Featuring high production values, alluring cinematography, and an interesting story based on true events, The Courier is a solid Spanish thriller. We will be following Ivan, a young and resourceful guy who will not be smuggling drugs but money! This marks a refreshing change from the usual crime thrillers focusing on the drug trade. The Courier uses Ivan’s life to show how financial and political corruption works not just in Spain but around the world. And it works just as you would think it works. Something that the opening scene effectively proves. Visually, it almost looks like we’re in Cyberpunk 2077.
We find our protagonist Ivan in a huge Hong Kong-bound container ship sitting next to $1,650,753,751.00. That’s 1.55 billion euros just to be clear. That’s the scale of the deal we’re talking about here. We then go back in time to find out how Ivan ended up in this situation. And one more thing, Ivan’s commission is 3% which comes to around $50 million. Now that’s a lot of money for a single job. I don’t think even drug dealers make that much money in one go. This is precisely what makes The Courier so intriguing and thought-provoking. It also takes the opportunity to show us what was happening in Spain during that time.
This is something I enjoyed immensely. We see the construction boom of the nineties, the introduction of the Euro, and the impact the corruption and all of this had on ordinary people. We saw something similar in another European thriller based on true events, the Italian Golden Men. The bulk of the story takes place between 2002 and, let’s say, ends in 2012. I’m deliberately vague because I’m trying to avoid any spoilers. However, I don’t want you to think that this is some boring financial thriller. Oh no, this is definitely not the case.
The Courier features a story full of sex, drugs, and crime. In fact, I think that the movie focuses too much on these elements pushing everything else in the background. The script could’ve been better as well along with the pacing. Luckily, the running time is short and the atmosphere is electric. Moreover, there’s a lot of cynicism here which should not be surprising since our protagonist is basically an anti-hero. He’s a young hustler whose dreams became reality and took him in the only logical direction.
Considering all of that, Arón Piper was the right choice for the role but I still feel we needed someone with a bit more charisma. Laura Sepul, on the other hand, was absolutely stunning, I’m surprised this is the first time I’ve seen this beautiful Belgian actress. We also should not forget about Luis Tosar, a staple of the Spanish cinema. If it feels like Ivan couldn’t have possibly done all of this by himself, it’s because he didn’t. His character is actually a combination of several different players. All of them were members of a money laundering organization providing their services to a variety of clients.
If you want to see a true story about one guy who managed to do all of this by himself, do check out the British thriller Mr. Nice. Additionally, I would also recommend The Business, a British crime thriller with a healthy dose of humor. Most of the story takes place in Spain, this time focusing on the drug trade and corruption. Finally, there’s Code Name: Emperor starring Luis Tosar and focusing on the special operation conducted by the Spanish authorities that resulted in a lot of arrests and seized money.
Director: Daniel Calparsoro
Writers: Patxi Amezcua, Alejo Flah
Cast: Arón Piper, María Pedraza, Luis Tosar, Laura Sepul, Nourdin Batan, José Manuel Poga
Fun Facts: Operation Malaya was executed back in 2006 and focused on the crimes in the resort city of Marbella.
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IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27050277/
