The Courier movie review

 

                                             (Theatrical release poster)

The Courier (2020) is written by Tom O'Connor and directed by Dominic Cooke. It is a espionage drama/thriller and it takes place during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Synopsis: Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) a British Businessman is recruited by the MI6 and the CIA to provide crucial intelligence to prevent nuclear war between the Soviet Union and USA. To do this he forms a covert partnership with Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze) a Soviet officer.

My thoughts: I enjoyed this film and don't have too much anything bad to say about it. I think Benedict Cumberbatch does an excellent job as usual, he is believable, he has depth and brings emotion to the character and the movie. Also the other actors do a great job and I want to mention Merab Ninidze, who plays the Soviet officer who helps to provide information on Soviet matters, he also does a superb job and actually speaks Russian. The thing I was most worried about going to this movie was, do they speak actual Russian and thank god they do. Many times in movies I am so annoyed that people don't speak different languages or do it really badly, however in this movie they speak Russian and do it well, which is not a surprise since Merab Ninidze is Georgian actor. 

I also think it is well directed and looks very nice. The film captures the time and place very nicely, with a great production design. It is also easy to follow and you can feel the stakes. Not only is the world at stake, but also families and normal people will be affected if the mission were to fail. Now I feel like this is actually a good thing since you understand the motivations of both Oleg and Greville as they try to make world better for their families. There is also a constant tension and anxiety in this film With such things as: what can you talk about and when. You know there are ears everywhere and you can not talk about anything and I think it is great. 

So as I said there is not too much bad things to say, however it starts a bit slow and it feels like there is something missing, but I can recommend it if you happened to like Cold War era and espionage movies.

Verdict: This movie may not be a film for everybody but I liked it and I do recommend it. It is tense and it is emotional. I give it 7.5/10