Do you love Cold War spy films? Well then I have good news!
Greville Wynne is a mild-mannered British businessman with no connections to the government. That’s a plus. His frequent trips to Eastern Europe on business is another advantage. The two qualities make him a perfect candidate to be a spy. MI6 recruits him to be just that. Emily Donovan (Rachel Brosnahan) is an American CIA officer who assists. Greville is tasked with acting as a courier transporting classified information to London. His contact is Soviet agent Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze) — a high-ranking foreign military officer providing top-secret intelligence
The fact that this is a true story makes it infinitely more interesting. The confrontation in 1962 was between John F Kennedy in the U.S. and Nikita Khrushchev of the USSR. The Cuban Missile Crisis was perhaps the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear conflict. That’s the historical basis but this is a character drama first and foremost. The friendship between Greville and Oleg, two men from opposite sides of the Iron Curtain forged a bond that is affecting. Greville’s wife Sheila (Jessie Buckley) is kept in the dark about her husband’s activities but she suspects something is amiss. At one point she mistakenly thinks her husband is having an affair.
These portraits of history are fascinating. It’s all about the point of view. This unsurprisingly aligns with American and British interests. From the U.S. perspective and its allies of the Western Bloc, Penkovsky is a hero. His undercover operations helped put an end to the Missile Scare. However, to the Soviets and the Eastern Bloc, he was a traitor. How Penkovsky weighed patriotism vs. his moral compass would have been a compelling study. Although those ideas percolate underneath the surface, the screenplay doesn’t delve too deeply into that conversation. This is a simple movie with clearly delineated characters representing the “good” and “bad” positions.
The Courier is very much an old-school espionage thriller. They were all the rage in the 1960s: The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, The Ipcress File, Torn Curtain, The Double Man, Ice Station Zebra. They’re something of a vanishing breed these days. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies are recent examples of note. If I’m being charitable, I’d say this is less engaging. If I’m being blunt, the account is a bit stodgy and dull. It’s a decent well-acted movie with nice production values though. I’d recommend it to fans of those films.
The Courier debuted domestically back on March 19. After earning a paltry $6.6 million in theaters, it went to video on demand April 16, where it’s currently available. It got a DVD release June 1st.
7 Responses
I thought this was entertaining and shed a new light into the Cuba Missile Crisis I was unaware. I liked the performances. I would have given it a 3 1/2 stars. Slightly above average.
That’s fair. It’s certainly an interesting side note to history. It was a fascinating history lesson.
I enjoyed it. When Cumberbatch plays what he’s good at and not trying to do ridiculous accents that sound..ridiculous.. he’s very good.
Are we talking about Doctor Strange or perhaps his accent in The Mauritanian? 😉
No his accent in so many but by far the worst aggrievance was Black Mass when he tried to do a Southie. Southie is hard for Americans to do. I was at a special event for it with all the cast – except him.. luckily as everyone started laughing. But when he just does Benedict.. he can be VERY good.
I like when a true story is told that I didn’t know about. Very well acted. I thought it was a 3 star movie. 3 stars.
Turning to films as historical fact should be taken with a grain of salt. However I did appreciate its attention to a story I never knew about.