The Imitation Game (2014)

Title: The Imitation Game
Release Date: 25 December 2014
Directed by: Morten Tyldum
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightly
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2084970/
My Rating: (5/10) ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

Beautifully photographed and fearlessly acted, The Imitation Game still somehow fails to resonate.

As I sat down to write this review, it occurred to me that I couldn't connect with any specific approach to recommend the film. I thought I was about to sit and write an eight star review for a film I loved--I mean, I was clearly effected when the credits rolled. So what happened? As I sit here now, trying to extol the film's virtues and decipher what it was that moved me so much, I realize it was all well crafted Hollywood illusion. And I'm the sappy 'mo that fell for it!

I didn't see the sleight of hand--director Morten Tyldum's ultimately formulaic approach to 2014's Aren't-I-So-Discerning-That-I-Chose-This-Movie movie. Yes Benedict Cumberbatch is without inhibitions, so much that even the smallest muscle in his face works toward creating a full and complex portrait of a genius mathematician abused by the circumstances of his time (Alex Lawther as a younger Turing is just as complex but frankly much more understated). And while, most likely historically inaccurate, Keira Knightly's performance is designed as one to really awaken and empower an audience. Which, when the credits rolled I was. Awake and empowered. Ready to accept my homosexual ex-fiance for who he is and give him the A Beautiful Mind lecture that he is here. And here is Now. And he just has to live damnit!

But that's the trouble: The increasingly gnawing feeling that it was all so perfectly designed, so flawlessly crafted that I'd seen it before. Many times probably. Like Alan Turing himself, the movie left nothing to chance and came with no surprises. It was so well paced in fact, I'd wager I could tell you what page we were on in the script at any given moment. And truth be told, I did leave the theatre feeling much more sophisticated and discerning than those chumps walking out of Taken 3.

So instead of 8 stars I'm giving this film 5 stars because, well, because it's fine. It's perfectly fine. It probably won't stay with you for very long, but it will make you feel something while you're there.  And that's exactly half of why I go to the movies.