The Imitation Game - DVD [Standard]

Excellent performance from Cumberbatch and a fascinating story!! My wife even liked it and she is not into WWII films.

One of my favorite actors tells an important story about one of the most significant thinkers of the 20th century

I was recommended this film by a friend and definitely enjoyed it over-all. Top-notch acting with an excellent cast, especially with Benedict Cumberbatch portraying Alan Turing, in a more unusual story of cryptoanalysis during WW2. While the film is brilliantly laid out and has excellent filmography, it is one of those films that pretends it is a "true story," which more accurately should be labeled as "sort of" or "loosely." Alan Turing was a real man, but in this film he is portrayed as somewhat Autistic with Asperberger's where he has difficulty understanding social situations. The film also makes you think Cumberbatch's Turing built the Turing machine ("Christopher") on his own, but he was truly assisted by Gordon Welchman who is not in the film at all. A 5 star film on its own, but a 3 or 4 five star film for taking too many liberties from a historical perspective. The historical inaccuracies of the character won't stop you from enjoying the film, but I do recommend reading about the real Alan Turing so you know what is real and what is not in this portrayal.

For a historical piece, this movie hits all the highpoints (and some of the lowpoints as well). The writing, even for the smaller characters, is excellent. The story line provides a good re-telling of history, and why we may not have been aware of Alan Turing and his contributions to the war efforts. The video is near reference quality, and although the sound is very good, not quite reference quality for a Blu-ray. But that is understandable considering this is not a Michael Bay movie... The extras are very good, but shorter than I expected for this type of movie. I couldn't wait to pick this copy up and consider it a must-own for the library.

While not an artistic achievement or a film of extraordinary style, I enjoyed "The Imitation Game" as much as any film this year. It tells the true story of mathematician Alan Turing who tries to crack the German Enigma code during World War II with help from fellow mathematicians, and it intersperses the wartime events with scenes of Turing's early school life and the post-war tragic period leading to his death. An extraordinary story (one which had to be kept secret for decades for security reasons), it was well scripted to heighten its suspense and human drama, and beautifully filmed with powerful acting. I recommend this film highly.