Years ago, the script for The Imitation Game was lauded by "The Black List" as one of Hollywood's best unproduced scripts -- recognition which helped it sell for a healthy sum. At that time, Alan Turing was a figure well-known only in programmer circles. But in late 2013, after the film was already in progress, Turing's story gained a bit of attention for another reason -- Queen Elizabeth II pardoned him posthumously for his "gross indecency," a 1950s conviction for his crime of homosexuality.
So as you can see, The Imitation Game is poised to push all sorts of Awards buttons. It's taken from a real-life story involving genius, war, impossible odds, and gay rights. It's like Instant Best Picture, just add celluloid.
Which, as it turns out, is part of the problem. To be clear, The Imitation Game is a very good movie. The story is remarkable and unique. But as you watch it, you can't help but become aware that, as a movie, it feels a bit conventional. The scenes are good, but awfully familiar, so much so at times that you begin to doubt that the real history actually unfolded in this way. Turing, the misunderstood genius, is dismissed by everyone, even though he's actually the only man who can save the world. It's just too perfect.
For me, oddly, the "bridge too far" was a relatively minor detail. I found myself thinking that it was a too easy bit of "armchair psychology" that, according to the movie, Alan Turing named his code breaking machine after his schoolboy crush. Did he really do that? So after the movie, I did some research and learned the answer is no, he didn't. And in the course of Googling that, I found all sorts of other ways the film took liberties with the history.
Turing did not report to a commander who obstructed him at every turn. His team did not doubt that the machine was the best way to break the code. Though possessing a stammer far greater than what was portrayed, Turing was not a social pariah of undiagnosed Asperger's proportions. How could he have been? The man worked in the military-- in intelligence! -- while living in the closet, which in fact would have required a tremendous level of social awareness.
In all, so much was tweaked from reality that I think it would be more fair to say The Imitation Game was "Inspired by True Events" rather than "Based on True Events." And while I'm willing to give tremendous latitude to filmmakers trying to make a compelling movie, I'm not sure this story really needed to be dressed up so much. Or at least, not in a way that seemed to so methodically crib from the formula established by A Beautiful Mind, Forrest Gump, and others. But though I have reservations about the script, I still think the movie tells a story well worth telling. And it's not as though it does so badly, it just does so in a formulaic way.
As for the performances, I have no reservations whatsoever. Benedict Cumberbatch is absolutely brilliant as Alan Turing. After his work as the title character on the BBC's Sherlock, it's easy to typecast him as an "antisocial, misunderstood genius." But he is not in any way channeling his version of Holmes in this performance. His Turing is fragile, awkward, and sympathetic... in addition to possessing the dogged, prickly brilliance you'd expect if you've watched Sherlock. It would be robbery for him not to receive a Best Actor nomination for this role, though I have little concern he won't.
Keira Knightley is solid as friend and colleague Joan Clarke, swaggering in at the start of the movie's second act and instantly commanding as much attention as Cumberbatch. Charles Dance brings the withering cynicism that made him an indelible Tywin on Game of Thrones, making an excellent "villain" of Commander Denniston. Mark Strong is excellent as Major General Menzies, actually generating some big laughs with his delivery of a few choice lines. Matthew Goode, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, Rory Kinnear -- all of them have supporting roles, but all of them are outstanding in at least one key scene featuring their characters. And young Alex Lawther makes your heart go out to the grade school Turing in the film's early flashbacks.
All told, I do recommend The Imitation Game. And if you tend to like movies with strong acting, it's an absolute must-see. I give it a B+. But in a year of several phenomenal movies, its workmanlike manipulation of the audience keeps it from cracking my top 10.
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