Rise, fall and (very quiet) return of Michael Fassbender

The rise, fall and very subtle resurrection of Michael Fassbender is one of Hollywood's most curious modern mysteries.

- Adam White, The Independent

A fearless performer, two-time Oscar nominee and auteur magnet, then the star of some of the very worst films you saw in 2016 and 2017, Fassbender had a movie career that burnt bright, fizzled fast, and defied simple explanation. 12 Years a Slave. Shame. Steve Jobs. The Snowman? Less perplexing was the allure he had as a name-above-the-title film star: grit, danger, charisma; the scrappy, scruffy Irish roguishness that formed the blueprint for our present-day Mescals and Keoghans. Then, as if a trapdoor had opened up beneath him, he seemed to vanish without a trace.

And now, just as quietly as he left, Fassbender is back. Ish. Black Bag, a slight, slinky thriller from Steven Soderbergh, is in cinemas this week and stars Fassbender as one half of a pair of married spies. The other is played by Cate Blanchett, an actor who — much like her on-screen husband — has always embodied a chic, slightly distant elegance. For Fassbender, the role arrives on the heels of another slight, slinky thriller: David Fincher’s The Killer, a Netflix film that seemed to evaporate upon impact in 2023. Fassbender’s other new work has done much the same. The risible 2023 football comedy Next Goal Wins from director Taika Waititi, for one, and last year’s Paramount+ drama The Agency, a TV series about espionage that was about as anonymous as its title.