The Imitation Game (2014) Dir: Morten Tyldum
- Ridley Coote
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
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This World War Two drama, directed by Morten Tyldum, told the story of Alan Turing, the legendary mathematician and cryptanalyst, whose double life, not as a spy, but as a gay man, lead to his ostracisation, arrest and chemical castration, at the hands of the very government he helped to turn the tide in the Second World War. I had watched about half of the film a few years ago, but felt it was worth seeing it in its entirety at least once.
Both from a visual and auditory perspective, this was very typical of the British spy or war film style. The film didn't stand out from either point of view, but it also didn't have any glaring issues on that front either, which is no bad thing. The only negative thing, really, is that, if not for the actors in the film, you'd be hard-put to distinguish this from any other British spy drama or thriller. It's unremarkable.
The story messes around with and alters aspects of the real events, which is usually inevitable with these sorts of films, to an extent, but still worth pointing out. I think it had a pretty good flow to it, considering how dialogue-heavy it was, which made it easy to watch, at least. I wasn't wholly captivated, but my focus was never completely lost. Turing's story would suit a limited series a little more, I think. It would give more time for events to breathe, and would mean that the writing would not have had to make as many alterations.
This was all immaculately acted by Benedict Cumberbatch, in what has become one of his many highly acclaimed roles. Cumberbatch is very good at being an awkward and intelligent person on-screen, as viewers of the popular 'Sherlock' series can attest. He felt so natural in this role, and never seemed to fall out of touch with his character - you can see why he got so much success out of these sort of roles.
Keira Knightley's depiction of her role was as consumate and professional as ever, and suited the film's wider feel just about perfectly. I won't go so far as to call this one of her greatest performances, that would be asking a lot, but I was still very much a fan of her performance. The rest of the supporting cast also saw several fairly strong performances, most notably from the likes of Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Charles Dance, and Mark Strong.
Overall, I thought this was a very solid biographical drama. Alan Turing is a man of great importance to 20th Century history, and I can understand why highlighting the life of a highly intelligent and controversial gay figure from history appealed to filmmakers in the way that it did. The film is made better for its leading performance, which was very befitting of such an interesting man.
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