Review: THE IMITATION GAME

THE IMITATION GAME  (DRAMA/BIOPIC) 
3.5 out of 4 stars 
Directed by Morten Tydlum
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, Charles Dance, Mark Strong, James Northcote, Jack Bannon
Rated PG-13 for some sexual references, mature thematic material and historical smoking.
114 minutes
Verdict: A moving and romanticized tale of one of the 20th century's most influential figures in a little known piece of history, THE IMITATION GAME is a solidly-made biopic with an ideally-cast Benedict Cumberbatch as the eccentric genius Alan Turing.
YOU MAY ENJOY THE IMITATION GAME IF YOU LIKED:
A BEAUTIFUL MIND  (2001)
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING  (2014)
A SERIOUS MAN  (2009)
WAR HORSE  (2011)
ATONEMENT  (2007)

Alan Turing was easily one of the most influential minds of our time, but his name is largely unrecognizable to swaths of young people living in a world built on his work.  Considered to be the "father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence", Turing helped design one of the first electromechanical computers to help decode the "unbreakable" German Enigma Code in World War II, but was publicly disgraced in 1952 when he was charged with "gross indecency" for homosexual acts.  THE IMITATION GAME is the story of Turing's life told through three separate episodes, during his adolescent years as a student at a boarding school, his years breaking Nazi codes for the Government Code and Cypher School in WWII, and his post-war prosecution.
Turing is played by Benedict Cumberbatch, perhaps best known as the eponymous character in the BBC's acclaimed series Sherlock, and plays him like a milder, somewhat more human variation on Sherlock.  With his deep, cold and calculating vocals and piercing eyes, Cumberbatch naturally lends himself to 'eccentric genius' roles, playing off others with a snappy asocial demeanor, but he also gets to show a more clearly sympathetic side as Turing.  Central to the film is Turing's platonic relationship with fellow codebreaker Joan Clarke, played by Keira Knightley, making a peculiar sort of screen couple, neither of whom are the love of the others life by any stretch, but who rely on one another nonetheless.  Their relationship holds the heart of the film, not negating the importance of Turing's sexual identity in his story, but enhancing it.
Norwegian director Morten Tydlum, best known for HEADHUNTERS (2011), makes his English-language debut with THE IMITATION GAME, providing solid, deft direction, but without a lot of flash.  Intercutting the three periods throughout, the various episodes inform each other efficiently and entertainingly.  It does fall victim to certain tropes of biographical films, notably the character of Commander Alastair Denniston (Charles Dance), a very typical obstructionist supervisor with little motivation given, and for the cynically-minded, some moments of the movie could be written off as overly romantic Hollywood flourishes.
Like the character of Turing himself however, at least in the sense that the film presents him, THE IMITATION GAME is about mathematics, method and misery on the surface, but peering through from beneath is a very moving film with powerful pathos and sympathy.  This too little known piece of history deserves a spotlight, and this movie does so as engaging entertainment and an emotionally affecting tribute.