{"id":22389,"date":"2021-03-18T00:39:09","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T07:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=22389"},"modified":"2021-03-18T00:39:09","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T07:39:09","slug":"the-courier-pays-tribute-to-a-cold-war-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=22389","title":{"rendered":"THE COURIER Pays Tribute to a Cold War Hero"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This feature will be playing at open theaters and\ndrive-ins starting March 19th<\/sup>. If you live in San Diego and want to\ndare going to the cinemas, it\u2019s plays at most AMC and Cinepolis locations, as\nwell as Reading Town Square, Reading Grossmont and Angelika Film Center. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new thriller The Courier<\/em> details a seemingly\nunlikely tale of an ordinary man asked to go undercover and place himself in\nextraordinarily dangerous circumstances. While the description might initially sound\nlike a work of fiction, the film itself is actually based on a true story. At\ntimes, this period piece tries to cover too much of the lead\u2019s unusual experiences\nover its relatively short time span. Still, the performances are excellent and\nthe climactic events add enough gravitas to earn this feature a recommendation.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a businessman selling\ngoods in Eastern Europe. With the Cuban Missile Crisis at its height, he is unexpectedly\napproached by British and American officials Dickie Franks (Angus Wright) and\nEmily Donovan (Rachel Brosnahan). They ask him to help them by meeting\nhigh-ranking Soviet colonel, Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze). It seems this\nfigure wants to stop nuclear war between the nations by passing on information\nabout the USSR\u2019s nuclear program. Wynne is taken aback by the request but\nagrees, meeting the Penkovsky during a business trip to Moscow and acting as a\nspy and courier, receiving information and delivering it to authorities in\nLondon. Unfortunately, the secret job becomes increasingly dangerous and also\nputs great strain on his marriage to wife Sheila (Jessie Buckley).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie isn\u2019t particularly fast-paced early on, spending a\ngreat deal of time with Wynne being introduced to Franks and Donovan and\nfollowing his first few business trips to Moscow, where he meets Penkovsky.\nThese early interactions are nice and help develop the growing friendship\nbetween the two men, but they aren\u2019t particularly tense. In fact, the\nprotagonist is in the dark about much of what he\u2019s actually doing for the first\nhalf of the movie. This approach is used to add some mystery to the story, but\nalso removes much of the drama and tension from early ventures behind the Iron\nCurtain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, as suspicion from Russian officials about Wynne and\nPenkovsky begins to grow, events become considerably more tense. The lead character\ngets the opportunity to depict a regular man dealing with the incredible stress\nof being a spy and trying to stifle his emotions in public. We see him\nexperience fear, panic and anger, which eventually starts to manifest itself at\nhome. Cumberbatch is solid in the role and as enemies close in, all of the\nperformers really begin to show their stuff. There are some powerful exchanges\nbetween Wynne and Sheila, as well as some heartfelt conversations between the\nprotagonist and new friend Penkovsky. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie provides a sweet message, including moments in\nwhich the British and Russian man tell their kids that while notable politicians\nmight threaten each other, regular citizens from different nations shouldn\u2019t be\nenemies and can find common ground. A few of these scenes would have come off\nas incredibly corny with a less capable cast, but the actors here are all\nexceptional and manage to sell the material. Admittedly, the tale does try to cover\na great many elements and frequently jumps from Wynne in Moscow to the British\nand American intelligence officials maneuvering behind the scenes. There is far\nmore tension and drama when we follow Wynne around, but some of the exposition\nis required to keep the plot moving forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, while there isn\u2019t much about the story itself that will\nsurprise viewers, this is film with very likable characters and plenty of\nearnest moments between them that are moving. In the end, The Courier<\/em>\nisn\u2019t the spy thriller to end all spy thrillers, but it does deliver a few\npowerful scenes and ultimately serves as a decent tribute to some unheralded\nheroes.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This feature will be playing at open theaters and drive-ins starting March 19th. If you live in San Diego and want to dare going to the cinemas, it\u2019s plays at most AMC and Cinepolis locations, as well as Reading Town Square, Reading Grossmont and Angelika Film Center. The new thriller The Courier details a seemingly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[206,1446,2548,2789,3559,4595,6251,10666,13695,14263,16562,18762,18907,20338,20339,20340,20341,22825,23321,23620],"class_list":["post-22389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-206","tag-angus-wright","tag-benedict-cumberbatch","tag-biopic","tag-british","tag-cold-war","tag-drama","tag-jessie-buckley","tag-merab-ninidze","tag-moscow","tag-rachel-brosnahan","tag-soviet","tag-spy","tag-the-courier","tag-the-courier-film-review","tag-the-courier-movie-review","tag-the-courier-review","tag-thriller","tag-true-story","tag-ussr"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22389\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}