The Numbers Station (2013)

A disgraced black ops agent is dispatched to a remote CIA broadcast station to protect a code operator. Soon, they find themselves in a life-or-death struggle to stop a deadly plot before it's too late.

Director:

Kasper Barfoed

Writer:

F. Scott Frazier (screenplay by)

Stars:

John Cusack, Malin Akerman, Liam Cunningham

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Cusack	...	Emerson Kent
Malin Akerman	...	Katherine
Liam Cunningham	...	Grey
Richard Brake	...	Max
Bryan Dick	...	David
Finbar Lynch	...	Michaels
Lucy Griffiths	...	Meredith
Joey Ansah	...	Derne
Victor Gardener	...	Fischer
Joe Montana	...	Jeremy Fletcher
Brian Nickels	...	Bouncer (as Brian Sonny Nickels)
Randy Merchant	...	Bouncer
Hannah Murray	...	Rachel Davis
Gary Lawrence	...	Hospital Orderly
Max Bennett	...	Intern at Hospital

Storyline

When the moral values of a longtime wetwork black ops agent is tested during his last operation, he receives an unfavorable psych evaluation. Now he is given a break and a seemingly uncomplicated assignment of simply protecting the security of a young female code announcer, code resources and remote station they are assigned to. After an ambush and one phone call later, it becomes a complicated fight for their survival.

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Plot Keywords:

torture | cryptography | code | black ops | ambush | 

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Taglines:

The code has never been compromised. Until now.

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Genres:

Action | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

This motion picture's opening title card states: "Jackson, New Jersey, U.S."

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Goofs

When Katherine begins transmitting the cancel codes, she says "oh" instead of "zero". At the end of the same sequence, she correctly says zero. While some "numbers" stations did broadcast letters instead, they never mixed letters and numbers within the same broadcast (or station).

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Quotes

Emerson Kent: Oh shit, your leg.
Katherine: Oh my God!
[as he carries her to a table]
Katherine: I can't even feel anything.
Emerson Kent: That's usually a bad sign.
Katherine: You always know what to say to a girl.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits starts with some numbers spoken and reversed match with the names that are shown.

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Connections

Featured in The Making of the Numbers Station (2013)

User Reviews

compelling

THE NUMBERS STATION really reminds me of Anton Corbijn's 'The American' a lot. Emotionless espionage operatives discovering them. In both instances these males are swayed by females reminding them. Very different results to the stories, however.

THE NUMBERS STATION is definitely the more dark of the 2 films, filmed in the English country side, and in a forbidding fortress like facility in which codes in the form of 4 digit strings are broadcast relaying instructions to field espionage personnel and military units. John Cusack is the protagonist, an operative about to break down from the stress and unable to carry out an assignment, a murder. So he's reassigned to a numbers station, to more or less rest. He has no such luck when the station is attacked by parties who wish to broadcast false assignments. His partner, an attractive young woman played by Malin Akerman, is personable enough to invoke the fellow's emotions. Very poetic, and again, very similar to the Corbijn film.

Again I'm reminded of another film, Nicholas Ray's ON DANGEROUS GROUND , in which a detective who has become brutal and excessive, is reassigned to a rural murder case, becomes infatuated with a woman there and is relieved of some of his stress. Also I have an record by the rock band Porcupine Tree named 'Stupid Dream' in which one of the songs, 'Even Less', has a sample of these number strings being intoned. My guess is that it's a parody. I always wondered what they were.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

UK Belgium USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 April 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Numbers Station

Filming Locations:

Bentwaters Parks, Rendlesham, Suffolk, England, UK

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$383,488

Company Credits

Production Co:

ContentFilm International, Echo Lake Entertainment, Piccadilly Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1