“The Imitation Game” Directed by Morten Tyldum

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Director:

Morten Tyldum (“Headhunters”)

Main Cast:

Benedict Cumberbatch (“Atonement”, “Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy”, “War Horse”)

Keira Knightley (The “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, “Pride and Prejudice”, “Atonement”)

Matthew Goode (“Match Point”, “Watchmen”)

Mark Strong (“Stardust”, “Kick-ass”, and two different movies entitled “Sunshine”)

Running Time:  114 Minutes

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Based on the Andrew Hodges biographical novel “Alan Turing:  The Enigma”, “The Imitation Game” is set in London at the onset of the UK’s involvement in WWII.  Mathematics prodigy Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) leads Great Britain’s effort to break Germany’s unbreakable Enigma code, which prevents messages members of the German military send to each other from being decrypted by the Allies.  Me being me, I made these comparisons with one of the year’s other big movies, “The Theory of Everything”:

-both are true stories about a super-intelligent British citizen that made a world-wide impact

-both are set in the not-too-distant past

-both focus on each subject’s most significant period, although “The Imitation Game” uses flashbacks, the importance of which is not significant until late in the film

-both follow a relatively typical Hollywood storyline/story arc (unlike some of the year’s big movies)

I love a good period movie and “The Imitation Game” is definitely that.  I didn’t think director Morten Tyldum’s 2011 Norwegian-language crime thriller “Headhunters” got the audience it deserved.  The storytelling and moviemaking are solid and the same goes for this film.

There is a lot of dialogue in “The Imitation Game” and it helps to have good British actors delivering it, with Cumberbatch leading the way.  The movie is well done all-around and the writing is good.  I was distracted by the scene where the military officer overseeing the code-breaking effort, Commander Denniston (Charles Dance, right¹), brought in officers to dismantle the complicated machine (below) Turing single-handedly built to descramble the Enigma code.  The commander’s reasoning was that it hadn’t produced results quickly enough, even though it had been established that it would take money, time and effort to break the code.  It made no sense that the commanding officer of such an important project would undermine it just to be vindictive and that part of the movie just seemed very cliché, even if it actually happened.  It reminds me of movies like “Beverly Hills Cop”, or the Dirty Harry movies, where the lead character’s boss is adversarial.  I understand taking dramatic license to build tension but it was a scene I didn’t care for.  There was enough tension already there.  Another part I didn’t understand was how Turing was able to build such a complicated machine, which had a lot of working/moving parts.  Does being a math genius automatically make someone an expert in mechanical engineering?  I guess he was just that smart.  Without going into detail, there also is a sub-plot that is powerful and ultimately tragic pertaining to Turing’s personal life.

Playing an extraordinarily intelligent character I never heard of before seeing “The Imitation Game”, Cumberbatch certainly makes a strong case for a Best Actor Oscar®. . His performance is as much about his facial expressions, tics, strategic pauses, and stilted delivery as the lines themselves, which are all potent on their own.  He’s excellent in exhibiting his character’s clumsy people skills (very condescending and he takes things other people say too literally).  I was surprised Keira Knightley (above) got a Best Supporting Actress Oscar® nomination.  Other than being pretty, I didn’t see anything special about her performance, unless there was a subtlety I didn’t catch (the same goes for the Best Actress nomination of Felicity Jones for “The Theory of Everything”).  Mark Strong (left), seemingly on the verge of breaking out into more important roles, commands every scene he’s in.  Matthew Goode’s (below) presence is stronger than his character’s importance.  When Daniel Craig has had enough of being James Bond, Goode’s claim to successor may be as strong as anyone’s (assuming the franchise wants to return to Roger Moore mode).

“The Imitation Game” is enlightening to those who are not familiar with Alan Turing and the shocking and shameful way Great Britain persecuted and dealt with gays (which they did as recently as 1967).  It offers an historically significant storyline, good all-around movie making and acting, and it looks and sounds great, but Cumberbatch’s powerful and nuanced lead performance dominates the movie.

DPW

January 28, 2015

1 Charles Dance plays the villain in John McTiernan’s 1993 “Last Action Hero”, which is one of my movie-watching guilty pleasures.  According to IMDB, Alan Rickman wanted too much money so Dance was cast instead and does a great job.  This is the only other movie I’ve ever seen him in.

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