Codice fantasma

"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.

7.6 of 10. Fast moving film that says a lot about intelligence operations and the mental state of the operatives, why they do what they do, and the risks/prices they pay.

In these, it's easy to get hung up in details of is it real or is this done exactly like that, or is the cryptography accurately handled. For the most part, this successfully portrays the details. Are there actually numbers stations? That's not the question to ask. Are there secret communications operations? Yes. Once you get past that, most people already know and accept there are secret killings, so you can simply enjoy the story (except for the product placement, of course).

Another problem with these films is they get too caught up in the message, talking, and forget about action, thrills, and the story. This does a surprisingly good job quickly setting up the plot and keeping the pace fast (best of all, without any car chase scenes or similar gimmicks). The soundtrack/score helps too.

Something like a simplified, but not dumbed down, Bourne Identity film.

I won't try and stretch your credulity by saying this is a must see movie. You could give it a miss and your life will be just the same as if you saw it. However... It really isn't a bad little flick if you can get past the misleading posters, etc. They say "Action Movie" and the reality is that it is a character piece. A definite case of poor marketing.

John Cusack plays a burnt out CIA black ops guy that is assigned to watch over Malin Akerman after screwing up a job. The movie is more about him confronting his demons than about fighting off some nameless terrorist types. He does a decent and believable job.

Malin Akerman's character is somewhat under-developed. Her acting wasn't terrible, I just think the role could have been better written. I just couldn't seem to care all that much about whether she lived through it.

The one really jarring note was the location. It is supposed to be a remote secret base, but they used one of the many former air bases scattered through England as the setting. The thing is none of those bases are all that remote and it is a large complex with bunkers and electric gates and crap like that which kind of sticks out like a sore thumb. They would have done better to set it on an island off Scotland or something.

Over all it was worth seeing but it's better to rent than to buy.

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.

well, guys who gave low scores for this movie better getting off their high horses and at least having some solid feelings where they stood. this movie actually is quite watchable and i wouldn't mind telling you that i'm one of the arrogant, cynical, and hair-splitting picky guys who never had patience to any and all kinda bad movies, yet this one surprisingly surpassed my expectation. john cusack looked quite old in this film, his hairs looked quite stiff and unnatural due to so much hair dye was used that had made his hairs looked so disgusting. his facial features also looked quite messy.....but he did a great job here and malin akeman also performed so well. the screenplay was well crafted and the "panic room" replaced by some military bunker was also not bad at all. this film looked quite low budget but never gave you a B movie feeling and it's quite smart to have limited money well spent and turned a film into a quite watchable suspenseful one. if you by any chance want to watch a film without being foolish and make your money worthwhile, then watch this one, at least it won't let you down too much.