Monday 23 February 2015

Review: The Imitation Game (2014)




Admittedly, I knew nothing about Alan Turing before going into this film. I knew a bit about what Enigma was, but that is it.

Cumberbatch at the start gave me a sort of Sherlock vibe with his portrayal, but this went shortly after. He is in top form as the socially awkward, mathematical genius. He is supported very well by Keira Knightly as his colleague and "love interest".

The film tells the story of Turing during his time in the war with a team of specialists as they try to crack the German's Enigma code, but also interchanges time periods to Turing's late schooling days and then post war life.

Although the story is overall engaging, I did feel it just dragged in parts, and the flashbacks to his late school life didn't really serve much purpose for me. There was questions in my head over what his post war life was depicted as, but these didn't seemed to be answered. For me, this made it a bit confusing to watch, as I wasn't sure why some story elements were touched on but not really explained later on. Perhaps I like a neat bow with some films.

I'm bad with my history knowledge, so I didn't even know that homosexuals had been "punished" to this level in the timeframe depicted. Again, another story that shows how fucking horrible we are to each other as humans on this planet, and how recent this horrible history really is. Hell, even in the 21 st century, are we still much better.

Anyways, I digress - the movie is very good. It should definitely be something that everyone watches - but it ain't no best picture.

Rating:

3.5 out of 5.

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