THE IMITATION GAME (2015)

Genre: Drama

Running Length: 1:54

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, Charles Dance, Mark Strong

Director: Morten Tyldum

Screenplay: Graham Moore, based on the book "Alan Turing: The Enigma" by Andrew Hodges

There is nothing more painful than a broken heart especially those involving a break-up or unresolved romantic relationship. It takes a person on a seemingly endless emotional roller coaster ride. But for some, like Alan Turing in THE IMITATION GAME, it was the source of his motivation and inspiration in creating a machine (that will eventually evolved to what we called "computers" today) that will crack the German Enigma code. His work shorten WW2 by two years, thereby saving thousands of lives. The movie provides 3 glimpses into Turing's life; a rejected boy during his formative years as he was a recluse and a homosexual, the building of the code breaker and his final days before he took his own life. With such a meaty narrative and Benedict Cumberbatch playing Turing, I was expecting to be moved. I was waiting to hold back my tears towards the climax of the movie but it didn't do it for me. I didn't dislike the movie but I just thought it could have been much better under the direction of a director who has more experience in handling such material. To be fair, there were some dramatic moments. One scene came to mind where Turing and his team were faced with an impossible dilemma, right after they successfully broke the Enigma, but such scenes were few and far between. The Imitation Game is a war movie where no glorious battlefields are shown. It illustrates an important concept that is even more valid today - that mathematicians and scientists play a critical part in winning the war on terrorism. 

Rating: 7/10