Behind Every Code Is An Enigma...
THE IMITATION GAME is a 2014 film starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, directed by Morten Tyldum. The film follows Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, pioneer, computer scientist and fascinating cryptanalyst who is one of the key figures in cracking the Nazi's infamous Enigma code, and thereafter being criminally charged for being homosexual. It entails his breakthrough and often anti-social behaviour whilst working for the military.
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The Imitation Game is a solid biopic and will most likely stand the test of time as a highly memorable film that I will revisit several times, despite some slight historical inaccuracies.
Benedict Cumberbatch takes top billing as the film's ever so important protagonist - Alan Turing. He is what makes the film, his performance holds everything together. The role was perfect for Cumberbatch. You can sense the emotional struggle and his character has within this film, as is necessary for the dramatic tale. Everything that Cumberbatch brings to Alan Turing feels natural and authentic.
Keira Knightley takes the supporting role in The Imitation Game as Turing's wife and supposed "partner", Joan Clarke. Her performance is also to be noted, adding a wit and charm to the film as she seemingly has a way of doing so in several past roles. Always quick off the mark and always has something to say. Similar to Cumberbatch, I personally couldn't imagine anyone else in the role after seeing this film. It is engrained in my mind that she really is Joan Clarke. A job well done to both Knightley and Cumberbatch.
This doesn't mean that I've forgotten about the rest of the cast, Turing's code breaking team including Matthew Goode, Allen Leach and Matthew Beard. All of them giving solid supporting performances and adding to the overall believability to the film. In addition to the crew, there is the MI6 agent Stewart Menzies and Alistair Denniston, played by Mark Strong and Charles Dance respectively. These two also bringing similar traits, Strong emitting his own enigma, a walking secret with little to tell unless the time is right, but willing to joke with the other characters. Dance being the uptight Commander completely focussed on results and nothing more. A man of actions, not words. This finally leads to good old Rory Kinnear, known by most as Bill Tanner in the Bond franchise, known by me as the Prime Minister in Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror, doing some rather questionable things as you may know if you've watched that series. His performance is just as strong as the others, albeit he has much lesser screen time, taking a back seat.
The look that this film has very distinct, clean, clinical. It adds to what the film is going for, what seems like a bleak outlook on what may be an unbreakable code. Each shot feels succinct and is very well lit, it looks great. Props to the relatively unknown Oscar Faura on creating a sculpting a visual style that genuinely looks beautiful.
The writing by Graham Moore is good, the interactions between all of the characters feels suitably snappy and witty and overall very articulate as well as detailed. No wonder why it reached number 1 in the Hollywood Blacklist of 2011 (a survey taken by production company executives to judge which is most liked that hasn't been put into production yet) as it is suitably fantastic and notably interesting.
Benedict Cumberbatch takes top billing as the film's ever so important protagonist - Alan Turing. He is what makes the film, his performance holds everything together. The role was perfect for Cumberbatch. You can sense the emotional struggle and his character has within this film, as is necessary for the dramatic tale. Everything that Cumberbatch brings to Alan Turing feels natural and authentic.
Keira Knightley takes the supporting role in The Imitation Game as Turing's wife and supposed "partner", Joan Clarke. Her performance is also to be noted, adding a wit and charm to the film as she seemingly has a way of doing so in several past roles. Always quick off the mark and always has something to say. Similar to Cumberbatch, I personally couldn't imagine anyone else in the role after seeing this film. It is engrained in my mind that she really is Joan Clarke. A job well done to both Knightley and Cumberbatch.
This doesn't mean that I've forgotten about the rest of the cast, Turing's code breaking team including Matthew Goode, Allen Leach and Matthew Beard. All of them giving solid supporting performances and adding to the overall believability to the film. In addition to the crew, there is the MI6 agent Stewart Menzies and Alistair Denniston, played by Mark Strong and Charles Dance respectively. These two also bringing similar traits, Strong emitting his own enigma, a walking secret with little to tell unless the time is right, but willing to joke with the other characters. Dance being the uptight Commander completely focussed on results and nothing more. A man of actions, not words. This finally leads to good old Rory Kinnear, known by most as Bill Tanner in the Bond franchise, known by me as the Prime Minister in Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror, doing some rather questionable things as you may know if you've watched that series. His performance is just as strong as the others, albeit he has much lesser screen time, taking a back seat.
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| "Are you paying attention?" |
The look that this film has very distinct, clean, clinical. It adds to what the film is going for, what seems like a bleak outlook on what may be an unbreakable code. Each shot feels succinct and is very well lit, it looks great. Props to the relatively unknown Oscar Faura on creating a sculpting a visual style that genuinely looks beautiful.
The direction by Morten Tyldum is great, leading on from his previous work Headhunter, which was previously critically acclaimed, albeit of a much different tone. Actors feel motivated amongst one another, and you can tell that the best performance has been extracted from Cumberbatch, as aforementioned when detailing his performance.
The score by long-time composer Alexandre Desplat is very cinematic and covers the film within a general "epic" theme. It comes off as a bit generic, similar to Hans Zimmer, doing so many scores that they all blend together. However, Desplat has done some very notable works before such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Tree of Life and Argo, that's to name a few. It is a very competent score, but it is nothing memorable. Nothing really sticks, I struggle to remember any sequence where the score enthralled me. It comes off as sadly forgettable.
Overall, The Imitation Game does bring some great thrills and will forever remain as a memorable biopic. It all comes together due to a very competent crew and is glued solid by Cumberbatch's central performance as Alan Turing. I would highly recommend this to most anyone, or specifically anyone that is looking for a good historical drama.
Overall, The Imitation Game does bring some great thrills and will forever remain as a memorable biopic. It all comes together due to a very competent crew and is glued solid by Cumberbatch's central performance as Alan Turing. I would highly recommend this to most anyone, or specifically anyone that is looking for a good historical drama.
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| "I'm just a mathematician." |
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