7 best movies to watch if you like Black Bag

Steven Soderbergh’s 2025 spy drama Black Bag boils the espionage thriller down to a 93-minute marital conflict: a husband ordered to find a traitor in British intelligence realizes the main suspect is his wife.

The film mixes marital distrust, bureaucratic suspicion, sharp dinner-party questions, and a top-secret software program code-named “Severus,” leaving genre fans wanting more stories where love, loyalty, and national security overlap.

Below are seven selected titles that reflect Black Bag’s interest in spies hiding secrets from partners, missions based on betrayal, and spy work done through quiet talks rather than action scenes. Each title echoes the charged blend of romance and espionage that lingers after Black Bag ends.

Disclaimer: The following movies are ranked in no particular order. This article solely contains the writer’s opinion.

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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and 5 other must-watch spy thrillers for Black Bag fans

1) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) (Image via Netflix)

John le Carré’s Circus faces a quiet threat when Control (John Hurt) suspects a Soviet mole in the top levels of MI6. Sent into hiding, experienced agent George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is brought back secretly to review old files and conduct discreet interviews until he identifies the traitor.

The story is more an examination of British men during the Cold War than a chase, showing how social ties can hide betrayal better than any fake name. Director Tomas Alfredson’s cold direction makes every pause, cough, and light of a cigarette seem like a clue.

It mirrors Black Bag’s focus on small signs during tense meals. While Soderbergh uses marriage as a tool, le Carré uses the organization: doubt spreads slowly until partners avoid eye contact.

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2) Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) (Image via Netflix)

A suburban couple’s routine problems turn into gunfights when they learn both are secret killers hired to take out each other. John (Brad Pitt) and Jane (Angelina Jolie) wreck their perfect home with weapons and hard truths in the middle part, then join forces against the groups that turned their marriage into a trap.

The story looks like fun action on the surface, but its heart matches Black Bag: how do you question the person who knows your habits and secrets? Director Doug Liman’s film uses everyday home life, like dishwashers, meal plans, and hidden weapon cases, until the couple's boredom feels as dangerous as bombs.

While Black Bag uses drugged drinks and talk traps, Mr. & Mrs. Smith turns the same doubt into fight scenes; both see pillow talk as the closest kind of spying.

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3) The Bourne Identity (2002)

The Bourne Identity (2002) (Image via Netflix)

A man with amnesia and bullet wounds (Matt Damon) is rescued from the sea by fishermen, not knowing he is the CIA’s $30 million secret project.

As skills return, like languages, fighting, and escapes down embassy stairs, Jason Bourne tries to learn his past while Deputy Director Conklin (Chris Cooper) works to erase the agent he created. The deadline is not a cyber tool but Bourne’s own mind: if he remembers everything, the agency that controls him loses power.

Director Doug Liman’s fast-paced, shaky-camera style seems different from Black Bag’s still table tension, but both see identity as secret information. Just as George checks Kathryn’s accounts and travel records, Bourne searches bank boxes and city apartments, surprised by the killer in himself.

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4) Casino Royale (2006)

Casino Royale (2006) (Image via Amazon Prime Video)

Daniel Craig’s direct Bond gains his 00 status with two kills in Prague, a traitorous contact, and his treacherous section chief, then joins a big poker game against banker Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), who works for terrorist groups.

When Bond loses the money limit, he is staked by CIA agent Felix Leiter, while Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) manages the funds, and soon his feelings. It starts with bold confidence but ends in a flooded Venice building where 007 learns love can be a trap set by the enemy.

Director Martin Campbell’s series restart is like Black Bag with suits and chases: both start knowing that government killers can still get hurt emotionally. The torture scene, where Le Chiffre strikes Bond with a rope, mirrors Black Bag’s drugged dinner—close, shameful, and meant to expose what machines can’t: real emotion.

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5) Three Days of the Condor (1975)

Three Days of the Condor (1975) (Image via Amazon Prime Video)

CIA analyst Joe Turner (Robert Redford) comes back from lunch to find his six coworkers shot in their New York office. Marked as a suspect by his bosses, Turner takes photographer Kathy Hale (Faye Dunaway) as a hostage for safety while figuring out why a report on Middle East oil led to the attack.

As cold weather closes in on the city, every phone booth is a risk, and every normal person could be a hired killer. Director Sydney Pollack’s film, after Watergate, shows the same trapped fear that Soderbergh uses in a London home: when the agency cannot be trusted, a relationship becomes protection and problem.

Turner’s honest talk to win Kathy over matches George’s plan to drug the suspects, using openness to stay alive.

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6) The Good Shepherd (2006)

The Good Shepherd (2006) (Image via Amazon Prime Video)

Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) leaves Yale to write for OSS spy work, helping build the CIA from World War II to the Bay of Pigs. Driven by secrecy, he gives up his wife, Margaret (Angelina Jolie), and son for the country's needs, only to see the agency grow into something that destroys its own people.

Robert De Niro’s long story says the biggest loss in spying is not field agents, but the spy’s ability to feel normal warmth. Screenwriter Eric Roth’s script shows betrayal passed down in families: Edward’s son unwittingly leaks sensitive information tied to his father’s operations.

It echoes the generational suspicions hinted at in Black Bag’s marital tensions. Director Robert De Niro’s dull colors of coats and files match Soderbergh’s plain London rooms, both avoiding flash to show emotional damage.

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7) Haywire (2011)

Haywire (2011) (Image via Netflix)

Freelance agent Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) is framed after a Barcelona rescue job that turns out to be part of a setup. Chased by old bosses through Dublin streets and New York snow, she goes after the company leader who wanted her dead to cover up a politically sensitive murder.

Steven Soderbergh’s action film, which features real fights, is shot like an ad, and shows his interest in details, from money scams to fight moves. Director Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire, preceding Black Bag, highlights the director’s themes: both use normal places, such as hotels, homes, and bars, as question spots until a cup of coffee becomes a weapon.

Mallory’s final confrontation with her ex on a beach echoes Kathryn’s gun move; each woman takes back control when the men who planned her end see she has changed the story.

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Final thoughts

Black Bag works by packing spy themes like identity, loyalty, romance, and money into a small marriage space. The seven films above spread that tension over years, places, and styles, but each holds the key spy element near: a close relationship under pressure.