THE IMITATION
GAME
Unlock the secret, win the
war
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew
Goode, Rory Kinnear, Mark Strong, etc.
Directed: Morten Tyldum
Genre: Biography, Drama, Thriller, War
Released date: November 14, 2014
Rating: PG-13
Run- time: 1 hr 54 mins
The
Imitation Game is a historical thriller movie based on true story. The story is
about how a genius yet narcissist and lack of social ability, anything but
ordinary mathematician Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) breaks NAZI
‘unbreakable code’ called Enigma with his fellow mathematicians and code
breakers. During his younger age, Turing described as a brilliant but weird as
a student which was why he was bullied in boarding school. He has only one
friend in his boarding school named Christopher. In 1939, when Britain declares
war on Germany, Turing goes to Bletchey Park and joined a cryptography team of Hugh Alexander (Matthew Goode),
John
Cairncross (Allen Leech), Peter Hilton (Matthew Beard), Keith Furman and Charles
Richards which is under the direction of Commander Alastair Denniston (Charles Dance).
As to his lack of social ability, Turing was very difficult to work with. While
his colleagues are trying to decrypt the Enigma, he spends his time alone
trying to build a machine that can break any code, particularly Enigma at that
time. After Denniston refuses to fund construction of the machine, Turing
writes to Prime Minister Winston
Churchill, who puts Turing in charge of the team and funds the
machine. He then fires Furman and Richards and find Joan Clarke (Keira
Knightley) for replacement, who is the only woman in that team. The movie goes
on how the team faces the trouble and difficulties as they try to decipher
Enigma and how as Uncle Ben said, with great power comes great responsibility.
The
movie screenplay(watch trailer down below) is written by Graham Moore which based on the Biography of
Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges. The movie setting is very excellent
and realistic in portraying the condition during World War II, including LGBT
and gender issues. Alan Turing’s pathetic and terrible background story was
also made realistically. The most fascinating about this movie is how
incredible Benedict Cumberbatch acting in it. He had succeeded to play the role
of Alan Turing both physically and emotionally thanks to his beautifully unique
face and his exceptional talent to bring Alan Turing’s personality, social
disabilities, and stuttering problem into the big screen. Keira Knightley’s
acting as Joan Clarke in this movie is also terrific and admirable. Not to
mention Alex Lawther’s tremendous performance, as young Alan Turing. All the
actors and casts in this movie are very well prepared and dedicated themselves
to this movie and have the right to receive any credits and praises of the
success of this film.
This film clearly tells how the
WWII is not only just a war of power and weaponry but a huge, huge universal
code war. This story also tells how WWII has created a technological revolution
which until this very second still has a strong influence. The title itself
refers to Turing’s proposed test, which he discussed in his 1950 paper on
artificial intelligence entitled "Computing Machinery and
Intelligence". Overall, this movie has nominated and won some
prestigious awards, such as Academy Awards, Golden Globes, BAFTA, San Diego Film
Festival, etc. In fact, this movie gets 8 Oscar (2015) Nominations. The
nominations are for Best Picture, Actor in a Leading
Role (Benedict Cumberbatch), Actress in a
Supporting Role (Keira Knightley), Directing,
Film Editing, Music
(Original Score), Production Design,
and Writing
(Adapted Screenplay).
The Imitation Game is the top
grossing independent film release in 2014. The film opened number two at the UK
box office just behind the big-budget film Interstellar, earning $4.3 million from 459
screens. Its opening box office figure is the third highest opening weekend
haul for a UK film in 2014. It achieved a very high 90% “definite recommend”
from its core audience, according to exit poll figures. Its opening was 107%
higher than that of Argo, 81% higher than Philomena and 26% higher than The Iron Lady following its debut.
I personally would give this
brilliant movie 8.5/10 stars. Morten Tyldum clearly had managed to direct this mix
of biography and war movie into its success. The official film website also allows
visitors to unlock exclusive content by solving crossword puzzles conceived by
Turing in his lifetime. As Joan Clarke said: “But whoever loved ordinary?”
Benedict Cumberbatch stated “If any young person’s ever felt like they
aren’t quite sure who they are, or aren’t allowed to express themselves the way
they’d like to express themselves, if they’ve ever felt bullied by what they
feel is the normal majority or any kind of thing that makes them feel an
outsider, then this is definitely a film for them because it’s about a hero for
them”. Turing’s service for his country
itself has only been recognized lately. In 2013, Queen Elizabeth II granted him
a posthumous pardon.
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 89%
Metascore: 73/100
IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
Trivia (spoiler alerts)
Sources: Wikipedia, IMDB
“Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of who do the
things that no one can imagine”
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