The most important American asset in Russia during the Cold War. The movie does not nearly do enough justice to Oleg Penkovsky's contributions to the US and the UK. A quick read up on the net helps do justice to both Oleg Penkovsky and Greville Wynne.
Still, The Courier is a solid production. Most notable is Benedict Cumberbatch's dedicated performance, including the drastic changes to his body weight. Merab Ninidze also does a splendid job.
Of course, real life spy work is less like Hollywood action movies... so there's just a lot of taking photos on small cameras and passing packages around. You won't get a lot of close call James Bond type action scenes. So the actual exciting bit was describing the precautions to spy work. Articulating what goes behind the scenes of seemingly unnoticeable spy work was appreciated. But that was pretty short.
The Courier also tries to be a little too ambitious. I don't know if the final act was necessary. Obviously, it showcased Cumberbatch's acting skills the most. However, it did seem like an entirely different movie.
Finally, the homage to good patriotic work is appreciated. Hard to diss two heroes, and glad I could know more about the folks who risk their lives in the shadows to protect us.
