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"Maybe we're only two people...but this is how things change."
Based on a true story, The Courier is the story of an unassuming British businessman Greville Wynne recruited into one of the greatest international conflicts in history. At the behest of the UK's MI-6 and a CIA operative, he forms a covert, dangerous partnership with Soviet officer Oleg Penkovsky in an effort to provide crucial intelligence needed to prevent a nuclear confrontation and defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis. I saw this well over a year ago at the Sundance Film Festival when it was titled Ironbark (a much better name in my opinion). Seeing this again in a theater brought back many memories from the experience I had when I first saw it, so that's part of the reason I do like The Courier. Though not as neat as other spy-thrillers, it does a good job at keeping suspense and attention. Mainly this is due to the great casting. Everyone does a great job. Rachel Brosnahan and Jessie Buckley are good in their more supporting roles. Benedict Cumberbatch gives it his all for one of his top performances yet. But the best comes from Merab Ninidze. In my opinion, he's more of the main character. He has the most interesting arch, not to say the others don't. Cumberbatch is clearly the lead, especially when it comes to the third act. And that's probably why they changed the title of the movie. We have a lot from Penkovsky and I would've loved to see even more.
The third act brings it all. The first act is slow are more light on subject. Some of the second act is the same as well. Grenville is still getting into the groove of things which gives it a "comical" nature. I like that for some time, but it does get old considering the runtime of almost two hours. A few cuts would've been a good decision. Once the suspense kicks in, it's a thrill till the end. The specific moment going into the third act is handled very well. And the third act, like I said, does the movie justice. Without the work done then to give it true voice, this would've been a fine movie but nothing too special. The movie captures the essence of the time period well through the look and the way characters interact. I've had the main melody from Abel Korzeniowski's score stuck in my head ever since the first watch. It's very good and one of the best from him. The Courier might not be for everyone or be too basic. Again, I have that connection with Sundance that helps. I would suggest seeing it, if not for the story then the performances.
score 8/10
sweidman-28016 27 March 2021
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw6747024/ |
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7-4-2021 22:55:11