The Courier (2020)

In a genre that seemed obsolete at some point = cold war spy thrillers, surprisingly we still get new releases, not very frequent, but I think more often than for instance SciFi movies, Last year I was writing about "Jack Strong" inspired from a real case. We could say that "The Courier" is its prequel. The subject here is pretty much the same - a high ranking officer from the Eastern block decides that's more healthy for the good of the international politics of the time to start leaking classified info to the CIA. In "Jack Strong" the main character was a Polish officer, who in the beginning of the movie was attending the execution of colonel Penkovsky, an example given by KGB for the risks of collaborating with the capitalist enemy. Well (mega spoiler), here it's where the movies connect - Oleg Penkovsky is another real character, whose career as a spy is presented in "The Courier".

Now that we know the ending, what's left to be said is that the title character here is not Penkovsky, but the "courier" - Greville Wynne, an average businessman residing in London, unfortunately for him having plenty of customers in Eastern Europe, but fortunately perfect to be recruited by the British intelligence to provide a connection with the Eastern source. The action follows the more or less romanticized history (let's be fair - more) from recruiting Greville to the not so fortunate ending, but where Mr. Wynne's nationality provides hime a chance to survive.

What saves the movie is probably the fact that's based on true events. What drags it down is that the true events are a bit too "filmic". "The Courier" feels based on actual facts as much as "Titanic" feels to be a hystorical movie. The aproach is just too.. light - very theatrical and filled with stereotypes, clearly less realistic than "Jack Strong", but still acceptable if you're looking for something lighter. Anyway, coincidence or not - the two movies not being related production wise - at some point in the first part of "The Courier", we have a "deja vu" scene where colonel Penkovsky attends the execution of major Popov, yet another real spy discovered by the KGB. So we have a subject for the prequel's prequel.. :)

Rating: 3 out of 5