This enthrallingly proficient biopic combines scope with style, provoking attention and excitement through gripping drama and the stirring warfare milieu. Technical scenes belie tedium through Tyldum’s exhilarating depiction of the minutiae of code-breaking; banalities are mitigated by vision and flair.

Brilliance dwindles at the culmination. No longer free to revel in Turing’s genius, the film struggles to express the horror and injustice of his ultimate experience.

Nevertheless an eloquent screenplay deftly knits multiple narrative threads while eliciting curiosity, empathy and humour. Newcomer Alex Lawther is wonderful as young Turing whilst Cumberbatch once more proves his extraordinary skill.

Gorgeously realised, engagingly witty and with great performances all around, The Imitation Game is engrossing and accomplished. Most crucially, however, it competently evokes Turing’s sharp intellect, complex character and remarkable achievements.

RATING: 4/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong, Charles Dance

DIRECTOR: Morten Tyldum

WRITER: Graham Moore

SYNOPSIS: The Imitation Game adapts the life of British mathematician and cryptanalyst Alan Turing (Cumberbatch) to the silver screen. The film relays a three strand story, the central focus being the creation of the innovative machine at Bletchley Park that succeeded in breaking the Enigma code. Simultaneously woven into the tale is Turing’s later arrest and police interrogation for homosexuality as well as flashbacks to his school friendship with Christopher Morcom.