The Imitation Game, directed by Morten Tyldum, was written by Graham Moore (screenplay) and Andrew Hodges (book). Based on the real life story of legendary cryptanalyst Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), the film portrays the race against time by Turing and his team of code-breakers at Britain’s top-secret Government operation. The majority of the story takes place in Bletchley Park during World War II.
When Turing was put in place to head the campaign to decrypt the incoming German messages, he was impressed by one person in particular, Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley). They all learned that each day, they had until Midnight before they had to start over again, attempting to decrypt new messages (the Germans changed their codes every morning).
Turing faced impossible odds, stress from every direction, and was ill-prepared to keep secrets, snuff out spies, and lead a team who was not impressed with his arrogance. A number of unlikely circumstances occur during his tenure in charge but things start to turn in their favor after Alan’s machine makes a breakthrough.
The film is right under 2hrs in length and has a nice intellectual touch to it. There was good chemistry between Cumberbatch and Knightley and the fact its based off a true story adds to the enjoyment of the movie. There’s no doubt this project will get a few nods during Award-season. The Imitation Game deserves an 8.5. It’s worth seeing because of the story, and since Benedict Cumberbatch is on a roll with his feature film catalogue the past 3 months, I’d be surprised if this didn’t win some type of award.
-Jon J.