Tag Archives: Cold War

The Courier

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The Courier is one of those films that I can definitely say I hadn’t heard of before. It’s a pretty interesting story although I do think it did not end up sticking the landing. The final part of the film just ends up being more on the weaker side. Still, I imagine their options were limited on what they could really do considering the fact that it is based on real events so it’s not like they could just make everything up. I’m not sure how many liberties were taken with this one or not since I was not familiar with the events but I assume the general layout/beginning and end are close to what happened.

The film starts by explaining how things are still tense during the cold war and people don’t really know what the Soviet Union will do next. The West needs an informant and so they decide to bring in well known businessman, Greville. M16 and the CIA convince him that this mission won’t be crazy dangerous and they really need someone to just go in and act natural. He will end up getting something from their contact Oleg and then he can come home. It’ll all e real easy but are they hiding something from him?

The movie also ends up adapting the big Cuban Missile Crisis so it was interesting to see that play a role in the film. Tensions were definitely high all around and everybody was seen as suspicious. So honestly no matter what the CIA and M16 said, this was always going to be super dangerous. Even if Greville played everything perfectly, it would still raise a lot of eyebrows to see how often he was entering Russia. That puts you on a list no matter what and he tempted fate a little too much.

He’s presented as a nice guy who is fairly honorable and so he didn’t want to just ditch Oleg and leave the guy to his fate. A really good quality without a doubt but on the other hand it also means that he was basically entering into a no win situation. Both Oleg and Greville should have left much earlier and each one just underestimated the other side. A key thing to always try to do is imagine that the enemy has the same level of abilities that you do. So as you’re gaining more and more intel then it should come as no surprise that they will be doing the same.

A big subplot in the movie is the marriage trouble Greville is having with his wife and the big reason is because he didn’t tell her what was really going on. That was a big mistake on his part. No matter what anyone says, you can always tell your wife what is happening. No secret should be too big because if you can’t trust her with that, then your relationship is already doomed as it is. If he had come clean about this then perhaps she would have been upset and told him not to go but at least she would know exactly what was going on. Yeah the risk is higher since she can mess up as well but I think you have to take that risk.

Oleg was also keeping secrets and his makes more sense since he was actively betraying his country. It makes a lot of sense why his wife would likely not be on board with that. Still, the same rules apply here. If you can’t even trust your wife then you are already lost. Oleg had the most dangerous role here since he was a high level official working within the enemy territory. It’s why he should have played things a bit differently but of course hindsight is always undefeated.

The CIA and M16 are definitely very shady the whole time. They basically use their pieces for as long as possible and then ditch them eventually. The M16 guy at least seemed to care a bit and wasn’t going as far but the CIA lady was definitely real eager to use the pieces for as long as she could. She definitely put them in really great risks here and of course that did not play out so well. Like I said before, the ending isn’t quite as fun and that’s because it definitely gets rather dark and gruesome. The movie doesn’t shy away from showing you the tougher parts about being a spy.

It’s definitely not all fun and games like in James Bond. You’re in incredible danger at every point and once you’re caught, death is the last of your worries. It’s why I always wonder how characters will just be at gunpoint and meekly follow the villains. Your best bet is to run and they end up landing a fatal shot or something. A quick death is what you want. If you’re captured then your chances of survival approach 0 and it will be a really long period of time for you. Every minute will feel like forever. Of course in the moment it can be tough to make a decision but the important thing is to never let yourself get taken anywhere. Try to drill that into your mind as much as possible.

Overall, The Courier is definitely an intense film. It shows how difficult it is to be a spy and also how the government can put some quick pressure on you to get the job. Greville was a bit naive in how easily he let them convince him to take up the job though. He basically threw away his secure life for this and while it turned out better than it could have, that won’t always be the case. 9 times out of 10 these kinds of shady deals from the government are not going to work out well for you and it’s best to decline. If you have the CIA or another agency walking up to you and asking you to do something, you probably want to say no. There will be a lot of guilt tripping and soft threats but as long as you haven’t actually done anything, then you’re good.

The Bedford Incident Review

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We’ve definitely got a real fun film with this one. When you’ve got all of the characters stuck on a boat for the duration of the film you definitely have to have good writing and a solid plot in order to keep things going. Fortunately this movie pulls that off without a hitch and so you’ll be having a good time here from start to finish.

The movie starts with Ben and Chester being brought to a navy ship to work under a rather controversial captain known as Eric. Eric’s fairly good at his job but the issue is that he tends to be rather obsessive. He can go too far in his duties to protect the ship and as a result he has not gotten a promotion despite having all kinds of medals and accomplishments. Ben is a reporter and so naturally he is curious about this while Chester is just trying to do his best as the ship doctor. Both of them don’t yet realize that this post will be tougher than they expect.

Right off the gate I do like how this film handles itself in terms of making the ship adventure fun. The limited amount of backgrounds and scenery are hidden by all the different camera angles and dynamic action taking place. You don’t have much time to feel like the characters are constrained because there is always something going on. There is never a chance to be bored or feel like the plot has slowed down.

I would say a lot of the credit to that goes to the Captain. Eric is a perfect antagonist, he’s not a villain or anything as he tries to do his job but antagonist is his role as the guy keeps getting in the way of the two main characters. He’s very set in his ways and is resistant to change. The guy gets extremely defensive for any kind of questions and really wants to be acknowledged as the master of the boat. All decisions go through him and that’s final. He pushes his men to the breaking point and resists all of Chester’s ideas for health and safety.

Eric seems to believe that any kind of healthy eating regime or exercise program would weaken his troops. That it would take their focus off of the mission and so he doesn’t support this. He wants them all to live and breathe the mission. After many years at sea with the crew, it’s fair to say that Eric has drilled this mentality into most of them. He’s borderline crazy but I just like the intensity that he brings to every scene. Eric knows that he’s right and everyone else is wrong. He never loses that mindset.

Meanwhile Ben does really well in his role as reporter. He starts things off by being amiable and working with Eric but as the captain starts to show him some disrespect, Ben quickly responds in kind. It’s clear that he’s not someone who will just let himself be pushed around. When he finally does get his big interview with Eric, Ben is quite direct with his questions. He knows that Eric has certain viewpoints on the government’s handling of the situation and works on backing him into a corner in order to get the guy to confirm this.

At the end Ben also stays in control much longer than the rest of the characters. Then you’ve got Chester who seems by all accounts to be a good doctor. He has some baggage in his past but there’s no indication that he has gotten worse at his job or is slacking off. His ideas are good but Eric completely ignores all of them. There just isn’t much Chester can do at that point since he has to go through the captain. He also ends up backing down when confronted which really sealed his chances of winning there. The only shot for him to have earned Eric’s respect would have been to stand his ground since the captain values toughness above all. It just wasn’t to be though.

The character roster is fairly small as these 3 are the main characters by far but then you’ve got two other supporting characters. First is Ensign who is a new recruit that means well but Eric is always really tough on him. Eric’s co-captain/friend tries to get the guy to lay off of him but it doesn’t work. Ultimately Ensign doesn’t let it get to him or at least tries to keep a tough front in spite of it. Then you have Wolfgang who is sort of an expert at giving us a view into what the enemy might be thinking.

That’s his role at least but I have major doubts on how good he is at it. I didn’t really think he helped a whole lot but at least he tried to tell Eric to back off. He was instigating the captain for most of the film though so I’d say it was too little too late by that point. Better late than never though.

The ending to this movie is really great though. For a little while you’re wondering if the film would actually go through with such a bold way of ending things but it does and I’d say that was a good thing. It may not be the happiest ending around but it does make the most sense based on how things were progressing. There was a lot of foreshadowing and given how Eric treats his men and the ship, it was all leading to this. Whether it happened now or later on, it was only a matter of time for an ending like this to take effect.

I’d say the film really reminds you of what a tough job it is to be in the navy as well. Either you’re a rank and file soldier who just has to keep following orders even if it sounds crazy or you’re a general that is still limited by the orders from above. The main difference is that you do have some power though and have to take responsibility for the result. No matter how you slice it, it’s just tough and you don’t exactly get a whole lot of time off here. These guys were stuck in the sea for long periods of time.

Overall, The Bedford Incident is a strong film that is carried by quality characters and really good writing. You’ll be very engaged the whole time because the movie is just really well made. You’re always at the edge of your seat wondering if Eric is right in pursuing a foreign ship so hard or if he really is crazy and taking everyone to their doom. Hindsight will be very powerful in this situation but what you do in the moment is most critical. I’d definitely recommend this flim to anyone that wants to watch a film about a lot of characters in a tense situation with no way out.

Overall 7/10

Fail Safe Review

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It’s time to look at another film about possible nuclear war. It’s certainly a fun topic to take a look at and definitely makes for a pretty intense film. I love seeing governments talk about this stuff in movies like this, especially while it’s happening all around them. A whole film about this is pretty ideal. The only thing that holds this movie back is the ending which….is pretty bad. Oof. Definitely not an ending you want to see but otherwise this one is pretty solid.

The film starts with the Air Force giving a tour to some of the funders. It’s all pretty routine as they explain how we have counter measures set up for if someone starts triggering World War III. They run these drills every month or so. During this test there is a UFO which the army is unable to identify. It turns out to be a false alarm but unfortunately due to a system malfunction the bombers get orders to blow up Moscow and there is no way to call them back. The President will have to think of something quickly in order to stop this from happening. The only option now appears to have the rest of our troops actually shoot them down ourselves. Is it really worth shooting our own soldiers down to prevent the bombs from dropping?

A big part of the film is really about what lengths we are willing to go in order to prevent this tragedy. Blasting our own men is just the tip of the iceberg as we also order our soldiers to effectively commit suicide and then tell the Russians how to completely destroy our planes and missiles. This means that in any future battles we will be at a massive disadvantage. Effectively the more we do to avert this current crisis, the more likely we are to lose the next one. This begins causing some dissent among the officials as they all have different ideas on how to play this. You’ve got the President, The Vice President, A professor, the General at the scene, and then the board room. Everyone’s got an opinion and they’re all willing to share it.

My favorite character was definitely the Professor. The guy is definitely on the extreme side but is certainly quick on his feet and makes for a lot of entertaining banter. He’s been heavily interested in death since day 1 and so getting put into a position like this is quite interesting for him. He believes that since the attack has already begun we should press our advantage and send in an attack squad. This would then force Russia to surrender and we’ll have won the war without firing a shot after the bombs. While there is nothing necessarily underhanded about doing so if we presume that there is no way to stop the bombs, it does turn an accident into a full war offensive.

So while he may be extreme there and we don’t need to follow up the attack, I find the president to be too extreme in the other side. He wants to avert a diplomatic disaster so he agrees to bomb New York to appease the Russians. Wait a minute…that’s a horrible idea. Not only was our sending the bomb a mistake but we find out that it is partially the Russian’s fault as they intentionally jammed our communications and then kept on jamming it as our fighter plane approached their territory which is why we couldn’t call them back. You can’t answer an accident by intentionally destroying 5 million of our own people. It’s an eye for an eye only it’s worse in this case since we’re delivering both blows. I feel like the President wouldn’t live much longer after people find out what he did here.

He tries to justify this as making everything even but it’s just not so. As the leader of your station you have the utmost duty to protect your people. Whatever happens that’s the job. I’d say his first mistake was trying to shoot down our own pilots, the second was giving the enemy the tech to take us down, the last and biggest was in blowing up New York. I wouldn’t say that the film glorifies this and it’s still a well made movie so I consider it a character error as opposed to a film error. The President made his call even if it was the wrong one so this is a solid film to check out. That said, it’s still just pretty bad. put it this way, once our nukes are going to hit Moscow only two things can happen. One is that they will retaliate and then that will force the U.S. to blow up the planet. The other is that they don’t retaliate and while this will be a diplomatic nightmare, things will go on as usual.

You have to accept those as the two outcomes of this action. Blowing ourselves up just isn’t a factor. It’s far better for us all to die together as one planet than for the country to turn on itself. That’s just not a good idea. It would have made for a good twist if one of the pilots had hijacked the final plane to prevent it from dropping the bomb or for the interpreter to have taken the President out. Certainly would have been very unexpected but it would have been a good move for justice to have prevailed. Of course you never know how you will really react in such a situation but I like to think we wouldn’t do this.

Overall, Fail Safe is definitely a pretty interesting film. I like all of the discussions and plans of how to handle this situation. It’s a film that inherently doesn’t have a lot of replay value since most of the fun is in seeing how things will play out. It’s like a mystery, once you know all of the answers then it won’t be quite as interesting to check out the next time around. At least a mystery allows you to see if any hints were dropped while this movie doesn’t have such an advantage. Still, if you haven’t seen this movie before then I would definitely recommend changing that. It’s one of the better political thrillers to check out even if you’ll shake your head on the ending.

Overall 6/10