The Imitation Game
The Imitation Gameis a fantastic piece of historical theater that never fully embraces its cinematic identity.
The Imitation Gameexposes a little - get laid part of WWII : mathematician Alan Turing ’s ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) top - secret pursuit to crack up the Nazi coded message system known as " Enigma " . work at Bletchley Park alongside other accomplished code breaker like Hugh Alexander ( Matthew Goode ) and the uniquely talented Joan Clarke ( Keira Knightley ) , Turing purpose a radical concept : building a ' mentation machine ' that can outsmart the German system .
However , Alan ’s greatest obstruction prove to be his own mind . With few social skills and little regard for the understanding of others , Turing quickly finds himself keep apart from the group , with beast like Commander Alastair Denniston ( Charles Dance ) waiting for any opportunity to bust down both him and his employment . Through the patience and compassion of his fellow codification - breaker , Alan slow learns to play the socio - political plot that will help him achieve his decisive visual sense . But beating Enigma turn up to be only one big challenge in the tragic life of an eccentric genius .
Based on the pivotal book , Alan Turing : The Enigmaby Andrew Hodges , The Imitation Gameis a film that manages to proffer new insights into the exhausted WWII pic sub - genre , buoyed by some fantastic performances from a great ensemble cast . While the handwriting and execution may be hard , the movie is not all that it can be on a cinematic story , providing one of more uninteresting onscreen portraits of the war itself .
Norse theatre director Morten Tyldum ( Headhunters ) is at his best when stag the cinema like a stage play . The scene composition is simple , the motion-picture photography frizzly and modern , and the output project a fitting throwback to the WWII era . Tyldum lets the doer work out each setting with small intrusion , and as a result , most of the onscreen interactions between grapheme are challenging to look on .
What is not so intriguing , is the depiction of the war outside of the academic mission at Bletchley . A combination of gillyflower footage and game card - looking military sequences are theorise to depict WWII battles - and possibly the discrepancy between the code circuit breaker ' imaginings of combat and the genuine reality of the war . However , meet well - staged scene of conversation juxtaposed to cheap - looking diversion of warfare really creates the air of take in a well - done ( but budget ) BBC docudrama , rather than a major movement photo . It ’s not a deal - breaker of any sort , but it ’s enough to keepThe Imitation Gamefrom really accomplish top levels of cinematic greatness as a film - as opposed to serve as a firm role player case .
The film represent the first feature article - length script by author Graham Moore , and even with the usual biopic criticisms ( certain liberties take , certain information skim over or left out ) , it ’s still a pretty efficient tale . Using a flashback frame gimmick ( Turing ’s post - war troubles , his wartime heroism , and boyhood traumas ) , we get a upstanding character through - logical argument chase how this eccentric wizard was always hindered by his own eccentricity , which included an ' Asperger - ish ' personality and closeted homosexuality - the latter of which was considered a criminal offence by British law of that time .
With a solid central focus on Alan - and conversely a thematic focussing on the reward of adept vs. the toll - Moore is gratuitous to open things up a bit , mining great wit and deeper insight via other characters who surround Turing . Much like Cumberbatch ’s star - take a shit role as a fictional iconic Brit ( Sherlock ) , most ofThe Imitation Games’fun is found in how normal individual react to this incredibly unnatural world .
To that end , Cumberbatch stir part of his Sherlock character mannerism - but manages to flesh them out with much more nuance and subtly to provide much inscrutable sixth sense into the complex serviceman Alan Turing was . It would be easy to dismiss the performance as aSherlockknockoff ( and savvy viewers may do just that ) , but looking at the role independently , it is quite dear and desirable of some ( if not all ) prize considerateness .
Matthew Goode ( Watchmen ) and Keira Knightley ( Atonement ) prove to be fantastic supporting foils for Cumberbatch . Goode exudes suave confidence , charm , and well - layer angst as the more personable genius , Hugh Alexander , and he and Turing ’s relationship proves to be a solid secondary bow of the story . Similarly , Knightley has cute appeal and strong calmness as a brilliant char living in a sexist era . Her interactions with Cumberbatch ( though perhaps embellishing the tangible Joan / Alan story ) help to ground things , and offer entry into other look of Turning ’s personality ( sorry and good ) aside from his proclaim genius . Indeed , find out Turing attempt socialisation with Hugh and Joan is often as gripping as watching the trinity trying to crack the Enigma puzzle .
‘The Imitation Game’
The larger supporting cast includes veteran thespians like Charles Dance ( Game of Thrones ) and Mark Strong ( Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ) - as well as timbre younger actors like Allen Leech ( The Tudors ) , Rory Kinnear ( Skyfall ) and Matthew Beard ( An Education ) . No matter their respective experience , all of the histrion seem to effortlessly breathe life into their several characters , and function with snappy wit as an ensemble . Leech and Kinnear get some particularly interesting subplots to play out , and do so with such control and subtly it may be hard to spy at first ( the patsy of great character actors ) . lastly , young actor Alex Lawther give a breakout performance as the young edition of Turing struggle through a polar point in his animation .
In the terminal , The Imitation Gameis a fantastical piece of historic theater that never full embraces its cinematic identity operator . The subject matter alone sets it aside as more interesting and insightful than the average movie memoir - and combined with the execution of Cumberbatch and Co. , it ’s definitely a winner . However , with limited cinematic scope it would n’t be a disgrace if you lose this one in field of operations and instead , hold back for home sack ; but if you require to get a lead on the 2015 awards race , this is definitely required viewing .
TRAILER
The Imitation Gameis now play in limited exit . It inflate to wide of the mark liberation in the forthcoming week - check your local theater for showings . The movie is 114 minutes long and is Rated PG-13 for some intimate references , matured thematic stuff and … " historic smoking . "
The Imitation Game stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing , the tangible - spirit British mathematician and computer scientist who was instrumental in decipher the German spy codification machine Enigma during WWII . The pic focalize on Turing ’s employment during the war and his personal life during that time , as well as the tragical tale of his life after the war and his expiry in 1954 . Keira Knightley , Matthew Goode , Charles Dance , and Mark Strong also asterisk .
Matthew Goode in ‘The Imitation Game’
Kiera Knightley in ‘The Imitation Game’
