The Imitation Game

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. (17/02/2015)

An unenthusiastic 70%. The Imitation Game is the kind of film that every Oscar season must have, a well-executed real-life story about someone exceptional. This time we have Alan Turing, genius mathematician, rather asocial weirdo, and gay. Rather than the building of Turing’s machine and the breaking of the Enigma code, I was captivated by the moral dilemma related to the impossibility to use the broken code to save lives (they could have dedicated more time to that) and the way society treated a hero who happened to be different. Overall, it’s a good film, but I liked Tyldum’s previous thriller, Headhunters, a lot more. (14/01/2015)

I have no idea how much the film plays with the facts and what it fabricates, but it doesn't really matter because it's a pretty good story, and that's what matters. There are great characters here, with Benedict Cumberbatch quite expectedly leading as one of the best British actors of today. Or is he already? I like that the film has a broader relevance beyond the war subject. (12/01/2015)

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%. (20/07/2017)

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. (12/02/2015)