REVIEW: The Imitation Game

Best Picture Nominee
Best Adapted Screenplay Nominee

8/10 - Like a paint-by-numbers Oscar flick

In 2014 Graham Moore won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Imitation Game. This was the first movie he had produced into a feature film. His short but moving speech revealed his own struggles as a kid, not having a place in the world.

"When I was 16 years old, I tried to kill myself because I felt weird and I felt different and I felt like I did not belong. And now I’m standing here and, so, I would like for this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she’s weird or she’s different or she doesn't fit in anywhere. Yes, you do. I promise you do. You do. Stay weird. Stay different."

A beautiful speech that gives insight into how he was able to create such a fantastic script. The Imitation Game is a film about the life of pioneering computer scientist Alan Turing. His brilliant mind ostracized him socially, compounded by the fact that he was openly gay during a time when homosexuality was illegal. Turing gets recruited to help crack the Nazi enigma code and help save his country. The same country that cruelly punishes him for being gay. Moore may not have experience working as a military code-breaker, but his own life experience helped create a remarkable tragic figure on screen.

The Imitation Game really is a remarkable film, if almost too polished. It creates a lovely balance of intriguing character with high stakes intensity. This simply is a display of Cumberbatch's talents to create a nuanced character. If you ever heard the advice, "don't show the work" this is exactly what makes Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal wonderful. Every moment embraces this character effortlessly. I was also surprised by Keira Knightly as well, who has never been a memorable actress to me. The film also has a good share of twists and unexpected surprises that makes it more than just a character study.

If there is a flaw in The Imitation Game it's the film's total lack of flaws. Turing says the right things at the right time, and it lost some appeal to me for that reason. Here's the scene where he says something funny. Here's the scene where he does something heroic. Here's the scene where he says a wise proverb. It's a difficult thing to criticize because if I was writing a movie I would want to create a script as tight as this was. However, some charm lost as the overall effect is very much the Hollywood standard without a unique flare.

Like Interstellar, this is a movie that seems to be plagued by a public need to identify inaccuracies. I stand by my belief that this is a movie. It's not a history lesson, nor a biography. Movies have no obligation to be accurate. They only have an obligation to entertain people, largely through fictional stories. If The Imitation Game was a launching point for you to research the life of Alan Turing or his achievements, or the enigma code, or the history of gay rights then the movie did a fantastic job.

I'm not sure if I think this was the year's best picture. As much as I enjoyed the historical fiction of Alan Turing and the Enigma code from The Imitation Game, I don't think it pushed the boundaries of storytelling the way some other films did this year. It certainly is a fantastic film, worthy of being seen and talked about, but a bit too much of a replication of The King's Speech and other historical films to be a stand out for me. Everything about The Imitation Game screams that it was made to win awards. Perhaps it should win them, but I don't value that very much as a movie-goer.


IMDb - The Imitation Game (8.1)
Wikipedia - The Imitation Game
Rotten Tomatoes - The Imitation Game (89%)
Amazon.ca - The Imitation Game