The first batch of reviews for Black Bag, the Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett spy thriller from Steven Soderbergh, have been shared and the movie has its initial Rotten Tomatoes score. As of March 14, Black Bag is “Certified Fresh” with an impressive 97% score.
My own Black Bag review agreed with that sentiment, but is it the same for general moviegoers?
I’m curious because the Oscar-winning Soderbergh finds himself in a strangely fascinating streak right now, one where critics and audiences are on opposite ends of whether or not they like his movies, per their Rotten Tomatoes score.
Since 2020, Steven Soderbergh has directed five movies (not including Black Bag) — Presence, Magic Mike’s Last Dance, Kimi, No Sudden Move and Let Them All Talk. In every instance, the Rotten Tomatoes score from critics and audiences did not line up.
Either the critics liked it to the point where it received a “Certified Fresh” rating, but less than 60% of general audiences gave the movie a positive score (the dividing line for the Popcornmeter fan score on Rotten Tomatoes). Or critics didn’t like the movie and the audiences did. Take a look for yourself:
- Presence: 88% “Certified Fresh” from critics, 52% from audiences
- Magic Mike’s Last Dance: 48% “Rotten” from critics, 74% from audiences
- Kimi: 92% “Certified Fresh” from critics, 59% from audiences
- No Sudden Move: 92% “Certified Fresh” from critics, 59% from audiences
- Let Them All Talk: 87% “Certified Fresh” from critics, 50% from audiences
The last time critics and audiences were of the same opinion on a Steven Soderbergh movie was The Laundromat, but in that case, neither group liked the movie (41% from critics, 40% from audiences). The last time that both critics' and audiences’ scores on Rotten Tomatoes aligned in liking a Steven Soderbergh movie was 2017’s Logan Lucky.
Now to be fair, critics have always tended to be more drawn to Soderbergh than audiences. But if you look at his resume prior to his short-lived retirement that began in 2013, he would often garner both critics' and audiences’ approval. Here are the movies that critics and audiences agreed on up to 2013:
- Sex, Lies & Videotape: 96% critics, 79% audiences
- King of the Hill: 91% critics, 84% audiences
- Schizpolis: 65% critics, 80% audiences
- Out of Sight: 94% critics, 74% audiences
- The Limey: 92% critics, 78% audiences
- Erin Brockovich: 85% critics, 81% audiences
- Traffic: 93% critics, 85% audiences
- Ocean’s Eleven: 83% critics, 80% audiences
- Ocean’s Thirteen: 70% critics, 75% audiences
- Che: Part One: 65% critics, 75% audiences
- Che: Part Two: 79% critics, 66% audiences
- Contagion: 85% critics, 63% audiences
- Magic Mike: 78% critics, 60% audiences
- Side Effects: 83% critics, 70% audiences
- Behind the Candelabra: 94% critics, 71% audiences
There were exceptions leading up to his retirement where the two groups were divided— Kafka, The Underneath, Gray’s Anatomy, Ocean’s Twelve, The Girlfriend Experience, The Informant, Haywire — but they were consecutive like Soderbergh's recent string of movies..
So how to account for this strange streak? There’s no easy answer. Audiences tastes have changed over the years; Soderbergh has gotten to a point where he doesn’t have to cater to a broad audience to make another movie. It could be one of those, it could be both, or it could be something else entirely.
But early indications show that this could streak could be coming to an end with Black Bag. As of the morning of March 14, Black Bag has a 79% positive score from audiences that have seen it. I'll keep an eye on it, but I would be surprised if it saw such a dramatic drop below 60% to continue this divide between critics and audiences.
Black Bag is now playing exclusively in movie theaters worldwide.
