Reviews

The Imitation Game film review starring Keira Knightley and Benedict Cumberbatch

Posted on: 2014-11-17

The Imitation Game is a slick, compelling, thought-provoking and supremely crafted biopic and one of the best British films of the year.

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Imitation Game tells the true story of brilliant mathematician, Alan Turing, a man instrumental in breaking the German's Enigma code during the Second World War. It's estimated that his genius ultimately shaved two years off the conflict and unquestionably saved millions of lives.

The film kicks off with Turing - played by the ubiquitous Benedict Cumbercatch - being held in police custody for the 'crime' of being a homosexual and charged with indecent acts with a younger man. Through flashbacks, Turing arrives at Bletchley Park and immediately raises the hackles of Commander Denniston (a imperiously impressive Charles Dance), but nabs the job of overseeing a team of the country's top cryptoanalysts to crack the Nazi code and help the Allies win the war. 

Director Morten Tydlum deftly controls debut screenwriter Graham Moore's superb script with a confident and assured hand. Turing opening words are "Are you paying attention?" - and that sets the tone for the entire film, because you'd sure as hell better. 

The narrative slickly and coherently combines elements of thriller and biopic, masterfully interweaving the obvious code-breaking shenanigans with the birth of artificial intelligence, a frantic race-against-the-clock, uncovering the mystery of a potential Soviet spy in the ranks, a schoolboy coming-of-age drama, and an unorthodox love story with colleague Joan Clarke (an excellent Keira Knightly). It's often labyrinthine but the different threads are so adroitly handled that you're never left confused. 

Cumberbatch is stunning as the code breaker: undeniably brilliant, a prodigy, but a head-scratching multitude of contradictions. The man himself is a puzzle: arrogant, coldly detached, wracked with the pressure of his supremely gifted and beautiful mind, terse, often rude, and unapologetically passionate in his unwavering belief and commitment to "the most difficult problem in the world". Socially awkward but rapier sharp, it's a towering, Oscar-worthy turn by Cumberbatch, nailing (but not overdoing) the character tics and twitches. 

But of course, with great power comes great responsibility. For once the code is cracked, Turing is then plunged into the invidious dilemma of practically playing God, deciding who will live and who will die, euphoric they can decipher the Nazi codes but all too aware that preempting and preventing enemy attacks would give the game away. The consequences hit an emotional, heart-wrenching apex when Turing refuses to intervene in a naval skirmish that could save the life of a colleague's brother. It's an agonizing, painful exchange that encapsulates their doubled-edged victory.

For certain, for the sake of narrative flow and exposition, a few liberties have been taken with historical accuracy, but there's no denying the exciting, thrilling and emotional punch the film packs. The poignancy of Turing's accomplishments are also anchored and hauntingly echoed in the recurring epithet: "Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of that do the things people never imagine."

For his homosexuality, Turing was forced to take a treatment of chemical castration rather than go to prison, and he committed suicide in 1954. He was post-humously pardoned by the Queen in December 2013, officially recognising his code-breaking contribution to the Second World War that made him a war hero. The tragedy was, of course, that his extraordinary genius and story was kept secret for 50 years and that his life ended under such terrible circumstances.  

The Imitation Game is a slick, compelling, thought-provoking and supremely crafted biopic and one of the best British films of the year. 

4/5

Reviewed by Jamie Caddick for 365Bristol

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