The Courier (2020) User Reviews

nice old fashion espionage thriller

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 19 August 2021]

It's 1960 and the Cold War is heating up. High level Soviet official Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze) is concerned. He risks everything to contact the West. CIA agent (Rachel Brosnahan) suggests using an amateur as a conduit. They recruit everyday salesman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) who has done some business behind the Iron Curtain.

This is an old fashion espionage thriller. It's heightened by its true story nature and the two lead performers. Greville's regular everyday-man character is very compelling. The two men's friendship is very interesting. It may not be something new but it is very well-done. The last part is a little flat but that has to do with its true story nature. This is a throwback in the best sense.

Excellent film based on a true story

[Red-125 · 8/10 · 20 October 2021]

The Courier (2020) is an English movie directed by Dominic Cooke. The film takes place during the height of the Cold War.

It stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Greville Wynne, a middle-class mid-level British business man. Oleg Penkovsky, portrayed by Mereb Ninindze, is a high-ranking Soviet official who knows that there's a real chance of nuclear war.

British intelligence recruits Wynne to make a connection with Penkovsky. His job will be to bring back important information that will help the western powers. Rachel Brosnahan portrays a U. S. CIA agent who is working with British intelligence.

The film succeeds or fails on the work of Cumberbatch. He's a superb actor, and the movie falls into place on the basis of his acting. (In fairness, he's such a competent actor that I had a little trouble accepting him as a less-than-competent businessman.) Ninindze does good work, but I had trouble accepting Brosnahan as a CIA agent. (Mrs. Maisel, yes. CIA, no.) For the record, I also had trouble with the basic assumption that the CIA agents were the good guys.

This movie provides an intense, claustrophobic experience. It's very well done, but at the other end of the spectrum from James Bond spy movies. We saw this film on the small screen, where it worked well. It has a barely adequate IMDb rating of 7.1. I thought that it was better than that, and rated it 8.

Need more like this

[dwill-83440 · 8/10 · 28 March 2021]

We need more movies like this. If you enjoy movies that teach history with good acting and are clean without all the typical Hollywood garbage then this movie is for you. Terrific movie!

Early 1960s, USA and Russia drama in the cold war.

[TxMike · 28 August 2021]

It was the early 1960s, the USA and Russia were in a race to amass nuclear weapons. It was to the point that if both of them did a maximum launch at each other it would destroy most of the world as we knew it. In truth they wanted to bury each other.

In October 1962 I was a senior in high school and that is the month of an event that came to be called the Cuban missile crisis. Russia decided to move nuclear missiles to Cuba, just a few miles off the coast of the USA. There was nothing favorable about that move. The still new US President JFK had a tough decision, how to confront Russia and get them to reverse their plans. As history witnessed Russia backed off.

That is a central theme in the story here, based on real people and real events. An English businessman was convinced to expand his business dealings to Russia, there he would befriend a Russian who would pass him photographic microfilm. He became the courier. A main topic were the plans to place the missiles in Cuba. This spy work was what tipped England and the USA off to the Russian plans and allowed them to monitor the situation which eventually resulted in the confrontation to get Russian ships to turn back.

This is a very good movie, well-acted and well-told. My wife and watched it streaming on Amazon.

Edit July 2023: Watching it again, it is such a well-made and well-acted movie you can watch it every year or two and still enjoy it as much as the first time.

Good watch but..

[chait-kulkarni · 6/10 · 22 April 2021]

Why did they not show Oleg Penkovsky's actual image too at the end. It could have been a better film had they given both the characters equal importance too..

Penkovsky's story seemed more interesting..

The Courier

[studioAT · 7/10 · 26 August 2021]

A surprisingly good watch, with it being nice to see Mr Cumberbatch in a role that isn't a Marvel green screen epic.

I recommend this film.

...true story, but...

[maca011190 · 7/10 · 18 April 2021]

...somewhere after 1 hour and 29 minutes, someone, who knows only "bad Russians" and "west is the best", hear Russian investigator mumbling something about American missiles in Turkey... ...ups, those missiles were there long before nuclear heads on Cuba... ...so, to correct true story, first was Turkey, then was Cuba... ...I would rather say "Turkey missile crisis" than "Cuban missile crisis"... ...anyway, both presidents agreed on not mentioning American obligation to remove those missiles from Turkey in favor of Russia doing the same...

They do make like they used to.

[mick-meyers · 9/10 · 16 August 2021]

Excellent film,first class acting.the while film is remedy to the big blockbusters.the transformation of Benedict Cumberbatch,from clueless pawn in a political high stakes game to a more caring person as well as the physical change is staggering.abetted by a solid supporting cast.a must see film this year.

Collector

[kosmasp · 9/10 · 6 July 2021]

Real life stories can be tricky. In the horror genre they can fail miserably ... in the War scenarios or spy and real people stories, it does look differently though. Like with this one. And while I reckon one could argue that side characters feel shallow or one dimensional (the wives for example), I'd argue there is not enough time to get and have everyone have their moment.

Still the British wife we have here, does have some zingers and you can really feel her pain and understand her anxiety over all that is happening. Even if she has the wrong idea of what is going on. Having said all that, the actors are fantastic and the tension is really holding up throughout ... you may know where this is going (and what happened with Cuba and the missilie crisis), but it won't take anything away from what we see on screen.

a movie worth seeing that may fall under the radar

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 2 April 2021]

A superbly acted and fairly involving "Based on a True Story" spy movie jam that is good, but one can't help and consider could have been a "Great" column entry with a Spielberg (yes yes even with Bridge of Spies) or even Tarantino at the helm. This isn't to say director Cooke does a poor job or even incompetent, on the contrary he has excellent staging and a more than fine cinematographer with Sean Bobbitt framing some intensely emotional beats and moments throughout (one where we see a freak out in a prison all through the tiny peephole in the door is one notable one for me), but there doesn't seem to be much time for a major set pieces or two or three for a sequence to stand out.

This is an inherently suspenseful story, yet until about two thirds in it rarely has time to slow down for a scene to last longer than thirty seconds to a couple of minutes (a scene where the Brit and Russian watch Swan Lake in heightened emotional responses is an exception), so while it is all good and grown-up entertainment it could do with letting us feel in a more concentrated way what Wynn has to go through when he is doing his Not-but-Kinda springs, albeit this is more of a MP (my problem) than YP (yours) as far as taste with these sorts of thrillers. All this said, Cumberbatch has one of his finest roles since the Imitation Game, and I was quite keen on every moment with Brosnahan, Ninidze (who if he wasn't on The Americans he should have been) and Buckley (who reminds me in a great way of Rita Tushingham from that same time period this is set).

It can't help but go ultimately to some of the conventions of a story like this, like how characters talk about what to do about A B or C, and a reminder near the very end of the Good Times I guess(?) But if you're wanting something with the air of the now late John Le Carre and it's playing in theaters and you are in a healthy way to see it, it does well for a weekend matinee.

Cumberbatch Continues To Move The Acting Bar Higher 💯

[Instant_Palmer · 9/10 · 28 April 2021]

One of Benedict Cumberbatch's best performances to date, which makes it one of the greatest acting performances period. His startling physical transformations, spot-on dialogue delivery, and appropriately subtle and highly-effective character manifestations (he's a spy not a Hollywood super-hero for those hung up on the film not emulating Bond or Bourne "big moment" scenes), are all testimony to his commitment to the acting craft. He once again proves why he is (simply-put) one of this era's greatest actors.

This role should garner award nominations across the spectrum of such ceremonies for Benedict.

The Courier is well above average as espionage films go - subtle pacing actually magnifies tension in the story - the most elemental fuel for any thriller.

No spy film is better at emotionally connecting the viewer with the lead character - painting an accurate portrayal of both a spy's methodology, and the inevitable inner conflicts and angst involved in the job, and in one's personal life. This unique trait elevates the film.

The Director maintains a refreshingly low-key atmosphere in scenes, befitting the "trade-craft" of espionage that thrives on innocuous and concealing behavior (rather than the overly dramatic big moments too often leaned upon in blockbuster spy films). None of that nonsense would actually occur as spies would bring too much attention to themselves - a sure way of having a short career and brief lifespan.

This is a spotlight film role carried by Benedict, but a film of this immense achievement does not occur without similarly great performances by the supporting cast.

Merab Ninidze hits one over the Berlin Wall and deserves recognition for his remarkable supporting role performance.

Rachel Brosnahan was spot-on as well, and is clearly on a roll after her deserved critical praise for 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'.

Tom O'Conner's screenplay is brilliant as is Dominic Cooke's directing, and Gareth Scales' editing which somehow brings this fascinating true story to film in under two hours.

The Courier has me once again ('Spotlight' being the first in 2015) breaking my long standing rule of not putting a film on the Top 100 All Time Greatest list within a year of its release. I often view better films multiple times over the long haul. Some hold up; some gain respect; and some regress. I'm anticipating The Courier will not lose ground over time, and may gain, but we shall see.

👍👍

A relevant and respectable espionage thriller.

[Pjtaylor-96-138044 · 6/10 · 24 February 2022]

'The Courier (2020)' is a cold-war espionage thriller based on true events that tells the story of an ordinary businessman who, with the help of a Russian informant, ends up smuggling state secrets out of the USSR and into the hands of MI6 and the CIA in an effort to prevent nuclear war. For reasons that ought to be obvious, the film feels incredibly relevant at the time of writing; one can only hope that history is not repeating itself. Though the real-life story on which this is based is an interesting and important one, the piece itself is sadly rather basic and, even, a little bit flat. The first act is actually really slow, while the third shifts its focus away from low-key spying and into much more overtly horrific territory. This latter segment is probably the most straightforwardly compelling part of the picture, as it portrays a painful situation and moves at a much faster pace. That isn't to imply that there isn't merit in the preceding acts, though. The flick is, at times, an engaging experience that plays with genre tropes in an expected yet grounded way. The performances are all solid and, for the most part, the tone is consistently portentous. However, the thing is just a tad dull overall. It's hard to even describe why, actually. There's just this slightly intangible 'good enough' quality to it, a quality that many pictures of a similar ilk share. It's a respectable effort, but it doesn't go above and beyond what it initially sets itself up to be. It's a decent historical thriller, but it isn't a great one. 6/10.

A cursory spy movie lacking in detail and interest

[rac9876 · 5/10 · 6 April 2022]

Businessman Greville Wynne gets recruited by the intelligence services to communicate with OIeg Penkovsky, a high-level source in the USSR. He does it for a while, and he and the source become friends, then it all goes predictably wrong. There's about as much interest in that summary as there is in this movie. It's like they took a template for a spy movie and forgot to fill in any of the detail. It's all passably done - good period sets and props, no terrible acting - but there's nothing for us or the actors to get our teeth into.

The plot is moved along at crucial moments by hasty montages which add to the generic, hand-waving feel of the whole thing. Some men did spy stuff and hoped not to get caught, with predictable results. It makes MI6 and the CIA look naive for expecting the KGB to be stupid, and it fails to convey the weight and difficulty of what Penkovsky did given his position. The characters aren't well enough built for you to start feeling for them. In all, it feels like the movie equivalent of an introductory paragraph on Wikipedia.

The film is based on a true story which must have been full of suffering and drama, but it managed to make the story seem less interesting and consequential than it actually was. A hurried film and a wasted opportunity.

Gripping

[Gordon-11 · 1 May 2021]

This is a pretty gripping film about the cold war. Benedict's transformation is remarkable as well. I enjoyed watching it.

Better Than Dr. Strange - The Courier

[arthur_tafero · 7/10 · 19 April 2022]

Benedict Cumberbatch is a talented actor, best known for his work in the Dr. Strange films, which are quite entertaining in their own right. However, this film mirrors a piece of American History I am quite familiar with as I lived through it The Cuban Missile Crisis. The film in nicely directed and the supporting cast does an excellent job with their roles, especially Merab Ninidze as the Russian colonel. The film is gripping from beginning to end, and is one of the better spy films made in this century. Catch it.

A Decent Spy Tale

[skjeffrey · 6/10 · 30 January 2022]

Good acting, great scenery, wardrobes, 60's era atmosphere, and believeable (true) story. Terrible lighting was a serious flaw. Didn't quite buy Rachel Brosnahan as a fairly high level espionage handler.

A perfect period piece

[SomeUselessGeek · 10/10 · 6 January 2022]

Really, I don't know how this film could have been made any better. All the performances were top notch and believable. Cumberbatch has set a modern-day standard for dedication to his craft in the likeness of De Niro's _Raging Bull_ weight gain and loss. Cumberbatch put himself fully into the character of a starving Soviet espionage prisoner at a time when Ivan wasn't being too conciliatory to Westerners.

Wow, this whole film had me on the edge of my seat despite its being a recitation of historical fact. Knowing how the story comes out in no way diminishes the telling of that story by those who have mastered the storytelling craft.

Honorable Story about the Inglorious Works of Spies

[Mabkid · 7/10 · 9 February 2023]

The most important American asset in Russia during the Cold War. The movie does not nearly do enough justice to Oleg Penkovsky's contributions to the US and the UK. A quick read up on the net helps do justice to both Oleg Penkovsky and Greville Wynne.

Still, The Courier is a solid production. Most notable is Benedict Cumberbatch's dedicated performance, including the drastic changes to his body weight. Merab Ninidze also does a splendid job.

Of course, real life spy work is less like Hollywood action movies... so there's just a lot of taking photos on small cameras and passing packages around. You won't get a lot of close call James Bond type action scenes. So the actual exciting bit was describing the precautions to spy work. Articulating what goes behind the scenes of seemingly unnoticeable spy work was appreciated. But that was pretty short.

The Courier also tries to be a little too ambitious. I don't know if the final act was necessary. Obviously, it showcased Cumberbatch's acting skills the most. However, it did seem like an entirely different movie.

Finally, the homage to good patriotic work is appreciated. Hard to diss two heroes, and glad I could know more about the folks who risk their lives in the shadows to protect us.

Benedict hits this out of the park

[blanche-2 · 10/10 · 21 April 2021]

Benedict Cumberbatch stars with Rachel Brosnahan, Zelijko Ivanek, and Merab Nindze) in "The Courier" from 2021.

The film takes place around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Anyone who lived through it knows it was a terrifying time. MI6 receives correspondence from a Russian colonel, Oleg Penovsky, who has information that makes him concerned that Khruschev is about to start a nuclear war.

Two people from MI6 (Brosnahan and Ivanek) recruit a businessman, Greville Wynne (Cumberbatch) to go to Russia as part of his business and begin to build accounts there. That's all he has to do, and he's given a special tie clip to wear. This is so he can be recognized by the colonel (Nindze).

The two become friends, and set up a clever way so that Penovsky can slip him photos that Wynne brings back to the states. Wynne's frequent trips cause him problems at home with his wife and son. Meanwhile, the Russians have missiles in Cuba aimed at strategic spots in the U. S.

This is based on a true story, and this film has everything - great acting, suspense, drama, and one of the most incredible scenes ever filmed toward the end. Cumberbatch is brilliant. He has the most dramatic role and boy, does he live up to it. Merab Ninidze as his Russian contact is wonderful, and the two men have good chemistry together.

This film will stay with you after it's over.

A peerless Cumberbatch and a miscast Buckley.

[bob-the-movie-man · 7/10 · 16 August 2021]

It's not to be confused with the Olga Kurylenko / Gary Oldman 2019 movie of the same title. But with a fresh Berlin current-day Russian spy scandal in the news this week, seeing the cold war spy drama "The Courier" is a timely thing to do.

Positives:

• Benedict Cumberbatch is outstandingly good in this. He could have been born to play the slightly bemused English gentlemen of the time. All golf, tweed suits and gentlemen's clubs. No spoilers, but there is a physical transformation as well that's impressive to observe. The film would have been decidedly so-so I think without that core central performance.

• The film is based on a true story. As someone who was born in 1961, it's a good reminder to count our blessings that you, me and everyone else are still around to live our lives at all. The world was on the brink of a precipice and learning the story of Wynne's part in this was insightful history.

• There's a nice catchy Russian-themed score by Abel Korzeniowski.

Negatives:

• I'm a big fan of Jessie Buckley. Really, I am. And to be fair to her, her performance is really good. I particularly liked a scene where she dismissed on the doorstep a local busybody. But I just didn't see her as Wynne's pearl-neckless-wearing wife in this part. Perhaps the problem is that although there's a 13 year age gap between the leads, I always imagine Buckley as being much younger that her 31 years. For whatever reason, the casting didn't work for me.

Summary Thoughts on "The Courier": As a true-life spy story, the movie is interesting and Cumberbatch's performance is brilliant. But I can't say that I was 100% grabbed by it. While having a few moments of high drama and tension - particularly one on a plane - I never felt that to be maintained for enough of the movie. Director Dominic Cooke has a limited filmography (with the Saoirse Ronan movie "On Chesil Beach" being his only other feature) and writer Tom O'Connor is the guy behind the more flippant "Hitman's Bodyguard" films. Perhaps a more experienced writer/director team would have elevated this to a higher level.

So it's eminently watchable but not memorable. And so a marginal hit in my book.

(For the full graphical review, please check out onemannsmovies on the web, Facebook and Tiktok. Thanks.)

A reasonably well made, paint-by-numbers, cold-war espionage flick...

[tccandler · 6/10 · 17 April 2021]

A reasonably well made, paint-by-numbers, cold-war espionage flick with a solid cast. There are no real complaints about this true story, but it all feels a tad stale and has the look of something we have all seen before. It is professionally presented, but slightly forgettable.

Meh

[imdb-95323 · 5/10 · 19 February 2022]

Well-made, but just not that interesting. Found myself doing other stuff about half way through. Shame really because they clearly put a lot of work into it.

Better Than You May Expect

[RonellSowes · 17 January 2022]

It's a little known, though very visible, fact that during the Cold War era the skies were perpetually gray as were most rooms, buildings and such. I don't why so many, if not all, these spy dramas think that the gravity of the plot will be lost if the film doesn't look extremely pallid.

The Courier is a throwback sort of film, with subject matter you don't see too often these days. It's also rare in its quality; that someone actually made a decent film in 2020 is no small distinction.

Pop culture dictates mar an otherwise interesting tale

[CoastalCruiser · 6/10 · 16 July 2021]

It's always a pleasure to see Benedict Cumberbatch at work. With the exception of the second Star Trek reboot -where he was miscast- the actor has never disappointed. His performance in this film is completely adequate, inside an adequately told story.

What pulled me out of this true story was Rachel Brosnahan's character, Emily Donovan. Clearly Brosnahan was picked to play a CIA agent because the actress herself comes off as very smart, and talks fast to prove it. Like with her role in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, As with that role, Brosnahan lights up Emily Donovan with an obvious intelligence, informing the audience she is one step ahead of everyone else.

We first see agent Donovan in a scene where she is power walking through an office populated with mostly men. She walks with a strong yet feminine gate, sporting a highly accentuated, forward leaning tilt, as though no obstacle could deter her from her goal post. Sort of like Zoe Saldana's Lieutenant Uhura walking in to the bat at the beginning of the first Star Trek reboot (sorry for the redundant reference). It worked in Star Trek. It doesn't in this film.

I was suspicious of CIA agent Rachel Brosnahan from that point forward. This was a true story, right? Was it actually a female agent in that era that interfaced with civilian Cumberbatch's character? If so, then OK. The writers may have taken a bit of creative license with Donovan, but we can live with that. But if CIA agent Donovan had instead been a male in real life then we are faced with the script pulling off a big cheat in order to satisfy today's dominant movie goer who demands that the movie is carried by pretty young females who are smarter than their male counterparts and innately know karate.

So I looked it up. Whoops. There was no agent named Emily Donovan in the real story. "She" was a composite of several CIA agents. I suspect that those composites were mostly male, simply because that's the way it was in those ancient bygone times.

Sadly, The Courier has sold out to identity politics. Why don't I like that? Because it pulls you out of the story. It's that simple.

Worth a watch - just

[stevenmckinstry · 6/10 · 11 April 2022]

I watched it to the end, which is my personal basic criterion for recommending it to others. Very atmospheric production, and Cumberbatch does a great job. But for some reason, I found it hard to empathise with the characters, feeling detached from, and somewhat uninvolved with what was going on on the screen. There was a strange lack of suspense as events unfolded, a bit like watching a documentary rather than a thriller. Some of the performances were a bit wooden and unconvincing, for example "Helen's" CIA boss. But overall, I did enjoy it.