The Numbers Station

I saw that this movie only scored 5.4 on IMDb and I wanted to quickly write that it's a whole lot better than that. The movie kept me interested from start to finish. It doesn't slow down appreciably at any point. There isn't an overwhelming amount of action but there is a tense atmosphere throughout. The location is also great. A moody, grey numbers station right out in the middle of nowhere. But the main reason for watching this movie is Cusack who perfectly plays the loner, haunted, tough guy, with a conscience. He's supremely watchable in every frame. In fact, Cusack plays these types of characters better than anything else. He has that suitably detached, dangerous look, down to a tee. He also does ambiguity very well. All of this is displayed really well in the movie. Ackerman is also well cast as the enthusiastic, smart code girl.

I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by The Numbers Station. Going on John Cusack's recent venture into silly, inconsequential direct to video thrillers without depth or heft, I expected a mind numbing cash grab with his moniker shamelessly plastered in pre title billing. I only watched it for a couple of actors I really enjoy, and what I got was thoroughly fun, slow burning spy thriller that took its time, built the characters and focused on mood and story instead of just action filler. During and after the Cold War, Numerous 'Numbers Stations' were planted all over Europe, facilities where operatives would reside, broadcasting codes in the form of random sequences of digits, all over the region to various agents, who would read them, and carry out the orders embedded within. Cusack's plays a disgraced agent who is assigned to accompany a coder (Malin Ackerman) to a remote station, and protect her and the premises. They arrive and are immediately at odds with each other. Ackerman is a rookie spook with idealistic values and a sunshiny demeanour that irks Cusack right off the bat. He has acres of tragedy behind him, curdling his personality into a jaded, hangdog presence, essentially just wearily carrying out the motions with listless resignation. The script wisely gives them time to bicker about their differences, learn a bit about each other and form a shaky bond before the inevitable conflict rears its head, in the form of a rogue special ops unit led by a determined psychopath (Richard Brake). Their aim is to hijack the numbers stations broadcasting capabilities and send out codes of their own containing orders to do God knows what. It's up to Cusack to prevent this, giving him new purpose. The underrated Liam Cunningham briefly shows up as Cusack's morally bankrupt partner who ends up having a crisis of conscience, and portrays it really well as only Cunnningham can do. It's not a movie to rave about, but it's a solid, moody thriller for lovers of the genre, perfect for a lazy rainy night.

i enjoyed it!

the story was pretty well told. the background of John Cusack's character was well revealed, so we can better understand his motives and feelings during the unfolding action, the female character was somewhat underdeveloped i think, not that it impacts the story much, but we could have gotten some flashbacks on how she ended up in the station as well, not only in words - but thats all minor mumblings

although it may seem to some as a 'B' rated movie - it is a much, much better than that, you can easily tell that much effort has been put in this movie by a serious team

7/10

This is the remarkable debut into English-language film directing by the Danish noir director Kasper Barfoed. Recently I reviewed his brilliant Danish thriller THE CANDIDATE (KANDIDATEN, 2008, see my review). Now he steps into our language, so watch out! This is a highly atmospheric and ominous thriller mostly set is a bizarre bunker on a disused military base which has been turned into what the security services call a 'numbers station'. That is where short wave is used (since its broadcast location cannot be traced) to broadcast instructions to spies round the world using number codes. The lead actor is John Cusack, who is perfectly cast because he makes a convincing quiet, brooding type. Here we come up against the problem I have mentioned frequently before, however, which is that the main character, with whom we are meant to sympathize, is a professional killer. In this instance, he is a government assassin. But is that any better than being a standard 'hit-man'? In any case, it is an unmistakable sign that our society is in a state of terminal decadence when the heroes of so many movies are men who kill for money. I suppose one could say that of Monsanto, perhaps, but then one could argue that Monsanto is an even worse sign of our terminal decadence, with the accent in their case on 'terminal'. So there he is, John Cusack, quietly guarding the woman who reads out the numbers at the numbers station, when things go seriously awry. Some of 'his side' have sold key information about the numbers station to 'the other side', whoever they are these days. And then vicious men with guns come in and start shooting and wanting the codes, and in fact they want to do terrible things with those codes, such as send false instructions requiring the agents who receive them to kill their own bosses. We are meant to feel sorry for John Cusack because nasty men are trying to kill him, but then who feels sorry for all the people John Cusack has killed? But that's not part of the script. Putting all the moral questions aside (which is what our society does nowadays), this is a very exciting film. So there you are.

"The Numbers Station" is another one of those quiet movies with an uninteresting title that wallow in obscurity, undeservedly.

"The Numbers Station" refers to a remote un-mapped location where secret encoders broadcast missions in highly secret numeric ciphers. After a flubbed mission and a severe attack of conscience, hit man Emerson (John Cusack) gets reassigned to provide security to Katherine (Malin Ackerman), one such code broadcaster. One day, their base gets compromised and Emerson and Katherine to promptly contain the problem before the false codes achieve their misguided missions.

John Cusack plays the cool-as-nails but conscience-stricken Emerson very well, both in the action scenes and the quiet scenes. His character is the heart of the film and he carried the role with dignity. Malin Ackerson did well as the traditional damsel in distress, but to her credit, her character did not just sit there waiting for things to happen.

I liked the tight and exciting pace of the story told within the limited confines of the numbers station. The emotional story within the heart of a supposedly unemotional killer was also well-told. This suspenseful and thoughtful film is recommended for viewers who like a neat claustrophobic thriller.