In 1960, MI5 and the CIA recruit salesman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) to act as a courier of secret information between Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze), a high ranking Russian official and the west. 

The Courier is the sort of old fashioned spy drama that relies on excellent performances in a slow burn film that packs a punch by its finale. 

Cumberbatch and Ninidze are excellent as men who develop a strong friendship when thrown together in an effort to bring peace to the world. Whilst the likes of Jessie Buckley, Rachel Brosnahan and Angus Wright provide excellent support as the suspicious wife and Wynne’s CIA and MI5 handlers respectively. 

The film has very few bells and whistles but is entirely gripping. Well shot, well acted and incredibly low key, it still amounts to a lot thanks to its focus on the human stories of men risking everything for the greater good.