George Woodhouse doesn’t like liars. Shame he works with so many of them.

You see, George is an intelligence agent for the British government. A spy. And spies are in the business of keeping secrets—often lying to do so. But a spy’s job isn’t just about keeping secrets. It’s also about discovering them.

George is on the discovery side of spy craft. He’s become something of a legend for his skill in digging up dirty little secrets. He seems to know vices of everyone within his world, be they an intelligence target, a coworker or a family member.

All except Kathryn. She’s a formidable spy in her own right. A master of deception. An adept at espionage.

She also happens to be George’s wife.

Kathryn and George have a happy and committed marriage. They artfully navigate the relational pitfalls that accompany a profession such as theirs. Pitfalls that many of their colleagues have fallen into headlong. (George has the evidence to prove it.)

George adores Kathryn and trusts her implicitly. That’s why when a top-secret government weapon is stolen, and Kathryn is on the list of potential traitors, George hardly gives it a second thought. She wouldn’t betray her country, he thinks. More than that, she wouldn’t betray him. And there are plenty of other suspects.

But as the methodical George scrupulously searches for the truth, all evidence points to Kathryn as the culprit. Everything is called into question. Could his wife be a traitor? If so, does he even know her at all?

“When you can lie about everything,” George’s coworker muses about the effect of their clandestine profession, “how can you tell the truth?”

George Woodhouse doesn’t like liars. Shame he might be married to one.

George and Kathryn love one another and are committed to their marriage. (How far this commitment extends is one of the questions of the film.)

When a new weapon falls into the wrong hands, intelligence agents work to prevent that device from being used, which would result in the deaths of innocent people.

Zoe, the intelligence team’s psychologist, is Catholic. She takes her faith seriously in some ways, less so in others—for example, she doesn’t let it stop her from hopping in and out of bed with a few different men.

When someone is asked if God exists, that character responds in the affirmative. A reference is made to a “velvet Jesus.” A woman’s faith is mocked.

Unfaithfulness, it would seem, is simply standard-operating procedure for the intelligence agents in Black Bag. Nearly all of the characters we meet are cheating on their romantic partners, in some cases with multiple people. (Not to mention that the individuals who are romantically involved are unmarried, as well.) It’s a tangled web of infidelity that the film is, thankfully, content to reference rather than show. But it references those infidelities a lot and, at times, in unpleasant detail.

George and Kathryn kiss passionately, and we see them in bed together. George watches his wife as she stands in her underwear. When he apologizes, she replies, “I like it.” Someone crassly recounts a story about George, who surveilled his cheating father (also a spy) and played the recordings of the affairs he captured at a family dinner—ruining his father’s marriage and career at the same time.

Zoe and James, an intelligence agent, are involved romantically and discuss their sexual history. Two other agents, Freddie and Clarissa, are also involved while carrying on other affairs. Clarissa is attracted to George and does little to hide that fact, even in front of Kathryn. (George is not interested.)

A man says he wishes it wasn’t so easy to cheat on his wife. Another person tries to justify his affair. During a breakup, one character reveals that he’s been seeing another woman.

We see women in underwear and formfitting nightgowns. We also see a man without his shirt. References are made to sexual acts, including masturbation. There are mentions of “dirty talk,” lap dancing and erotic fiction.

The top-secret weapon that has been stolen from the government is designed to cause nuclear-reactor meltdowns. Someone tries to do just that which, in the process, would kill tens of thousands of people.

A man is shot in the head. The camera lingers on the resulting bloody mess on the wall behind him.

A woman stabs someone through the hand with a dinner knife after an intense argument. A man is poisoned and begins convulsing, and we learn later that he died. A drone strike destroys a vehicle, killing its occupants; we briefly see one of the corpses burning in the fiery wreckage. A man disposes of a body. Characters threaten each other with physical harm or death.

Kathryn asks George if he would kill for her. Without hesitation, he answers, “Yes.” She shares that she would kill for him, as well.

More than 40 f-words are uttered throughout Black Bag. Additionally, we hear the s-word 12 times. God’s name is abused six times, once paired with “d—.” Jesus’ name is abused twice. Other language includes “d—,” “h—,” “b–ch” and “son of a b–ch,” “pr–k,” “d–k” and “p-ssing.”

To foster a more “honest” discussion with his dinner guests (one of which may be a traitor), George spikes some masala with a drug. Zoe, as part of her job, inquires about the medications Kathryn is taking, including sleep aids and herbal remedies such as ashwagandha. It is revealed that one intelligence agent has used ecstasy. People drink whiskey and wine. Some take shots. A bartender prepares a cocktail. We hear that a man divulged operational details while drunk. Someone vapes.

People lie and manipulate each other constantly. George essentially blackmails a person to get their assistance with reconnaissance. He remarks that some things are “best swept under the rug.”

When someone admires George and Kathryn’s luxurious home, Kathryn tells her that it is one of “the joys of not having children.” Someone has made bad decisions that landed them into debt. It is noted that a person is tightening a part of her backside to help deceive a polygraph. A man orders an illegal dish at a restaurant, which consists of a still living fish.

Black Bag is a taut, smartly crafted thriller. The acting is convincing, the directing is sharp, and the plot is properly twisty without becoming overcomplicated. If you squint, you can even glimpse a pro-marriage, pro-monogamy message amid the deception and guile.

George and Kathryn’s sincere commitment to their marriage is viewed by their peers with equal parts admiration and bewilderment. Because of their marriage, they’re the only people appearing in Black Bag whom you could say are genuinely happy or content. Not only that, but the film shows us plenty of bad fruit resulting from their colleagues who treat fidelity and honesty as virtues to be avoided at all costs.

But while that appreciation for marriage is welcome, George and Kathryn’s shared devotion is not without red flags. When Kathryn asks George if he would kill for her, it’s not a rhetorical question. And the film is mired in pervasive sexual content that, while mainly restricted to conversation, can be vivid and crass. Speaking of conversation, harsh language litters most of the dialogue. And, as you’d expect from a cloak-and-dagger tale, the dual tensions of betrayal and violence loom large.

The agents in this film are often sent on assignments that are top secret. If someone asks where they are going or what they are doing, the agent replies with two words: “Black bag.” Those two simple words tell the other person that a topic cannot and will not be discussed.

When it comes to the movie Black Bag, parents might be tempted to use the same method with their kids. The film may not be a secret, but it’s certainly not for families.

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Ariel Ecton is a frustrated young journalist.

I mean, yeah, she’s a very young writer who has the opportunity to work at a culture and music mag that’s still actually published! And that’s a big positive. But she feels like she’s ignored at every turn. Her ideas are handed off to senior writers. And her editor and boss, Stan, tends to get all the glory if any of those suggestions grab the public’s attention.

But then something unexpected happens.

You see, there was a rumor swirling about that the eminently famous and utterly reclusive musician Moretti was going to put out a new album. He was the small-g god of pop music in the ‘90s. Everyone knows his tunes better than they know their own reflections. But it’s been 30 years!

Even Stan dismisses rumors that Moretti will show up again.

But then Moretti’s long-time publicist announces a new album release via YouTube. And he declares that there will be a very exclusive release party at Morretti’s Utah compound. Only six people from the industry will be invited.

Stan turns out to be one of them. Television star Clara Armstrong gets the nod, too; so does veteran photog Bianca Tyson; former Moretti colleague Bill Lotto (who’s moved to the podcast world); and a beautiful social influencer named Emily. Number six on that list turns out to be the completely unknown … Ariel Ecton!

How did that happen? Who knows? But Stan quickly makes it clear that he will be writing anything and everything that comes out of the trip. However, he’s happy to have Ariel tag along and take notes on the sideline. 

And that’s pretty much exactly what happens.

When they arrive at the compound—populated by hundreds of uniformed “followers”—Moretti sweeps in like a king with his sycophantic subjects. He greets the guests with his ring hand extended, but bypasses Ariel. Even during dinner the first night, Ariel gets shunted aside to what amounts to the kids’ table.

Here’s the thing, though, Ariel actually read the books and materials that Moretti’s staff sent along with the invitations. And she’s taken the time to talk to the commune followers, rather than simply fawn over Moretti like Stan and the others. She’s quietly observed people’s activities and jotted down notes. And all of that is starting to give her an unsettling vibe.

Could it be that this gathering isn’t just some publicity stunt? Is it possible that there’s something foul about this gathering? The music people gathered all have some not-so-pleasant history with Moretti from the past, after all. All, that is, except for Ariel.

And if there is something evil woven into this bowing and scraping event, then why is she here?

You don’t need an investigative journalist’s instincts to know that Ariel’s life is probably about to change.

There’s not much to say in this category other than to note that Ariel tries to make what she believes to be the right and lawful choice, despite being thoroughly manipulated along the way.

One of the books that Moretti wrote in the past focused on a new religion. He and his fellow commune dwellers call themselves Levelists. He talks in broad, esoteric terms to Ariel about the faith, calling it “the one and only holistic path to prevent the destruction of mankind.” He also mentions some practices of other religions, such as the Catholic practice of “drinking the blood of Christ” in services.

In fact, Moretti’s group practices a twisted version of breaking bread: Participants pass a small loaf of bread among hundreds of people, each taking a slobbery bite.

Moretti also speaks of creative people becoming godlike through their creations. In that way, his Levelist faith asserts, all men can, at least temporarily, become gods.

Moretti also talks about the changing state of mankind in relation to Darwin’s theory of evolution.

[Spoiler Warning] We later learn that Moretti’s actions—from his 30-year hiatus from music, to the communal nature of his followers, to the new album release—were all in service of a new religion that he plans to spread around the world.

At first, Ariel believes his group to be a murderous and suicidal cult. But Moretti points out that the scandals and other horrific things were all used to grab the public’s attention. In fact, he reveals the Ariel was manipulated into unwittingly becoming a key catalyst in that movement.

We see a photo of a naked male crotch covered by a codpiece, and later a naked Moretti doll dressed only in a codpiece. In the montage of people singing Moretti’s music, one woman displays ample amounts of cleavage and another woman dances feverishly with no apparent undergarments.

We’re shown a picture of a younger Moretti embracing a former celebrity lover (both fully dressed). The singer tells a joke that mentions the genitalia of a mosquito. He also recites a poem that speaks of a male “bulge.” A man gets a massage, and he’s unclothed except for a towel draped over his backside.

Part of the experience for Moretti’s compound guests is a “fashioning” where fashion experts dress and manicure each of the visitors. The woman working with Ariel reveals that also include an obligatory pruning of her “lady garden.” We watch Ariel’s feet as her pubic hair is trimmed by the woman and falls to the ground.

We see a number of different people (including Moretti) dance about with gyrating and thrusting hip movements. While singing a song and dancing, Moretti also caresses and kisses a woman.

Part of the Levelist faith is the practice of prying open oysters with a knife to search for pearls. We see one practitioner give himself a deep gash on his hand. Other “believers” sport healed scars. A woman is attacked and knocked unconscious (offscreen).

One of Moretti’s guests is pinned down during a massage by several large men. We then hear a small saw motor winding up as he begins to scream (we see a close-up of his face). Later we see his severed head mounted on a wall and his headless body bleeding out on the floor.

A woman is given a drug that makes her choke and gag. Later, she claws her way out of a bean bag she’s been sewn into, her face swollen and distorted. Were’s told that the drug causes all her internal organs to distend and swell. Her tongue, in fact, is hugely bloated and as she’s choking to death on it, someone touches her grotesquely distended eyelid and it explodes.

A man is shot in the shoulder with a razor-like arrow. He’s stabbed repeatedly by a large knife. A woman is dragged by her hair, and her scalp rips away. Someone is set on fire: He writhes on the ground, covered in flame. A woman’s throat is slashed open, and she bleeds out. Someone smashes face-first through a window, slashing his face and leaving him with bloody wounds.

People get slammed onto crumbling tables and thumped around. One guy is hit in the throat by a woman with sharp nails, we see him fall writhing to the ground. Barbed wire leaves a gash on a woman’s hand. Five dead bodies are sewn up in fabric body bags.

Opus’ dialogue is spattered with more than 20 f-words and a half-dozen uses of the s-word. Other foul exclamations include uses of “a–.” “a–hole,” and several misuses of God’s and Jesus’ names (including one blending of God with “d–n”).

Stan and Clara smoke cigarettes repeatedly. And we see most of the guests drinking glasses of Scotch. (Several of them appear rather inebriated.) Someone is given a drug that eventually kills that person.

A “children’s’” puppet show depicts reporters interviewing singer Billie Holiday as she leaves prison. They ask about her illicit drug use. The Billie puppet blows smoke as it talks.

A large group of people communally drink glasses of champagne. Ariel believes that many in their number are actually drinking cyanide.

All of Moretti’s guests are secretly videoed in their bedrooms and bathrooms. At dinner, when the communal bread gets to Ariel, what’s left of it is coated in other people’s saliva.

Early on in Opus, our overlooked-but-determined young culture writer, Ariel, talks about her three-step plan to make her mark: She’ll write about “fascinating” famous people, she declares. Everyone will see that she’s fascinating, too. And that trait will eventually give her the ability to write anything she pleases.

After hearing this plan, Ariel’s bestie wonders, what then? What’s her end goal? What does she want to write for? He also reminds her that her opinions are decidedly “middle,” and not actually fascinating in the least.

This brief discussion opens us to the movie’s suggestion that everyone in today’s social networking world is thinking about how to market themselves as a brand. No matter how tepid or bland our offerings, it’s the brand that counts, the movie says. A brand can lead to appreciation, then adoration, then even worship if you play your manipulation of the completely vapid masses properly.

And that’s the moral at the core of this odd little film, a story that’s one part goopy horror pic, another part social and religious commentary. At first, Opus feels like some kind of quirky satire about our obsession with celebrity. But then the story dances its way into the realm of faith.

How does a cult become a religion, it asks? When does adoration become worship? Are the important elements of faith all just properly timed and suitably publicized manipulations? Are we the unwitting victims?

Those dramatic queries make for a somewhat interesting movie concept. But much like Ariel’s middle opinions, the resulting tale is far from fascinating. And since the other half of this pic is made up of bloody stabbings, vengeful beheadings and swollen eyeball-popping gore, it’s not a pleasant movie to watch, either.

Page 3

The amount of grueling, torturous and sometimes just flat-out gross things that happen to Nate in this film is enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine. (And close-ups of oozing wounds and broken bones don’t help.) Nate is shot, stabbed, punched, kicked, burned and choked. His fingernails are pulled off with pliers. He’s hung upside down by a snare trap. No doubt he endures several concussions from all of the head trauma he receives. He loses a tooth. Someone tries to crush his head beneath a car. And Nate’s wrist is broken so badly that bone sticks out. But that’s nothing compared to what Nate does to himself.

Nate boils his hand in hot oil to retrieve a gun. Lacking pen and paper, he tattoos the address of a bank robber into his hand. He purposely punches glass, embedding the shards into his hands to act as a sort of brass knuckles (glass knuckles?). Nate breaks his own thumb to escape a pair of handcuffs. And he even shocks himself with defibrillator paddles.

Luckily, being so prone to accidental injury, Nate is pretty well-versed in first aid. But then, watching Nate administer first aid to himself is rather gruesome, too. He uses a box cutter and pliers to remove a bullet from his arm, then seals the wound with super glue. He resets his thumb after purposely breaking it. And he douses his hands, which are absolutely shredded from the glass knuckles incident, with hand sanitizer to prevent infection.

But Nate gives as good he gets, which means the bad guys take their licks, too. They’re similarly shot, stabbed, punched, kicked, burned and choked. The guy on the receiving end of Nate’s glass knuckles gets shards stuck in his eyes. Nate uses a tattoo pen on a guy’s throat to nasty effect. One of the bank robbers winds up on the receiving end of defibrillator paddles. Another is sprayed with bear mace. And Nate even uses his own injuries (such as a protruding broken bone) to inflict damage.

Sherry, unfortunately, gets pretty beaten up, too. During the robbery, one baddie hits her in the face before holding a gun to her head. Later in the film, Sherry fights back, but she’s hit in the head several more times, thrown into a pile of bricks and even choked.

Two people are shot point-blank in the head, killing them. Several cops and security guards are shot and killed by the robbers. A detective almost bleeds out from a gunshot wound to the gut, but she survives.

One of the bank robbers has booby-trapped his home; Nate, Roscoe and another robber are all injured by these traps. The criminals threaten many people and use violent force. A few people are knocked unconscious. One thief tries to torture Nate, who feigns pain to buy Roscoe some time.

We see several high-speed chases, one of which ends in a crash.

A detective kicks Roscoe to the ground to handcuff him, prompting Roscoe to request a “no-kicking policy.”

This film also touches on the topic of self-harm. We see several scars on Sherry’s stomach from self-inflicted wounds. She tells Nate that she attends group therapy. And she explains to him that some attendees (like her) cut themselves, while others have suicidal thoughts.

Nate recounts how as a child, he once impaled his foot on a nail and didn’t realize until after his shoe had filled with blood. We see him burn his hand badly after spilling some hot coffee. Characters play a violent online video game.

[Spoiler Warning] When it’s all said and done, Nate is told that he suffered a heart attack, brain hemorrhage, massive blood loss and several third-degree burns in the course of trying to save Sherry. He winds up in a full-body cast with multiple skin grafts, and he has to be put in a medically induced coma for a few weeks, too. But he survives and makes a full recovery.

Page 4

Messala says he has dreamed of commanding a garrison since he was a boy. His whole life has been that of a Roman soldier, conquering other nations. He tells Judah that he doesn’t desire violence; however, his whole purpose in Judea is to crush the Jewish rebellion. Judah realizes that if he gives up the leaders of the Jewish rebellion, Messala will mercilessly kill them. So when Judah refuses to help, Messala finds a way to have Judah arrested and tortured, eventually giving Judah what he believes is a death sentence (though Judah survives).

Elsewhere, Judah fights against Roman soldiers. One soldier is knocked off a staircase during this exchange. Others are choked, knocked unconscious and otherwise hit. Judah receives a bloody lip. He makes his way to Messala, threatening him with a spear. But Messala warns Judah that if he kills him, Judah’s mother and sister will be executed on crosses right before his eyes.

Roman prisoners are tied together and marched through the desert with no protection from the sun, burning and blistering their skin. They’re denied water until after the soldiers escorting them have had a drink first. (And Judah is denied any water at all.) Soldiers whip them for disobedience and minor infractions. One man’s wrists bleed where the ropes have cut into his skin. Some prisoners have no shoes and their feet are torn up from walking over sharp rocks. When one prisoner collapses, he’s untied from the others and left to die.

The prisoners become slave rowers on Roman ships in Tyrus. They are sent below deck, never allowed to see the light of day and forced to row for hours on end until they collapse from exhaustion or until their shifts end. Rowers are whipped when they disobey orders or when they row too slowly. Many have torn skin from the chains around their ankles. The Romans make it clear the rowers are only kept alive to serve the ships. So when they go into battle, the rowers are chained directly to the boat to prevent them from fleeing—though this also means that they will drown if the ship sinks.

During one such battle, Judah is left unchained, and he uses his limited freedom to choke a guard and steal his keys, giving the keys to the other rowers. The slaves unchain themselves, but a beam falls on one man, and several others lose limbs before their friends can drag them to safety.

The ships fire cannonballs, spears and arrows at one another. Boarding parties fight with spears and swords. And one ship purposely rams another, causing it to sink. Judah joins this battle, striking a man in the chest with a spear. He shoves a torch into the face of another. And when he sees his commanding officer go overboard, he jumps into the water to save the man.

Believing the battle to be lost, this officer tries to take his own life, but Judah stops him. (There is another reference to suicide, elsewhere.) Later, they learn the battle was won, though they did lose five ships.

A chariot race takes place in an arena where there are “no rules.” We’re told many people have died in that arena for that reason. Judah is encouraged to use it to his advantage against Messala, but he chooses to race honorably.

Messala, on the other hand, uses dirty tactics. He rides in a chariot with spikes on the wheels that allow him to damage the chariots of other racers. He uses his whip against Judah, too, but Judah manages to pull the weapon out of Messala’s hand, using it against Messala.

Nearly all the racers except Judah whip their horses while racing. A Roman guard standing on the sidelines is hit by a passing chariot when it gets too close. When chariots crash (and many do), their riders are often trampled. One man is dragged by his horses after his chariot is destroyed. And when he finally stops moving, his whole body is bleeding from abrasions on his skin. Later, doctors attempt to amputate both his legs, which were shattered, but he dies before they can do so.

Roman soldiers bearing swords, spears and shields are a common presence throughout the film. They arrest a family using much force. And we hear that soldiers tortured a man until he was paralyzed. Another victim of their cruelty has his tongue removed.

A roof tile accidentally falls from a house, striking a man on a horse as he passes. The horse bucks him off, and he’s seriously injured. But he survives.

Two men talk about hunting, throwing spears at a target to show their prowess with the weapon. Someone wears an animal skin as a hat. We hear Messala saved Judah from a hunting accident when they were children.

People with leprosy are banished from Jerusalem. When two lepers return to the city, people throw stones at them. Many lepers live together in a colony outside the city, where they often suffer until they die.

Judah grabs and shakes Esther on a couple of occasions.

We see Jesus and two criminals whipped, forced to carry their crosses and eventually nailed to those crosses.