Pluskylang Great Film overall

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Paul Magne Haakonsen For an action thriller then "The Numbers Station" wasn't particularly interesting or impressive. In fact it was so predictable to the point of where it was almost ridiculously predictable. And this was a hard blow to the movie, which dragged it down.And while both John Cusack and Malin Åkerman performed quite well, then they just had very little to work with in regards of script and direction from Kasper Barfoed. Liam Cunningham also did a good job acting in this movie, as he always does.The plot in "The Numbers Station" had an adequately enough foundation, it just never took hold. But director Kasper Barfoed swung wide and missed even wider with this movie.If you enjoy thrillers then there are far, far better thrillers available, and "The Numbers Station" is worth your time only if you are a fan of John Cusack or Malin Åkerman. But even then, don't get your hopes up too high.

NateWatchesCoolMovies 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.

Mischief810 Finally, after a string of dreadful scripts, poor directing and outright silliness, Cusack gets a role he can sink his teeth into. His character, Emerson Kent, is a burned out black ops agent. The character is a dark, tortured soul and Cusack plays it magnificently. Malin Akerman also shines in her role as Katherine, an ebullient and somewhat naive cryptographer with issues of her own.The plot gets down to business very quickly and the pace of the film never really lets up. Kent lets you know right away that he's no nice guy, so it's accurate to say that there really aren't any good guys here. Kent only seems intent on doing the right thing despite his ruthless past.There are no car chases. There are a few well placed explosions. But enough gunfire and action to move this 90-minute flick forward at just the right pace. It is at times thrilling, at times poignant, and at times quite violent. What else could you ask for in an action thriller?

Guy THE NUMBERS STATION is a mediocre thriller based rather loosely on fact. Numbers stations do exist, to broadcast coded radio messages to spies in the form of numbers. In the film it is actually how the CIA controls an army of assassins who not only operate in the USA but whose main roles seems to be to kill former CIA staff (presumably none of the assassins ever wonder if they'll be next). The hero - a rumpled John Cusack - is inevitably a burn out - he killed a couple of civilians on his last job of course - assigned to babysit a woman, whose only job is to read the numbers, in a bunker in the UK. Inevitably baddies get inside and proceed to do bad things: can our heroes reverse the false numbers they inserted and survive? The plot is full of holes, the story relies on wonky flash backs and the characters are stock but the Scandi director and short running time mean the film is just about watchable provided you leave your brain at the door.