The Imitation Game

Valkyrie, but for the ladies. A less dramatic and slower film, yet still comprehensible than A Beautiful Mind, for instance. Benedict Cumberbatch excels and the is script's playful, precise, and interesting. It only becomes pathetic and descends into sentimentality when Keira Knightley starts flirting. (2015-02-12)

Although the story is shot according to a mostly traditional (not to be confused with average) biopic template, thanks to the fantastic actors, great production design, direction, music by Alexandre Desplat and atmosphere, it is easy to forgive a lot of things. The supremely convincing Benedict Cumberbatch should have been given some sort of patent for his oddball roles by now, as great as he is, but the charismatic Mark Strong and Charles Dance don't stay in his shadow and Keira Knightley is more than a mere decoration. It was successful. (2015-02-01)

I cannot criticize anything significant about the film, and, in fact, I found it appealing from beginning to end and the writer and director managed to extract the maximum from the material offered. Let's face it, solving ciphers can be the basis for an exciting novel, but a gripping film needs more than just a view of a group of scientists pondering at a desk and solving complex equations. Benedict Cumberbatch handled the role of a quirky genius with homosexual tendencies very well, as expected. The film also doesn't shy away from the moral dilemmas associated with deciding what price is still worth paying to maintain a crucial secret for victory in the war. Overall impression: 85%. (2017-07-20)

Turing's Pure Soul that pays special attention to the (least) interesting aspects of his destinies (and when it pays special attention it is done in the style of cliché advertising like "when he goes, we also go" or "hurray" etc.) to sideline the most important and disproportionately interesting events which is strange. As a result, Cumberbatch's performance is particularly interesting. Not so much the performance itself (though this too) as in the context of his crucial roles, when after having performed characters of Hawking, Sherlock and Assange, this is already the fourth time when he plays similar role on paper, the archetype of the role of a "odd duck" genius, without in any way (or just a gesture) repeat the same performance over and over again. (2015-01-30)

For this movie to be perfect, it would have to be less literal and with less Hollywood-like straightforward emotions (A Beautiful Mind), but with more British nobility and reason (Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy). If the main character were black, it would be the most formulaic movie with Academy Award ambitions ever made. Benedict Cumberbatch is, however, excellent. (2015-02-17)