The Numbers Station

Starring: John Cusack & Malin Akerman

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

John Cusack is a terrific actor and he proves it once again in The Numbers Station. Recently, Cusack has done a lot more direct-to-video stuff, deciding to be a big fish in a much smaller pond, and it has worked out very well. The Numbers Station is a secret CIA base in a secluded part of England, where encoded messages are sent to agents in the field. Emerson (John Cusack) was one of those agents, until his conscience caught up with him, and he is assigned to guard the station, a quiet, lonely job, until terrorists break in, and he is the last line of defense. A movie like this, with a small cast in a secluded location, only works if the stars of the film can keep you're attention and make the story believable, and both Cusack and Malin Akerman both do a terrific job of it. This movie is more about the intensity of the situation and the reaction of the people involved than it is about killing bad guys, and that is why Cusack was perfect choice for the lead in this film. Few actors bring the experience of intensity that John Cusack brings to a project. The story here, wasn't anything unique or extraordinary, but it was an action film from a more psychological point of few. Most action films are more about big explosions and special effects, the story is secondary, but in The Numbers Station, things are reversed and that's why I liked it so much. It's a fun film, that will keep you guessing, with a cast that will engage you the whole way. It may have been an independent direct-to-video film, but it has the bite of a much larger beast.