nothing to read. It’s like he watched Nerdwriter1’s video on Sir Ian McKellen and assumed he did that too.
In The Killer he sat there idly through an entire (compelling) monologue by Tilda Swinton, essentially letting himself be carried by a much better performance playing a more interesting character and then getting “victory” because his character happens to kill hers.
In Black Bag he’s regularly playing opposite Cate Blanchett, who actually isn’t given that much better to work with but still manages to make the role her own and give it some personality, and relative newcomer Marisa Abela who also outperforms him.
Like I cannot emphasize this enough – Fassbender’s character is supposed to be the one who drives the story and the most interesting man alive – and due to the way he’s been written and the way he’s acted, he’s less interesting than a secondary character who is mostly there to be a sounding board and plot device.
This entire movie would have been better if it’d been about the Abela character. Yeah she’s a socially awkward, horny little freak but she’s relatable and interesting.
In fact actually ideally it would have killed of Fassbender at the start and then been entirely about the Blanchett character mentoring the Abeda character, that would have been cool. Netflix, stop trying to rehabilitate terrible men (presumably because their social crashes make them affordable) and make that instead.
It’s difficult to overstate to what degree the film seems to know this, and to try to work around it. There’s tons of intense close ups with Fassbender, all strategically framed to try to make him look cool and thoughtful, but very little meaning interaction with the other characters in a film that is supposed to be about him solving each of them as a puzzle.
Most amusing of all is the a sequence in the anti-climatic interrogation sequence – where we are shown a collage of scenes of him operating a very extra polygraph machine. The framing of the shots, the cuts and the focus on always trying to make Fassbender seem in control as he plays 4D chess with the parties he’s interrogating but mostly showcases how every member of the cast is a better actor.
It just makes him come across as weird.
Just stop hiring him.