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Benedict Cumberbatch is shatteringly effective in “The Imitation Game,” a handsomely executed period piece that casts Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, the mathematical genius who cracked the Nazi-created Enigma code, and thus, along with his team, altered the course of World War II.
Fraught with boiling emotion and tics of convincing genius, it’s Cumberbatch’s finest performance. Unfortunately, it’s underserved by a script that settles for drama-deflating convention.
“The Imitation Game,” at least, takes a forthright approach to Turing’s homosexuality, framing the story with the code-cracker’s postwar indictment for “indecency,” and tracing, back to his childhood in private school, the feelings that all but certainly fueled his brilliance. Yet, again, only Cumberbatch is able to convey truly the gravity of Turing’s circumstances, whereas the film itself would prefer to serve you a superficial analysis of otherness.
As seen in everything from “The Da Vinci Code” to whatever detective procedural you watched last week, “The Imitation Game,” moreover, falls into the trap of all-too-conveniently locking its pieces together, such as when an impromptu pub conversation sparks a breakthrough that’s so over-emphasized, it’s stripped of plausibility.
Ultimately, this is something of a tragedy for Cumberbatch and the rest of the cast, like Keira Knightley (who plays a fellow code breaker and Turing’s beard of a wife) and Mark Strong (who plays an MI6 agent). These actors are giving their everything to a movie they clearly believe in, and it’s rather unignorable (and unforgivable) that the movie isn’t returning the trust and the favor. That said, if you want to see Cumberbatch, one of our very best actors, in peak form, there’s no hotter ticket.
The Imitation Game
PG-13
Two reels out of four
Opens tomorrow at area theaters
Recommended Rental
The Hundred-Foot Journey
PG
Available Tuesday
Though this lukewarm adaptation of the delectable best-seller may not change your life in the way the haute cuisine in the film seems able to, it’s still a goes-down-easy lark that, however precious at times, recognizes food as one more agent that can break cultural barriers. Helen Mirren is the French iron chef whose heart is softened, and fresh talent Manish Dayal is the Indian prodigy who goes from her foe to her protégé.
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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