20 Most Perfect Scenes In Recent Movies

12. Black Bag - The Dinner

Black Bag
Focus Features

In Black Bag, an enormously enjoyable spy thriller from the great Steven Soderbergh, Kathryn and George (Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender) are married counterintelligence agents who've been manipulated by several fellow agents, with Kathryn being framed as a traitor. Earlier in the movie, they'd hosted a dinner party where they'd played psychological games with their guests and the story concludes with them doing the same thing - things get even madder this time. 

Once the four guests have arrived (played by Naomie Harris, Rege-Jean Page, Tom Burke and Marisa Abela - what a cast!), Kathryn places a loaded gun in the middle of the table and George proceeds to ask each guest a single question, thus revealing a multitude of terrible secrets. This all comes to a head when James (Page) grabs the gun, revealing himself as the traitor... but the gun is loaded with blanks. Kathryn whips out a real gun and grants James arguably one of the best movie death scenes of the last few years. 

David Koepp's terrific screenplay and the wonderful acting from everyone involved make this a killer climax in every sense, and it's a crying shame so many viewers still haven't experienced its delights. Unfortunately, Black Bag was a totally undeserved box office bomb. 

 
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Film Studies graduate, aspiring screenwriter and all-around nerd who, despite being a pretentious cinephile who loves art-house movies, also loves modern blockbusters and would rather watch superhero movies than classic Hollywood films. Once met Tommy Wiseau.