Customer Ratings & Reviews

Interesting biopic about a lesser known man in history

I was very excited to see this movie, as I'm a big Cumberbatch fan. I kept waiting for this film to take off, and it never felt that way. The film is a tad bit anti-climatic. Worth watching just to see it for yourself.

The basic plot of the movie was good but not sure that the producers weren't trying to push a political cause.

Not what was expected ... thought it would involve more WWII intrigue , but nope

I had heard this movie was great. I like movies about eccentric geniuses who overcome their “quirky” dispositions. Unfortunately, this movie shifts from the story about a "super logical" war hero to a political stance on one's sexuality.

We can’t figure out how to play it as a simple DVD. We don’t want to download it.

When “The Imitation Game” begins we hear the narrator set the mood for a dire story. He informs us to pay attention, he will not repeat himself, and to make no mistake about the current situation; just because he's in jail does NOT mean he isn't the one holding the cards! This is, in a way, director Morten Tyldum making a statement that he is going to give us a challenging movie. It won't gift wrap itself for an audience and it will force you to use your brain, so you better pay attention or you will regret it. Such a claim early on is risky because the product needs to deliver on that promise, and the audience will not forgive you if you can't do that. So confident is this statement though, that “The Imitation Game” is more than able to back up this initial promise, and in many ways goes beyond that initial promise by delivering not only a complicated story, but a very human story about a forgotten man. That man is Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch#, a math genius who is applying for a position with the British government that is, shall we say, not a matter of public record. It is World War II, and the German's are winning the war with much efficiency and ease. A large part of this is because they have developed a complicated communication tool known as Enigma, which delivers messages over the radio airwaves in a special code that appears to be unbreakable. The code is so fool proof that the British Army actually have an Enigma communication machine on hand and they STILL can't crack it! Alan is an anti-social man who is brilliant in statistics, but seems unable to comprehend basic human interaction #for all we know he may have Asperger's#. Hated though he is, he might be the only one who can actually figure out how the Enigma code actually works and design a machine that can combat it. Despite his superiors not liking the man very much, he does have lots of radical ideas and manages to bring on several people who can at least bounce theories off of him. The most notable team member is the sole female of the group, Joan Clarke #Kiera Knightley#, who has difficulty getting through the front door by Alan's superiors on the basis that she is female, but who proves to be the only one who seems to match his intellect #as well as crossword puzzle skills#. Their relationship is an interesting one. Alan does everything he can to keep Clarke staffed, as she is the only one he seems to relate to, but their relationship always seems a little off. He visits her house at night and even performs the mating ritual of tossing stones at her window to alert her of his presence, but once he is let inside her room they spend the night discussing radio frequencies and numbers as opposed to human anatomy. Later we learn that Alan is gay, and keeps this secret as it is illegal for people to be gay at this point in time. The movie states this as a matter-of-fact but doesn't seem that interested in his sexuality for the most part. The screenplay is far more interested in the process of Alan making his Enigma cracking machine #code named Christopher), his utter devotion to this object, and how, in a very sad way, this is the most intimate relationship he has in his life. Heck, Alan himself doesn't seem that interested in his own sexuality. You'd think the movie would have a solid opinion on this state of mind, yet it wisely keeps this revelation at arm's length and lets us come to our own conclusion on how we feel about these events. All of this is held together by Cumberbatch's performance, which isn't really that different from his character on “Sherlock,” but fits this movie perfectly none-the-less. What makes the movie so interesting from beginning to end is that the promise of having to pay attention is on full display. The movie never visualizes Alan's inner thought process, nor does it give us an “in” to his world. We are simply watching a process. There is a man behind it, but he is so reclusive and stand offish that it's hard for us to relate to him. What “The Imitation Game” does do is make us emphasize with a troubled human being and bad situation. For all the great things this man did to help win the war, he died a lonely and broken man, never thanked for his contributions and forced to live a hellish final few years because of his sexuality. What may be up for debate is whether “The Imitation Game” is a war thriller or a character drama. In some ways it's neither, and in some ways it's both. Which makes it a fascinating conundrum of a film. Kevin T. Rodríguez The Movie Wizard.com

When “The Imitation Game” begins we hear the narrator set the mood for a dire story. He informs us to pay attention, he will not repeat himself, and to make no mistake about the current situation; just because he's in jail does NOT mean he isn't the one holding the cards! This is, in a way, director Morten Tyldum making a statement that he is going to give us a challenging movie. It won't gift wrap itself for an audience and it will force you to use your brain, so you better pay attention or you will regret it. Such a claim early on is risky because the product needs to deliver on that promise, and the audience will not forgive you if you can't do that. So confident is this statement though, that “The Imitation Game” is more than able to back up this initial promise, and in many ways goes beyond that initial promise by delivering not only a complicated story, but a very human story about a forgotten man. That man is Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch#, a math genius who is applying for a position with the British government that is, shall we say, not a matter of public record. It is World War II, and the German's are winning the war with much efficiency and ease. A large part of this is because they have developed a complicated communication tool known as Enigma, which delivers messages over the radio airwaves in a special code that appears to be unbreakable. The code is so fool proof that the British Army actually have an Enigma communication machine on hand and they STILL can't crack it! Alan is an anti-social man who is brilliant in statistics, but seems unable to comprehend basic human interaction #for all we know he may have Asperger's#. Hated though he is, he might be the only one who can actually figure out how the Enigma code actually works and design a machine that can combat it. Despite his superiors not liking the man very much, he does have lots of radical ideas and manages to bring on several people who can at least bounce theories off of him. The most notable team member is the sole female of the group, Joan Clarke #Kiera Knightley#, who has difficulty getting through the front door by Alan's superiors on the basis that she is female, but who proves to be the only one who seems to match his intellect #as well as crossword puzzle skills#. Their relationship is an interesting one. Alan does everything he can to keep Clarke staffed, as she is the only one he seems to relate to, but their relationship always seems a little off. He visits her house at night and even performs the mating ritual of tossing stones at her window to alert her of his presence, but once he is let inside her room they spend the night discussing radio frequencies and numbers as opposed to human anatomy. Later we learn that Alan is gay, and keeps this secret as it is illegal for people to be gay at this point in time. The movie states this as a matter-of-fact but doesn't seem that interested in his sexuality for the most part. The screenplay is far more interested in the process of Alan making his Enigma cracking machine #code named Christopher), his utter devotion to this object, and how, in a very sad way, this is the most intimate relationship he has in his life. Heck, Alan himself doesn't seem that interested in his own sexuality. You'd think the movie would have a solid opinion on this state of mind, yet it wisely keeps this revelation at arm's length and lets us come to our own conclusion on how we feel about these events. All of this is held together by Cumberbatch's performance, which isn't really that different from his character on “Sherlock,” but fits this movie perfectly none-the-less. What makes the movie so interesting from beginning to end is that the promise of having to pay attention is on full display. The movie never visualizes Alan's inner thought process, nor does it give us an “in” to his world. We are simply watching a process. There is a man behind it, but he is so reclusive and stand offish that it's hard for us to relate to him. What “The Imitation Game” does do is make us emphasize with a troubled human being and bad situation. For all the great things this man did to help win the war, he died a lonely and broken man, never thanked for his contributions and forced to live a hellish final few years because of his sexuality. What may be up for debate is whether “The Imitation Game” is a war thriller or a character drama. In some ways it's neither, and in some ways it's both. Which makes it a fascinating conundrum of a film. Kevin T. Rodríguez The Movie Wizard.com

I eventually decided to take a chance on seeing Imitation Game after seeing it featured enough times at my job. For some strange reason, I was also curious to know more about the story behind the character (Alan Turing) that Benedict Cumberbatch was playing and the one that Keira Knight was playing (Joan Clarke). Both Turing and Clarke collaborated together during their professional/decryption work that was indirectly affiliated with helping to stop World War II. I understand that the movie is not a direct representation of what actually happened. However, one informative aspect tied into how the film carefully tied certain events into the work that they were doing (such as the heart-wrenching scene where Turing has to tell his coworker that they must withhold certain news even with the lucid awareness of one of their family members being on a certain sub). Additionally,I know that you are not supposed to use Wikipedia (academically speaking) as a guaranteed reference. However, if the birthdates cited are correct, it is interesting to note that their birthdays were just one day apart from each other (Clark and Turing’s birthdates). Anyhow, this is a good movie for those who are open to watch films indirectly related to key events in history and/or a case study in a person who did their best to endure being different from others in a time period that appeared to show contempt towards anybody outside of the mainstream.

This is probably the best war movie that shows that shows that what a select few did without ever firing a bullet did to saves countless lives. I love the little snippets of war scenes put in, but the real story was that of Turing. I really hope people realize how much of a genius this man was. If he were able to live out his life normally and continue his work, we would have easily been decades ahead of our current technology scheme now. We would have had computers probably as humans were landing on the moon and we would have been on the moon probably a decade or so earlier. It's people like Turing that change the world and it's so unfortunate that he lived in a time like that to shorten his genius. I thought the really genius part of the movie was after they broke Enigma how they had to keep THAT a secret so the Germans didn't catch on. Great film.

This film, which was based on actual events, is a suspenseful Spy/Espionage tale that holds your attention throughout its’ length. The story-line is coupled with a marvelous and talented cast who acted their characters in a believable manner. Flashbacks are used extensively throughout to tie this story-line together. The events of this film were portrayed in a historically correct manner; and it’s a provocative account as-well-as celebrating people who have differences. It also deftly tells the saga of cracking the German Enigma Code with “Christopher,” the de-code machine developed by Alan Turing who was a young British genius Mathematician – lots of Spies, Counter-Spies, Lies, Co-Lies and Intrigue at its best.

I have seen this movie from Showtime and or HBO,multiple times. The Director had done a great job of making the film compelling to watch from beginning to end together with a great cast of actors/ actresses who did an excellent job on portraying their respective characters. I know of Alan Turing from computer books that cited his success in cracking enigma which we now enjoy on proliferation of computer in our every day lives but not to the extent what the movie narrated. Alan character alone is so compelling and so complex like a Greek tragedy. A must watch movies from those tired of watching films inundated with high tech.

Fantastic roles played by Kiera Knightly and Benedict Cumberbatch! It made the characters seem very human, and the story is written well to show those human flaws. It was a fantastic recreation of Alan Turing and the first computer used to win WWII for the Allies. It has a surprise twist at the end that I REALLY appreciated.

"THE IMITATION GAME" IS THE VERY BEST FILM OF 2014. BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH AND KEIRA KNIGHTLEY GIVE BRILLIANT PERFORMANCES FOR WHICH THEY WERE BOTH NOMINATED FOR ACADEMY AWARDS. THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF ALAN TURING. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

The Imitation Game is a very good movie. Benedict Cumberbatch was very great as Alan Turning. I didn't know much about Alan until this movie. I wish I was educated in school about Turning. Worth your money and time!

A sleeper. Probably most people will miss this one. Great acting job and a story that more of us should know about a little know giant in history.

Worthy of Oscar credentials, The Imitation Game is required viewing for fans of history - war history and Academy Awards history. Not to be missed.

The actors are amazing in this movie are amazing and the plot of the movie draws you in and makes you want to keep watching until the very end.

As someone who had no idea about the historical background of the movie, I loved it. Cumberbatch plays the character so well.

Incredible story that I never knew about and everyone should. Cumberbatch is phenomenal, as always.