Review | The Courier movie review: Benedict Cumberbatch plays salesman turned spy in character-driven Cold War thriller
- Cumberbatch’s salesman is recruited to act as a go-between for MI6 and a Soviet colonel (Merab Ninidze) who is passing along top secret Russian documents
- Beyond strong central performances from Cumberbatch and Ninidze, The Courier offers little to elevate itself within the crowded genre of international espionage
3/5 stars
One of the most valuable assets of the Cold War, Colonel Oleg Penkovsky of Soviet Military Intelligence passed thousands of top secret documents to British Intelligence during the early 1960s. Most notable was information relating to Cuba, and Russia’s intentions to install a nuclear arsenal just 100 miles (161km) off the east coast of the United States. Penkovsky’s information proved critical to the de-escalation of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
The Courier, from On Chesil Beach director Dominic Cooke, dramatises the establishment of this line of communication as an old fashioned, John le Carré-esque spy thriller.
Specifically the film details the recruitment of Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch), an innocuous salesman with experience travelling in Eastern Europe, to act as go-between for MI6, introducing Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze) to members of British and US Intelligence and transporting his classified information out of the Soviet Union.
At the time of his recruitment, Wynne is a jovial, slightly doddering character, more partial to a stiff drink and a hearty meal than putting his life on the line for queen and country. As the stakes are raised, however, Wynne dutifully hones his skills and his physique, which in turn raises the suspicions of his otherwise supportive wife, played by Jessie Buckley.
History buffs should be well aware of the fates that befell Wynne and Penkovsky; suffice to say that the physical and psychological toll they endured appears to have inflicted significant demands on the actors as well.
Cumberbatch continues his propensity for portraying real historical figures, when not fighting crime as Sherlock Holmes or Doctor Strange, and the highlight of this competent – if somewhat unremarkable – cloak and dagger romp is witnessing his character’s remarkable transformation.
Cooke and screenwriter Tom O’Connor appear more invested in exploring the human toll inflicted by the Cold War than in orchestrating any grand-scale set pieces of shadowy back-alley dealings or indulging in too much top-flight politicking. As a result, beyond strong central performances from Cumberbatch and Ninidze, The Courier offers little to elevate itself within the increasingly crowded genre of international espionage.
The supporting cast, which includes Emmy winner Rachel Brosnahan as well as rising star Buckley, is left out in the cold by a script devoted to this central bromance of burgeoning detente that strives to thaw international relations in ways Wynne and Penkovsky’s respective governments seem incapable. But as a humanist tale of selfless sacrifice serving the greater good, The Courier certainly delivers.
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