The Courier review – Cold War caper makes for a solid crowd-pleaser

Almost a decade ago, Benedict Cumberbatch helped deliver us one of the all-time great Cold War spy films in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, part of an outstanding ensemble that brought the period to immersive, oppressive life. Now, with The Courier (formerly named Ironbark), he returns to that milieu in a somewhat more predictable and stolid “based on a true story” effort that still has some old-fashioned charms.

Cumberbatch plays Greville Wynne, a British salesman who, in 1960, caught the eye of MI6 thanks to the business connections he was building in Eastern Europe. Sensing an opportunity, they recruited him to start a trade delegation in the USSR itself, where his true purpose was to meet with Soviet mole Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze), who sought to avoid nuclear war by giving the west the truth behind Khrushchev’s militaristic posturing.

It’s a story that starts off slowly, and Wynne’s first few trips to Moscow are rather lazily written, with unenthusiastic exposition and rote dialogue, but as Wynne, somewhat by accident, falls deeper and deeper into the role of an actual spy, instead of just a useful civilian, the plot gears start turning and The Courier raises its stakes. Even if the dialogue isn’t always top-tier, the story is cleverly constructed by writer Tom O’Connor, with the audience becoming aware of the world-changing historical significance of Wynne’s ultimate mission around the same time he does.

O’Connor and director Dominic Cooke start to pull us into Wynne’s headspace as the thrill of spying takes hold, giving him a new sense of purpose but straining his relationship with his wife Sheila (a sorely underserved Jessie Buckley), and eventually leading him into far more dangerous territory than he anticipated. Though The Courier starts off as a bit of a romp, it ends up going to some darker, sadder places, and Cumberbatch aces the transition.

For the first half of the film, he seems to be having more fun in the role than he has for a while, all plummy posh and frequently tipsy, and he manages to carry a spark of this good humour throughout, even as Soviet oppression starts to close in and crush Wynne’s spirit. The Courier’s palette is muted from the start – this is a film set in ‘60s London and Moscow after all – but Cooke finds imaginative ways to darken things further, reducing Cumberbatch to a skeletal form under some lights and keeping dangers lurking in the shadows.

Ninidze also impresses as the conflicted yet committed Penkovsky, but a lot of the supporting cast is a lot more hit and miss, with some pretty feeble performances from Wynne’s MI6 handlers in particular. Though it is certainly flawed, The Courier makes for mostly sturdy viewing, less concerned with Le Carre-esque complexity and depth than it is with broad entertainment, all while telling a fascinating true tale – it’s honestly shocking that Wynne’s story hasn’t been brought to the screen already. Add to that a top-form Benedict Cumberbatch performance and you’ve got an uncomplicatedly crowd-pleasing biopic.

The Courier is showing in UK cinemas from 13 August.