*MAJOR SPOILERS*
To start things off, this movie solidifies Benedict Cumberbatch as one of the greatest English actors of all time. Amazing performance, and very well played, sir.
The Imitation Game is a 2014 Biography/Drama film directed by Morten Tyldum and is loosely based on the biography titled: Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch as a British cryptanalyst named Alan Turing, who decrypted German intelligence codes for the British government during World War II. To start things off, this movie opened with a beautiful Prestige type of monologue. I instantly knew this would be hit as Cumberbatch’s voice just drags you in, and you’re immediately immersed in this world. As we are introduced to the characters we get a real sense of connection between us and them (mainly with Cumberbatch’s character, Alan). This film has a great amount of humor in it as we start off, which is always great for character introduction.
The thing that caught me off guard about this movie was that this film wasn’t just about breaking the German Enigma, but more about who Alan Turing was as a person and the life that he lived. To be honest, I think this movie is a tragedy, and shows the real life of this misguided man. You can immediately sense that Alan is different, not just because he is gay, but also because of the way he acts and thinks. You really do feel a sense of remorse for this character and person. The progression of his character (Alan Turing) is truly hard to watch and is unlike most films. This movie shows you the real struggle he had to go through on a daily basis, from the deception and lies building up inside of him, to the fear of coming out as being gay. The secrets of the war and his personal life just take an utter toll on him throughout the progression of this film, and we the audience truly feel the pain he is going through.
There were some minor issues I had with the film, mostly being its odd character development. Throughout this movie we meet many different people, yet a lot of the time the characters feel either forced, or just unnecessary to the plot. I know this film is based on a true story, but some characters seem undeveloped and leave the audience questioning their role in the film and story. I found faults in a couple of other things from the transitions in time being a bit odd, to the lack of score in some parts of the film. I’m not saying the score was bad, I actually kinda liked it. The issue I had was that is wasn’t always present, and seemed like they had only used it for the beginning and the end of the film.
With all that being said, I thought that The Imitation Game was a pretty decent movie. The story was alright, emotions were fantastic, acting was phenomenal, characters were alright, and the dialog was great, but this movie had a few short comings that just couldn’t go unnoticed. This film had the ability to be such a great movie, but was bogged down with some boring characters, and unnecessary plot points. If it were up to me, I would of focused solely on the story of the team breaking the Enigma, and less of Turing’s life. The movie opened with such a bright story and ended with a really depressing epilogue, and because of that I just didn’t feel a huge connection to this movie at all. Overall, I gave this film a “Good” on theVade Review Bar, since there were some really good, and really just eh parts to this film. If you’re looking for a drama filled, realistic film with huge amounts of Cumberbatch, then this is your movie. But if you’re looking for a action/war film, put this film back onto your shelf and go look for a different movie.
