The Courier (2020) Review

 

The Courier (2020)

The Courier follows businessman Greville Wynne, who is recruited by the CIA and MI6 to act as a courier for a Soviet officer to prevent the Cuban Missile Crisis and nuclear warfare amidst the Cold War.

One of the hardest aspects of movies set in the Cold War era is capturing the action and tension of time where there was lots of tension but no action. The Courier manages to nail both well though, showing the dangers of being a spy in a place where anyone could be listening (and where you would likely get shot on the spot for conspiring against Soviet Russia).

Much of the focus is on the relationship between Wynne and Soviet spy Oleg Penkovsky, a partnership that quite literally prevented nuclear war thanks to the stream of information passed from Penkovsky to Wynne. As far as true stories go, it was relatively accurate and thrilling, which is always a win. It was also surprisingly dark, becoming a pretty hard watch in a second half that included both men getting captured, tortured, starved, and forced to confront one another over what they had done, an incredibly emotional moment of realization for the two as they discover they helped stop the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The film boasts a decent cast starring Kirill Pirogov, Angus Wright, Jessie Buckley, Rachel Brosnahan, Merab Ninidze, and Benedict Cumberbatch. The pairing of Cumberbatch and Ninidze worked astonishingly well, with both actors possessing what seemed to be a genuine fascination and friendship as their characters. This is also one of the more underrated performances of Cumberbatch’s career, as he is charismatic, lighthearted, but also strikingly powerful when he needs to be (a nice change of a pace personally).

The Courier, directed by Dominic Cooke, is your run of the mill historical drama (something Cumberbatch has gotten quite good at) that never really does much to differentiate itself from others in the genre. Regardless, we get a thrilling and suspenseful true story that did surprise me in it’s deeper messages about doing what’s right over blind loyalty, which was incredibly crucial in a time where loyalty was everything.

8/10