PHOTO BY CLAUDETTE BARIUS / FOCUS FEATURES

If you want to make spycraft interesting, you have two options: Keep it over-the-top, or keep it quick.

The former is the more frequent choice; secret agents from James Bond to Austin Powers have entertained audiences in cinematic worlds where spies are the only dividing line between order and supervillainous oblivion.

The latter mode — spy stories as witty, fast-paced dramas — is woefully underutilized. Many films that would benefit from such an approach opt instead for self-serious pontificating; such films do little but fill time on transcontinental plane voyages.

Fortunately, Steven Soderbergh and his recent collaborator, blockbuster screenwriter David Koepp, understand how to make a movie wry and tense. “Black Bag,” a lightning-paced espionage tale, is never overwrought, even when the stakes get high. We’re mostly going to sit around the table until a traitor reveals themself. It’s no accident that one former Bond — Pierce Brosnan — is in this picture, playing a character who seems out-of-touch and decades older than his compatriots.

George (Michael Fassbender) is tasked with uncovering a mole and given a list of suspects that includes his wife, fellow spy Kathryn (Cate Blanchett). He’s more curious about the allegiances of two relatively new couples in the office: psychiatrist Zoe (Naomie Harris) and military man James (Regé-Jean Page) and grumpy spy Freddie (Tom Burke) and young tech expert Clarissa (Marisa Abela). A dinner meeting is meant to root out the truth; all it reveals is that no one’s relationship is on particularly solid footing.

Evidence mounts that Kathryn may not be on the up-and-up. George pursues this knowledge with a dispassionate sense of duty that mystifies his compatriots. Honor and country — or something like that. That’s how it seems, anyway.

At a lean 94 minutes, “Black Bag” doesn’t come close to overstaying its welcome. Koepp’s script is clever without overstretching; Soderbergh’s direction is strong but not showy. It’s the sort of solid, grown-up cinema we need.

My Rating: 8/10

“Black Bag” is now playing in theaters.