The Imitation Game Review (2014)

The Imitation Game

  Two words. Benedict Cumberbatch. Saying he's a good actor is probably the understatement of the century and is so obvious that it's almost not even worth mentioning. However, I will mention his acting because in this movie he is absolutely phenomenal! I was a fan of Cumberbatch in the Sherlock TV Series and thought he did decent in some of his earlier stuff like the BBC film, Hawking, where he played Steven Hawking. In The Imitation Game, he really out does himself with his performance. He has such a great emotional range that even though his character can be a jerk at times, there's still something about him that makes you really want to root for him.

  The rest of the cast also gives great performances in this thought-provoking film about breaking the unbreakable enigma cipher machine and essentially inventing the first computer. I knew nothing about Alan Turing prior to seeing this film, but wow was this guy a genius. It's crazy that he played such a vital part in ending World War 2 and yet his whole story was classified for 50 something years.

  This movie and it's characters had a lot of layers and those layers really keep you invested in the story. My only gripe with this film was the way they emphasized Alan Turing's homosexuality. Obviously this was a true event and his character being a homosexual was essential to the plot, but I did feel that in the end notes, they try to shine this massive spotlight on homosexual injustice and really just victimize him. The movie was about the war and breaking this unbreakable code, so to diminish it in the credits to gay propaganda about how many homosexuals commit suicide a year, really soured the brilliant story being told. This aspect I found to be a bit off-putting and for that reason I can't quite get the rating to five stars, but I will give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. (I'd Buy It)