Forget
about the jocks, the CIA prefers to recruit math geniuses. If they happen to be drop-outs with
socialization issues, so much the better.
Of course, they still need people who can kill, but any old losers can
do that, even someone who looks like John Cusack. Unexpectedly, one such field agent babysitting
a remote code transmitter will have to do what he does best in Kasper Barfoed’s
The Numbers Station (trailer here), which opens
tomorrow in New York.
Short
wave radio is untraceable, making it the perfect format to convey messages to
operatives in the field. Periodically,
conspiracy nuts and Democracy Now listeners get all worked up about mysterious “Number
Station” broadcasts. Typically, they are
simply series of numbers that have no meaning to listeners without the
code. After a dirty job gets downright
ugly, Emerson Kent is reassigned to a station somewhere in the English
countryside. He provides personal
security to Katherine, who analyzes incoming code and reads out the resulting
number sequences. Neither he nor she has
any idea what any of it means.
Typically,
they alternate with the other team every three days. However, when they arrive a few hours early
in accordance with their new schedule, they find the station under siege. Thanks to Kent’s skills they are able to
hole-up in the station. Ominously
though, they discover fifteen unauthorized messages have been sent.
A
film like Numbers Station would do so
much more business if it actually celebrated CIA agents’ service and sacrifice for
their country. There are now 103 stars
on the Memorial Wall in Langley commemorating officers who have fallen in the
line of duty. However, screenwriter F.
Scott Frazier is unmoved by that, preferring to represent as the Agency in the person
of Kent’s boss, the ruthless Michael Grey, who constantly growls
euphemistically about tying up loose ends.
Those 103 stars deserve better than that Mr. Frazier.
It
is a shame too, because Numbers Station is
a pretty tightly executed cat-and-mouse-game thriller. Barfoeld uses the claustrophobic constraints
of the station bunker to build tension, shying away from conventional action sequences. Both couples’ developing extracurricular
attractions also ring true, given the intimacy of their working environment.
Frankly,
John Cusack is pretty convincing as the guilt-ridden, clinically depressed
black ops agent. Perhaps Barfoed was
reading a list of his recent direct-to-DVD credits to him off-camera. Likewise, Malin Akerman proves she can credibly
play smart and attractive simultaneously, which should put her on a short list
for bigger and better roles.
Unfortunately, the usually super-cool Liam Cunningham is largely wasted
as the generically villainous Grey.
