Dog’s Movie House: “The Courier” Old Fashioned Spy Entertainment!

The story follows Wynne as he’s recruited by the CIA in the form of Emily Donavan (Rachel Brosnahan) through MI6 (in the form of Anton Lesser’s Bertrand) to meet with a source in Russian Intelligence. The man’s name is Oleg Penkovsky (an excellent Merab Ninidze) and the Russian is terrified that his leaders are going to provoke a conflict with the United States that could lead to nuclear war. Wynne is to travel to Russia under the guise of being a regular businessman, meeting with Penkovsky, and then taking packages back to London. He is assured that he will never know what is in the packages, thus assuring Wynne of little to no risk should he ever get caught. When Wynne and Penkovsky meet, the two strike up a friendship that finds Wynne’s admiration for his Russian counterpart growing. However, the growing Cuban Missile Crisis along with other events put an enormous amount of pressure on Penkovsky, leading Wynne to lead an ill-advised attempt to get his friend and colleague out of the country. The danger only escalates from there.

Now many of Cumberbatch’s fans have speculated as to what he would be like as James Bond. Uh, newsflash. . .”The Courier” ain’t it. This isn’t an overstuffed action fest in the vein of Bond or Jason Bourne. This is more like “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” in which spycraft is actually mundane and boring if done correctly. The action is in the dialogue, the tension in the possibility of discovery not in what happens after you’ve been discovered. “The Courier” is all about the slow building of tension, the tightening of narrative threads until the slightest snap can end a man’s life. Wynne, for the most part, grows to enjoy his foray into the spy game, but his inability to talk about it leads to tensions at home where his long-suffering wife thinks he’s having an affair. (In away he is, just not with a woman.)

Cumberbatch disappears, as he usually does, into his role as Wynne, bringing a wide-eyed enthusiasm to the role. Wynne’s patriotism comes to the fore during his relationship with Penkovsky and his admiration of his colleague’s desire to save millions of lives, regardless of country, at considerable risk to his own, grows by leaps and bounds until it clouds his judgement.

The supporting cast is also excellent, with Ninidze leading the way as the conflicted Penkovsky. He’s one cool customer and is committed to doing what he thinks is right, but does it with bombast or overt shows of emotion. His determination to protect Wynne from the consequences of of his own actions shows a reciprocity in his relationship with the neophyte British spy that goes beyond the professional guidelines of their arrangement. Brosnahan (who plays a fictional character here: she’s actually an amalgamation of several male CIA agents who helped during the case) is very much the enthusiastic, energetic CIA den mother who also finds a bit of a personal attachment to the case. It’s a fictional touch that nonetheless ads a human dimension to what could have been a cold and clinical narrative.

Overall, “The Courier” is a fine piece of spy game cinematic entertainment, with a true-to-life plot, some good twists and turns, and a winning performance by Benedict Cumberbatch. It’s not an action thriller, but a spy movie for adults, and that’s more than enough for a terrific film. 4 Out Of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer! So Sayeth The Kendog!

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