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Currently Reading The Courier is a throwback to the kind of solid yet fun spy thriller they don t make anymore
Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post
March 17, 2021
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1of3Benedict Cumberbatch, left, plays real-life Cold-War spy Greville Wynne in The Courier. Liam Daniel/Lionsgate and Roadside AttractionsShow MoreShow Less
2of3Jessie Buckley in The Courier. Liam Daniel/Lionsgate and Roadside AttractionsShow MoreShow Less
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Benedict Cumberbatch delivers an appealing, technically tricky performance in The Courier, in which he plays Greville Wynne, a British salesman who in the 1960s became an improbable player in Cold War tradecraft at its most high-stakes.
The Courier, the new historical suspense-drama from director Dominic Cooke (
On Chesil Beach), we’re reminded of the role of the little guy. That guy, specifically, is Greville Wynne, a British businessman recruited by MI6. The British spy organization, working with the CIA, wanted Wynne to travel to the USSR and contact Oleg Penkovsky, a high-ranking Russian official looking to smuggle valuable information to the West. Though Wynne was a civilian, his company’s contacts with Eastern Europe and his anonymity allowed him to maneuver within Russia freely and without suspicion, at least initially. “I’m just a salesman,” Wynne tells the CIA, in the film’s fictionalized first encounter with the agency.
Imagining a monarchy-free Aotearoa rnz.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rnz.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
While a royal wedding still sets imaginations running wild, and the occasional royal baby brings out the monarchists and the tiny Union Jack flags, it s hard to argue with the notion that the Windsors have had a tough time of it from a PR perspective. That arguably all came to a head last week, when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex sat down for an interview with Oprah Winfrey which shed light on some of the more antiquated – and, some would say, cruel – ways the royal family deals with modern life. Harry and Meghan decided to cut ties to the royal family – but the question of whether New Zealand will follow suit, and abolish the monarchy from its already-minimal position in day-to-day life seems to be one of those perennial questions which occasionally pops up and gets tongues wagging, before quickly fading away.
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