Black bag, released on October 6, 2023, takes us on a ride where every glance carries lethal potential. A bag gets swapped on a bus, it’s a thing that has happened to most people but in the black bags, this simple error spirals into a life or death situation. Tess, a pregnant woman seeking a fresh start, opens the wrong black duffel bag to find evidence implicating her in a horrific crime. When the bag’s true owner arrives demanding its return, what follows is a tension so thick you could cut through it with a knife.
WHAT’S GREAT
The acting: Rulin’s Tess is a revelation. Her fears and determination flicker across her face in real time, while Vandervoort’s Sara moves between calculated calm, feral desperation, pain and relief. Their scenes together crackle with unspoken threats.
Mind games: This isn’t just a cat-and-mouse chase; it is a brutal exploration of how quickly trust evaporates under pressure. The script smartly avoids easy villains, forcing viewers to question who and if anyone deserves sympathy.
Big ideas: Beneath the thrills lies a commentary on motherhood and survival. Tess’s pregnancy isn’t just a plot device; it is the emotional core that elevates the stakes beyond typical thriller fare.
WHAT’S NOT SO GOOD
Plain visuals: After Tess opens the bag and disposes of it’s contents, her home turns stifling, forcing her back to her mom’s. While competently shot, the film misses opportunities to amplify its claustrophobia through bold cinematography. Imagine Panic Room’s bold framing tightening Tess’s shrinking safe spaces.
Slow middle: The energy dips during the interrogation and search of Tess’s father. I feel they should have done a better job. The interrogation scenes limited to Tess and her mother fall flat with lazy questioning (every answer a curt ‘no’) and no effort to probe her father’s associates. Tess answered all questions asked with a flat ‘no’. They didn’t interrogate the people he worked with or associated himself with. The interrogation was not good at all, it was meant to have maintained a vice-grip tension.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Black Bag delivers a lean, mean thriller that prioritizes character over cheap shocks. If you crave films where the danger lives in glances rather than gunfights, where the scariest question isn’t “what’s in the bag?” but “who is telling the truth?” Though it stumbles midstride, it’s haunting character work earns a solid 6.5/10.
WHERE TO WATCH
You can stream it on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, or Vudu.
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