German director Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) masterfully weaves intertwining storylines to create an ever-shifting narrative. As soon as you think you have a handle on who has the power, the focus shifts and realigns your attention. This approach remains consistent until the end of the final reel.

Ralph Fiennes gives a powerful performance as Cardinal Lawrence. He is tasked with running the College of Cardinals as they gather in seclusion to choose the new Pope. He is still mourning the loss of the Supreme Pontiff but has to put his personal feelings aside. He is a modernist and puts his efforts into keeping a liberal Cardinal as the front-runner for the top spot.

Anyone thinking the Catholic Church and the Vatican in particular isn’t after all just a business will revel in the way the church is presented behind the scenes. The hierarchy follows the corporate structure and the grabs for power presented here would fit comfortably in a top-floor boardroom. The ever-changing power dynamic keeps you interested until the final extraordinary reveal.
Rob Hudson
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The conspirator is a Soviet military intelligence (GRU) colonel by the name of Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze) who sees danger in the erratic leadership of Nikita Khrushchev played by the late Russian actor Vladimir Chuprikov. He reaches out to the West. Wynne is chosen to be his contact under the guise of being a simple businessman who Penkovsky can steal manufacturing techniques from.

The inherent danger of what the two are doing is never far from the surface and as the story progresses, the tension escalates. This leads to a final reel that is agonizing as you just know things will not work out for the best. Cumberbatch is all in on the method acting and transforms himself into a stick figure to sell the wretched circumstance.
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The Cold War had many victims that history has hidden in the shadows and The Courier focuses on the real-life heroics of Oleg Vladimirovich Penkovsky. He was a man who paid a horrible price for following his intellect and sense of right and wrong, party politics be damned. This is edge-of-the-seat stuff that doesn’t let you off easily.

Rob Hudson
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At the behest of the UK’s MI 6 and a CIA operative (Rachel Brosnahan ), he forms a covert, dangerous partnership with Soviet officer Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze ) in an effort to provide crucial intelligence needed to prevent a nuclear confrontation and defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Courier will be released in Australian Cinemas April 1.

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