Combines plenty of the ingredients for a first-class espionage thriller but doesn't quite deliver.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 15, 2021

Intriguing and genuinely heartfelt without ever veering into melodrama or hackneyed spy movie tropes.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 15, 2021

The Courier may have its moments, but it's also burdened with certain expectations.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 14, 2021

This is a damn good, explosively tense story that focuses on the friendship that develops between two men on opposite sides. And it is plainly wonderful.

| Aug 14, 2021

Benedict Cumberbatch delivers a masterclass in "acting in a vacuum" with this disappointing historical spy drama that fails on almost every level except for the dazzling performance of its leading man.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 13, 2021

The Courier may not be as subtle or cohesive as Cumberbatch's last spy movie, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but its best moments are haunting.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 13, 2021

Cooke's sturdy, old-fashioned approach to staging and shooting pairs well with his leading actor's precise, engaging performance...

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 12, 2021

A laudable if earnest early-1960s-set spy thriller based on actual events.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 11, 2021

There's real drama, and even thrills, to be found in this story of a very unlikely friendship that changed the course of history.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 10, 2021

Cumberbatch, emaciated and shaven-headed, exposes the slightly alien being he always contains and the film gears up considerably in emotional impact. This is Cumberbatch's best espionage film, then, after Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

| Jul 28, 2021

Don't expect anything on the same scale as Cumberbatch's last spy thriller, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy... If you're on the hunt for an old-fashioned spy flick, through, The Courier has just enough le Carré-ish thrills to get by.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 28, 2021

The Courier is almost two films in one: the second half is much darker and more intense than the first, but the shift is so delicately abrupt that at first you barely register it. That's part of the movie's edgily engaging artistry...

| Apr 17, 2021

A skilled, suspenseful and propulsive historical drama.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 11, 2021

It's a difficult scene to bring off, yet Cumberbatch makes it seem effortless.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 1, 2021

I did not know Wynne's story, so for this viewer The Courier developed into an old-fashioned will-they-be-caught thriller.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 1, 2021

The heightened level of emotion [Rachel Brosnahan and Jessie Buckley] provide propels the story and Cumberbatch forward, keeping viewers engaged as they approach a climactic ending.

| Mar 25, 2021

While it might not be on the same level as "Bridge of Spies," it's solid, well-acted and enjoyable nonetheless. Just don't use it as the text for any history reports.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 25, 2021

Combine impressive production values and a ratcheting up of suspense, and you're in for a solid genre entry. Don't expect more than that.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 25, 2021

Admit it: After a year of looking over your shoulder any time someone dared cough, you could use a good, old-fashioned Cold War thriller...

| Mar 24, 2021

The Courier feels authentic, and that's what matters, Wynne's everyman journey into the unimaginable the trip of a lifetime.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 24, 2021