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The Courier (2021) - Benedict Cumberbatch

Started by surreal, August 17, 2021, 01:00:02 PM

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surreal

Saw this last night - very much delayed release of this Cold War drama based on real events.

BC plays Greville Wynne, a British businessman who is asked by MI6/CIA to help with relaying intelligence out of the Soviet Union at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis.  It's pretty spot-on casting judging from the bit of newsreel footage at the end, he is a very likeable character, and he really is the main selling point of this as I don't think the drama or suspense is quite as tight as it could have been. 

However, I guess that there is a fine line between showing the real events and tightening the screws for the sake of it - the last 20 minutes or so has more than enough tension to hold interest.

Anyway, I enjoyed it, if you like historical dramas or just interested in that era it's worth a look. 7.5/10

Keebleman

Watched this on Netflix last night.  Efficient, straightforward and watchable, a rare movie of the 21st century that comes across as rather modest in its ambitions.

It's style was very much of today though.  Overhead shots of desks; speedily tracking with people as they walk through open plan offices; very muted colours to indicate it's early 60s not late 60s. One surprising touch was the inclusion of stock footage, something I haven't seen in a movie for decades. 

The film didn't really address the problem of one of its heroes being a traitor.  Yes, Penkovsky was ultimately on the side of the 'good guys', but he did betray his own country and his motives weren't clear.  The film's implication that his acts averted nuclear war was pretty desperate, considering they could have easily led to us being one Khrushchev tantrum away from sparking such a war.

Goof alert: Wynne and Penkovsky go to the ballet twice.  On each occasion the same woman is sat behind them wearing the same clothes.  I don't know, maybe the Bolshoi had season tickets?

And the kid who played the son looked so much like Benedict Cumberbatch it actually got a laugh from me.


jobotic

Agree about the kid, very funny.

Thought this was pretty good on the whole, don't usually like Cumberbatch but he was rather good in this.

I find it very unlikely that the scene where they were owed to meet in prison so that Wynne could tell Penkovsky what a hero he was really happened. Things like that get on my nerves.

Of course if it was I take that back.