'The Imitation Game' Review

A serviceable biopic about an exceptional man

Film review by Isaac Handelman

In The Imitation Game, real-life mathematician Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a genius who is eternally misunderstood. The film itself, by comparison, goes to great lengths to ensure that everyday viewers are not left in the dark by the sophisticated lingo used by the on-screen characters -- and it does a marvelous job of making its complex subject matter accessible without dumbing it down outright.

Early on in the film, Turing’s goal is clearly established: he’s to decrypt the German coding machine known as “Enigma” in order to intercept important military communications and ensure that the Allies emerge victorious from World War II. The film balances Turing’s high-stakes race against time with an accompanying account of his troubled personal life, plagued by his closeted homosexuality and severe inability to cope with normal, social situations.

The latter issue was, as the film portrays it, likely brought on by Turing’s autism, and Cumberbatch delivers what is possibly the most delicate, convincing portrayal of autism ever before seen on film. He plays Turing with a sort of unintentional arrogance that, in the face of his obviously gargantuan intellect, endears him to viewers. Cumberbatch depicts the protagonist as simultaneously stoic and full of an unbridled, childlike eagerness that drives Turing to outdo his colleagues. He’s an ultimately tragic figure, but watching him on-screen is definitely not a sullen experience.

One of Turing’s only meaningful human connections is with the beautiful, brilliant cryptologist Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley), who’s taken under Turing’s wing and goes on to understand the inner struggles of the central figure to an extent that no other character does. Knightley shares a strong energy with co-star Cumberbatch, lending an important believability to the bond forged by Clarke and Turing.

In order to chronicle Turing’s tumultuous personal struggles, Imitation Game makes effective uses of flashbacks and jumps forward in time, the events of which complement the goings-on of the main, “present” narrative without feeling shoehorned in. There’s quite a bit of introspective exploration that goes on during the time-jumps, wherein Turing calls his own humanity into question in a way that’s subtly tragic and highly plausible. The character drama is occasionally ham-fisted, with one particular line of dialogue acting as a hackneyed motif. All in all, though, screenwriter Graham Moore succeeds at weaving together Turing’s personal struggles with his war-focused goal.

This central conflict serves as the main driving force behind The Imitation Game’s narrative. Turing repeatedly gains and loses control of a team of highly capable British cryptologists; he continually flounders in gaining their support, unable to overcome his social anxieties and internalized thought processes. Ultimately, though, he of course manages to earn their allegiances -- because only together can the great struggle be overcome, right? Perhaps that’s overly idealistic, but it at least makes for some moments of amusing comic relief, mostly courtesy of Turing’s rambunctious peer Hugh Alexander (Matthew William Goode); Hugh’s relationship with Turing is, aside from that with Clarke, the most fun to watch evolve.

It’s here that The Imitation Game’s dedication to its subject clashes with its ingrained cinematic ideologies. Turing’s life is, as depicted here, by no means a walk in the park, but it seems quite apparent that things are lightened up considerably from reality for our leading man so as not to have the film be a totally morose slog. That’s all good and fine until the narrative itself stalls -- which The Imitation Game’s does on more than one occasion. The filmmakers are not quite capable of stretching Turing’s struggles into a full-length feature whilst lightening the tone, cutting out the technical elements and maintaining a consistent momentum. That is to say, a few stretches of the film’s duration can be described as nothing other than dull.

History isn’t always riveting, and neither is The Imitation Game, but the overwhelming strength of its leading man and the intrigue offered up by its intersecting narrative threads secure it as an informative, largely engaging biopic.