[WGH]

Benedict Cumberbatch effortlessly portrays British businessman Greville Wynne in "The Courier."  Greville is recruited to become a spy for MI-6 and CIA during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. His contact in Soviet Russia is officer Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze), who has a high security clearance and concerned that Premier Nikita Khrushchev is unstable and preparing to evoke a confrontation with the US by secretly moving atomic weapons into Cuba. The documents provided by Penkovsky convince the US to fly U-2 spy planes over Cuba, discovering the missiles and preventing a world war.

The amazing part of the story is it's true. This is an old fashioned spy film with no fancy plot twists, just straight ahead story telling made by artists who make it look easy.

"The Courier" also stars Jessie Buckley as Sheila, Greville's wife. Sharp eyes will recognize her from the 2020 anthology series "Fargo" in which she played quirky Oraetta Mayflower and The Young Woman in "I'm Thinking of Ending Things."



Cinematographer Sean Bobbitt did a stellar job portraying the early 1960's. The overall color palate is muted, black suited apparatchiks against a dark background. The Soviet Union is appropriately grey and bleak. The lighting is reminiscent of 1950's film noir which focuses our attention.



95% Audience Score on RT - 'The Courier" is one of the "must see" films so far this year
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_courier