Loved it, but not as much as I would have loved to

Rating: 7/10 (16 January 2015)

There was a strong hype about this movie and it felt like it's going to be the platform which propels Cumberbatch into the league of Hollywood biggies.
Indeed the movie rolls along the footsteps of Beautiful Mind. It had all the ingredients in place to become a classic. The combination was potent. All the check-boxes for Oscar glory were ticked. Biopic of a genius, backdrop of second world war, incarceration for homosexuality... everything you need to hit the sweet spot with the Academy. The background score was classy, the acting was spot on and the story-line was methodically non-linear.
But it did feel a little forced. You cannot have your lead actor blurt out the movie's tagline every now and then, especially when accompanied by sentimental music. That feels forced. When you make a biopic, you have to understand that 90% of your audience knows where the story is heading right from the onset. When you finish such a movie with "...today we call them computers", that is not very "decorous".
I loved it. But, I really wish it had more surprises in store, specially when it came to the elements of narrative and the finer details. Definitely a good movie. But I won't like to call it a classic.