The Imitation Game Review

     It is often that the greatest heroes are the unsung ones, the people behind the curtain that dedicate their lives one way or another. People like Tony Mendez, who helped lead the operation to save several Americans trapped in Iran during the Iran hostage crisis, or John R. Fox, a WW2 soldier who sacrificed his own life by calling an air strike to his position to halt German troop movements in order to give his unit time to escape. Some of the greatest men and women in history weren't put on pedestals and immortalized with statues; they stayed in the shadows and assured that the world would keep spinning. Maybe the greatest example of these heroes would be Alan Turning, who gave up years of his life to lead a group whose work would be kept secret for over 50 years; but without him, the allied powers might not have won the Second World War.

     Starting in 1939, a mathematics genius named Alan Turning meets with a British commander concerning an undisclosed job. Turning quickly realizes that the position involves cracking the German Nazi code they use on a machine called Enigma. Turning is a peculiar fellow, he has trouble getting along with people and generally just doesn't know how to act in social situations, and since he has to work with a team this can obviously lead to problems; but his mind is invaluable and needed, so those around Turning suck it up. Enigma is supposed to be unbreakable, and the code can only be determined if you know what settings the machine needs to be set to; and since the settings are changed every day, there's no way to determine which settings are being used. So Turning comes up with an idea, a machine that can decipher what settings are being used for a particular message. The problem is that the machine would need to be more advanced than anything else ever conceived, and would cost over a hundred thousand British pounds. Fighting with his team and the higher ups, Alan attempts to complete his machine while concealing a fact about him that could land him in jail and make all of his work useless.

     Towards the end of the year, especially during Oscar season, dozens of movies get released in hopes of winning as many awards as possible; "The Imitation Games" is one of those movies. It follows a formula we've seen before, an autobiographical period piece drama about a hero or influential person. At this point this specific type of movie has been over saturated, fortunately though this movie manages to stand out being that it is very good. Whenever a movie like this comes out, arguably the most important aspect would be the acting; it gives the stars a chance to strut their stuff, and everyone in this movie does a great job. Actors Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, and Mark Strong, give some of the best performances of their careers and all bring something to the movie; but without question it is Benedict Cumberbatch in the leading role who steals the show. Ever since he rose to fame in the BBC show "Sherlock," Cumberbatch has consistently shown why he is one of the best British actors today. His performance is both one of the best of his career as well as all of 2014. In autobiographical movies, the entire film falls upon the shoulders of the lead actor; and from what I can tell Cumberbatch does Alan Turning justice. I would not be surprised if we see him get an Oscar nomination. It helps that the movie features a well written script with smart dialog. The movie does a great job telling the interesting story of an interesting and important man. I do with that the film went more into detail of Turning's early and later life, it discusses them briefly but those time periods are ultimately glossed over. With a movie like this, it is important that it looks good. Period piece movies have to look just like the time they take place in, and "The Imitation Game" manages just that. The movie has a great production design and is shot with lovely cinematography. Unfortunately though a few scenes feature rather unimpressive CGI, it's not bad but is lackluster compared too many recent movies. Almost in its entirety, "The Imitation Game" is fantastic movie; but it does suffer from one major flaw. Other than one particular scene towards the end, the movie never has that emotional punch it really needs. Several of the sad stories told, as well as the direness of the situation, don’t have the impact they really need. And because of this, some of the sadder sequences fall a little flat. Despite this flaw I have with it, "The Imitation Game" is a great movie. From the acting, to the production value, to the writing, the movie comes together as one of the better biographical movies is recent years. While it's only just getting released in my area, this is a 2014 movie. And after seeing it, it's not hard to understand why so many listed it among the best movies of the year. 

Pros: Very good performances from the entire cast, Oscar worthy performance from Cumberbatch, great writing with smart dialog, good production design, great directing from Morten Tyldum, lovely cinematography, tells an interesting story about an interesting man.

Cons: Unimpressive CGI, doesn't have the necessary emotional impact, doesn't go enough into detail about Turning's early and later life.

4/5 Stars