Benedict Cumberbatch’s latest film The Courier is yet another notch in his belt of quintessentially British films set during war time, and despite its familiar storyline, it is further proof that he is one of the finest actors working today and isn’t content to rest on his MCU laurels when it comes to telling riveting, emotionally stirring stories. This time around Cumberbatch is joined by Russian actor Merab Ninidze in expounding the true exploits of an ordinary British businessman tasked with ferrying Soviet secrets out of Russia in an effort to prevent Nuclear War. This pairing is by far the film’s greatest strength, with the chemistry between the actors acting as the glue which holds the film together through its many tonal shifts and genre switches. That might sound like a lot from a fairly standard espionage plot but director Dominic Cooke takes it in stride, crafting a surprisingly funny and lighthearted caper which isn’t afraid to steer into more uncomfortable territory to do justice to the story of Greville Wynne.
In his day-to-day business as a salesman, Wynne (Cumberbatch) is a largely unremarkable individual, wooing potential clients to scrape together a living for wife Sheila (Jessie Buckley) and son Andrew (Keir Hills). When his particular brand of international trading presents an opportunity for a joint operation between MI6 and the CIA to obtain Soviet secrets from defecting GRU colonel Oleg Penkovsky (Ninidze), Greville is approached by Dickie Franks (Angus Wright) and Emily Donovan (Rachel Brosnahan) from the respective agencies with an offer to serve his country. What begins as an initial trip to Moscow to arrange contact between Penkovsky and the secret services soon turns into a full-scale operation as Wynne travels back and forth between Russia and Britain under the pretence of business, all the while ferrying Soviet secrets that could be the defining factor in de-escalating nuclear tensions between Russia and America. As the men’s friendship deepens and Wynne’s trips become more frequent, the threat of capture increases, with increased Soviet surveillance threatening to bring the entire operation crashing down.
For a film about the true story of men that helped stop nuclear war, the tone of The Courier is surprisingly light for the first half of the film. This is largely due to Abel Korzeniowski‘s jaunty, upbeat score which accompanies many of Greville’s earlier dealings with Petrovsky and other Russian businessmen. It goes a long way towards emphasising the innocence with which Wynne approaches his task and the fun-loving nature of the man. Kept largely in the dark about the actual secrets he is ferrying, there is a sense that the entire endeavour is very James Bond-ish to Greville and it is not until the stakes are made abundantly (and violently) clear later in the piece that the score shifts to a more menacing, tense affair – emphasising the uncomfortable revelation that the British businessman is faced with. Cumberbatch is far more lively in this performance than say his turn as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game (another overtly British production) and that energy goes a long way towards investing you in the story. There is a sense that he has made mistakes in his past and isn’t the stand-up citizen he purports to be to his clients, but the presentation of Greville as a somewhat clueless everyman makes him a great deal more relatable than your average spy hero; a trait which works doubly well when the screws are tightened and Wynne finds himself in some unfortunate and alarming predicaments. This is where Cumberbatch really shines, as we see Greville’s persona gradually shift as he begins to accept his situation and the graveness of his involvement, with equal parts resilience and desperation shining through in Cumberbatch’s beaten and bruised facial expressions.
If Cumberbatch’s character brings something new to the table in his ordinary citizen spy then Merab Ninidze’s Oleg Penkovsky is the familiar experienced agent of espionage, carefully and methodically planning his path to defection to ensure that his family will be safe and free from Russian retribution. Despite not benefitting from having his familial connections as fleshed out as Cumberbatch, Ninidze is no less convincing in his exploration of the weight of his actions. There is always a sense that each secret photo taken or coded message delivered could be the one to doom the entire operation and Ninidze clearly grapples with these decisions and the effects it could have on his young daughter and wife, ultimately choosing to endanger himself to provide for them. It is a commonality which the two men bond over and makes for some insightful and emotional conversations between the pair, never feeling expository but rather earnest in their desire to succeed but never by placing their families in harm’s way. When difficult choices are made to ultimately remove Oleg from Russia, the weight of the choices made by Greville feel almost insurmountable and the consequences fatal. For Greville in particular, that fear is compounded by Jessie Buckley’s characterisation of his wife; a strong, proud woman who suspects her husband of having an affair. Even if they succeed in their mission, that fear of losing his family remains for Wynne; unable to explain the situation to Sheila due to the classified nature of the operation.
It all makes for an utterly enthralling and emotional espionage film, with real stakes and weight conveyed through its characters and their actions rather than huge expository dumps about the state of things that often run rampant in the genre. The story itself may not be not be overly original but its historical importance cannot be overstated and the performances are top notch, investing an audience who is never sure whether the next trip will be Greville’s last or if his wife’s facade of strength will finally crack, throwing his life into unrecoverable turmoil either way. Come for the Britishness of it all, stay for the surprisingly emotional and tense spy thriller.
The Courier stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, Jessie Buckley, Angus Wright, Keir Hills, Kirill Pirogov & Rachel Brosnahan – In cinemas now.