Weekend Watch: The Falcon And The Winter Soldier And The Courier
Marvel's mismatched buddies fly and Benedict Cumberbatch works for spies
Image Credit: Disney+
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Marvel brings squabbling buddies back to our screens and Benedict Cumberbatch dabbles in espionage.
Marvel scored a big hit with WandaVision, its first full MCU step into the televisual world by Kevin Feige and co (yes, I know… Marvel TV has had several shows, but these are something else). For its next trick, the company is reuniting mismatched duo Sam “The Falcon” Wilson and James “Bucky” Buchanan Barnes, formerly known as The Winter Soldier.
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier was originally planned to be the launch show, but had to be held back thanks to pandemic delays, and it promises to be quite different from its predecessor on TV, opening with the bang of an impressive action set piece that sets the scene for some cinematic thrills to come. And yes, Sam’s drone buddy Redwing gets the chance to shine. Don’t go thinking, however, that this is going to be a simplistic Marvel action spectacle. In keeping with the MCU’s stories, there are plenty of subtexts bubbling under here. Race, legacy, guilt, and patriotism are all touched upon in just the first episode (the one provided to critics by Disney).
As with Wanda and Vision’s story, the series also offers the opportunity to more fully explore characters who have largely been sidekicks to the main Avengers. Both Sam and Bucky have had parts of their stories told before, but here they are offered depth and understanding – we meet other members of the Wilson family, who have to deal with tough times in a post-Blip world, while Bucky continues to grapple with his dark past and his place in the world as a man out of time. Both Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan more than rise to the challenge laid down by show-runner Malcolm Spellman and his writing team. Director Kari Skogland, meanwhile, shoots everything with the ease of someone who has been making both movies and TV for years and easily recreates the feel of an MCU movie on the small screen. That early burst of action has its share of excitement and features the return of a relatively minor baddie from an earlier Captain America movie). Other action moments are weaved into the main story of these two men, driving the plot rather than pausing it to have things explode. And while we know that this show will connect to other movies and narratives within the MCU, in the early going there is no sign of a strain on the series itself.
In the weeks to come, we’ll see both characters figuring out their futures (though Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers handed Captain America’s shield over to him, Sam’s unsure whether he’s worthy of it, while Bucky is… Bucky). It’s perhaps too early to tell whether this will be such a big hit, but so far this is very promising. Cut the cheque!
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier is on Disney+ from 19 March. I’ve seen the first episode.
Image Credit: Roadside Attractions
Though he spends plenty of time playing fantastical characters (dragons, wizards, tigers, Dominic Cummings), Benedict Cumberbatch has also found success playing real-world people, including Alan Turing, Julian Assange, and Thomas Edison. To this latter list, he now adds Greville Wynne, a businessman living at the height of the Cold War, who is recruited by British and American intelligence services to make contact with a potential Russian defector who has secrets to smuggle back to the UK.
Films based on true-life stories have a tricky line to tread – while the events themselves might be compelling, there can be the temptation to dramatize them further so as to reward the audience. Fortunately for the team behind The Courier, while the story doesn’t involve any James Bond-style car chases or hollowed-out volcanoes (there is a nod to 007 with Wynne asking whether a tie clip is a spy gadget), it has more than enough high stakes drama to stop you fidgeting in your seat. Wynne’s work was primarily conducted through business meetings with his Russian contact (Merab Ninidze’s Oleg Penkovsky), with meetings after hours, documents passed in brown envelopes as he was escorted through airport security. Yes, there are some composite characters (Rachel Brosnahan’s CIA Agent Emily Donovan is one such invention), but this is the story told with its spirit faithfully intact.
The other risk is that anyone can google the true story and learn what really happened – suffice to say, it doesn’t end well for either Wynne or (particularly) Penkovsky. But director Dominic Cooke and writer Tom O’Connor find ways to make the journey to that rough ending by turns amusing and quietly thrilling. From the early moments, where the skittish, stiff-upper-lipped (and occasionally tipsy) Wynne is approached by the intelligence operatives to his nervy interactions with Penkovsky and his family life with wife Sheila (Jessie Buckley), the film moves and adapts to the situation.
Cumberbatch is typically reliable, breathing real life into Wynne, both as an Englishman whose eyes are opened to the true implications of the dealings with Russia and as a prisoner in a Russian gulag, slowly being broken by his captors. Ninidze has his own challenges, portraying Penkovsky as a concerned citizen worried about what his country will do and committed to changing things when the government is bent on conflict. Around them, the likes of Brosnahan, Buckley, Anton Lesser, Angus Wright and Alice Orr-Ewing sketch in the details to make the story come to life.
At a time when the world is still so divided politically (even with a continuing pandemic you might imagine would be cause for us all to work together more), The Courier is a stark reminder that we were all on the brink of destruction were it not for the actions of a few dedicated individuals. And it’s also a solidly gripping spy thriller anchored by a great central performance.
The Courier will be in US cinemas on 19 March and will be released in the UK on 17 May.