The Imitation Game (2014)

[Jake Gittes]

can we please just ban the academy from nominating biopics? every single fucking one of them is the same.

 

D

 

Yeah Lawrence of Arabia, Raging Bull, The Queen, The Social Network, Selma and The Imitation Game are all totally the same movie

Edited February 4, 2015 by Jake Gittes

[luna]

yes, they are.

 

(ok maybe i was exaggerating, but seeing this and THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING close together makes my statement very understandable)

[Jake Gittes]

I know what you mean, and I myself have very little patience for the type of bland, self-celebratory, Oscar-chasing biopics. (There are much worse movies out there, but if you fail, at least do it in interesting way, not by being mediocre and forgettable). But they are really only a tiny fraction of the genre, unfortunately they just tend to be the most popular.

 

If you want an antidote to these, even from last year there's at least one in MR. TURNER.

[JohnnyGossamer]

This was relatively disappointing. As another mentioned, this one and Theory Of Everything felt eerily similar. I didn't like the fractured narrative and how the story unfolded. Made the proceedings uneven. Honestly, aside from Cumberbatch, I thought the performances were more dutiful than impressive too. Incredibly bland. Another biopic that fell beneath my expectations along with American Sniper and Theory Of Everything. I still say, of the ones I've seen, Selma and Foxcatcher were best.

 

C/C+.

[AniNate]

I'm glad I spent my $18 at TIFF on Wild instead of this

[Goffe]

I fucking loved it. Everything comes together so nicely and the ending couldn't have been better, the director did the right thing ending the film on a lighter note and not focusing on the tragic real story ending. I love how it perfectly balances his personal life and breaking the code stuff. Before TIG,

I thought Redmayne was locked to win this year, but now I don't know what to think, Cumberbatch will certainly give Redmayne a run for his money.

 

I'm very surprised how much I liked it because I don't usually like biopics, most of them are robotic, pedantic and superficial.

 

funny, tense and emotional, maybe the best Oscar nominee of the year (it's tied with Whiplash). 100/100

[ShouldIBeHere]

So... hm.

 

Good movie but not as good as I had hoped.

 

It seemed a bit sterile at times.

 

I did love the last 25 minutes or so (everything starting from the scene in the bar when he comes close to solving the issue of Christopher needing too much time to crack the code). But a lot before that was a bit underwhelming. I loved the acting (even the two child actors were pretty great), the humour, the way it was cut together. But neither the emotional / human aspect nor the war / technical aspect of it all really grabbed me until very late in the game.

 

One problem (maybe the biggest) was the imho lackluster characterization of every character except Alan and Joan. In particular I would have liked to see more of Hugh and John.

 

Still:

 

B (7.5/10)

Edited February 9, 2015 by ShouldIBeHere

[Mulder]

9/10

 

Until the final scene it's a 7.5-8/10 but that final scene really elevates it for me. Like American Sniper though, I could easily see why someone wouldn't like it.

[Blankments]

For Oscar bait, this was pretty good. Cumberbatch’s performance is subtle but pretty effecting, and it basically comes off as a King’s Speech rip-off that has executed pretty well. The hatred is overstated here, even though it’s pretty unremarkable, but decent for a British biopic Best Picture nominee. Certainly a lot better than The Theory of Everything. B+

[CoolioD1]

For Oscar bait, this was pretty good. Cumberbatch’s performance is subtle but pretty effecting, and it basically comes off as a King’s Speech rip-off that has executed pretty well. The hatred is overstated here, even though it’s pretty unremarkable, but decent for a British biopic Best Picture nominee. Certainly a lot better than The Theory of Everything. B+

LOLWHAT?

[ChD]

I just watched this and, honestly, didn't expect to like it. That's why I've waited so long to watch it in the first place, but this just ended up topping last year for me. It was greatly directed and acted and well written. One thing that kept dragging it down for me was the flashbacks, which were kinda silly, if you will.

 

Loved the ending. Brought quite a few tears to my eyes. I never actually knew he had committed suicide, which made the tears even worse.

 

A

[Goffe]

The ending wouldn't have the same emotional impact without the flashbacks.

[iceroll]

In an interview with USA Today, Benedict Cumberbatch said of Turing's Royal Pardon, "The only person who should be pardoning anybody is him (Turing). Hopefully, the film will bring to the fore what an extraordinary human being he was and how appalling (his treatment by the government was). It's a really shameful, disgraceful part of our history."

 

 

Yea... except the film didn't. Still, it was quite enjoyable. A-/B+.  The flashback scenes with young Turing were amazing and heartbreaking though. Stupid bovine tuberculosis.

[TheMovieman]

 I never actually knew he had committed suicide, which made the tears even worse.

 

To be fair, there's questions whether he committed suicide and its connection with the hormonal "therapy." (Edited: That said, it's entirely possible, so not discounting it completely).

 

After watching it, I found a link pointing out some of the historical inaccuracies:

http://www.hypable.com/the-imitation-game-historical-accuracy/

 

I understand movies based around real events and people have to take liberties, Argo did especially with the finale, but some are hard to ignore with this one. I can forgive the naming of the computer Christopher. Like Argo did to bolster its thriller aspects, Imitation Game did so for the dramatic elements, yet other parts, like leaving out Gordon Welchman, were a bit unforgivable.

 

 

As for the movie itself, it is well made but Benedict Cumberbatch takes it to whole other level, though at times it seems he was playing Sherlock, just an even more anti-social version. In any case,  everything is well done unfortunately, as has been for other "true stories," this one fails to have good accuracy in key areas.

 

***¼/*****, (C+, 6.6/10, 2.75/4)

Edited March 28, 2015 by The Movieman

[Blankments]

LOLWHAT?

It wasn't particularly subtle, I guess, but I blame the writing more for that. Cumberbatch I think added more subtlety to the blunt script

[Avatree]

***¼/*****, (C+, 6.6/10, 2.75/4)

I need an enigma machine to crack this score.

[TheMovieman]

I need an enigma machine to crack this score.

 

lol, how so?

 

3.25/5 = 6.5/10 (but I upped it to 6.6/10) and it was between 2.5 and 2.75 out of 4 so I just went with the latter. Grading is a bit more subjective as it could easily be a C but generally I go with C+ with that rating. About 2.5/5 is a C grade.

 

See, quite simple!

Edited April 30, 2015 by The Movieman