Review: Imitation Game (2014)

Breaking the unbreakable German code in World War II might seem like an impossible feat, but Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) is up for the challenge. Playing a socially awkward and misunderstood incarnation of the real man, Cumberbatch leads the cast of stellar characters that make up this film. While being predictable at times, the film still managed to throw me some twists that I didn't see coming, and entertained me through the entire movie.

The Imitation Game is about the life and work of British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing, and follows his journey of attempting to break the "unbreakable" German code during World War II. The film explores his childhood, as well as the events after the war, and also looks at the personal relationships Turing built while building a machine that he hoped would be able to crack the code.

Turing's machine is considered to be the first mechanical computational device, and as such he is considered to be "the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence." (Beavers, Anthony 2013)

The film is a period piece, of course, and the sets and costume design was beautiful and, from what I can discern, fairly accurate. In addition, the overall production design was well done, and I really believed that the action was unfolding in mid 20th century England.

The acting was superb. By far the best part of the film, in my opinion, and Benedict Cumberbatch truly did an amazing job - not to over shadow the other actors in the film, however. Keira Knightly did a fantastic job as well, as did really the whole primary cast.

While the shining moments of the film are the highlight of the film, there were a few things that I was not as thrilled with, like the somewhat predictable plot (though some parts of the film did catch me by surprise) and the decent (but not amazing) score detracted a bit from the film, but not enough to prevent my recommendation.

Is it, as some have said, the "best British film of 2014?" Maybe, I'll be honest, I haven't seen that many British films this year. But is it good? Yes, yes it is. I would say that, despite the minor issues, and they are minor, this is well worth the watch.

The verdict?
7 out of 10 - Heartily Recomend