The Imitation Game

The Imitation Game has a rich history in the man of Alan Turing. Turing being a brilliant computer scientist essential in the creation of a decoder computer that helped to break the Nazi code during World War II. He was also a homosexual at a time where it was illegal in England which lead to his tragic downfall shortly after the war. An atypical life lead to an atypical film, not in actual execution but through its process of attempting to tell the story of Turing as a mainstream crowd pleaser. The film attempts to tell both stories however these stories are so different it is hard to wholly capture both. The film does not succeed in naturally streamlining this due to mostly its ending which is too much of challenge to cohere to the overarching approach. Now I will say that overarching approach is effective in granting an old fashioned biopic to Turing. It doesn't ignore his homosexual life however it downplays it towards focusing instead on his introverted eccentricity. This does work, largely due to Benedict Cumberbatch's dedicated performance, and the story of the code breaking is potent enough to carry much of the film. It however even in this aspect loses its grip somewhat with its choice to introduce as espionage subplot that adds essentially enough style of film into the overarching one. When it is the streamlined biopic it works, when it falls into the tragic story of Turing it suffers since it doesn't devote enough time to it. The scenes of the past do work but again these naturally fit into the biopic structure. The tragedy is undercut because of the rush to include which sadly feels forced within the rest of the film especially when the film leaves on uplifting note despite the fact our central lead commits suicide.
3.5/5