Sherlock's Turning Point

Rating: 8/10 (1 February 2015)

Alan Turning is a name many of us will already know, it's a name that is attached to a lot of controversy and prestige, he is a man who literally changed history. So why is there a film being made about him and given that there has been so many war films this year, what makes this one different? I suppose the reel question is, will this be an Enigma we can't break?
The Second World War, the period in history where we look back and always feel both pride and regret. Pride that ordinary people stood up to an evil tyrant and regret because so many had to give their lives for our freedom. That's how Imitation Game makes you feel, both proud and hurt.
The film has a 3 way split in narrative structure, all revolving around its main character Alan Turning. We are given the Past, present and future almost, with one strand being told as Alan when he was still in boarding school and he is first developing a love for cryptography (the past), the second is picking up with him at the point when he is entering into the war effort employed to decrypt the enigma coding (the present), and then via an interview and subsequent investigation on Turning for indecency after his service was terminated (the future). This kind of blending could have been a catastrophe for the movie and completely ripped the rhythm out of the film itself, it could have taken away any level of mood or tension put in the wrong hands, but the hands that The Imitation Game is placed in is Morten Tyldum, and he is a master of suspense. I implore you if you enjoyed The Imitation Game please watch his previous work Headhunters.
I think that there is a twist in the film (which I am going to reveal now as to what I can piece together it's common knowledge anyway), Alan Turning was gay. Now, for me that isn't where the impact of the movie stood, nor was it in the moment when he finally cracks the enigma code (that's not a spoiler, it's a true story, and we won the war, mostly because we cracked the enigma code), no the true power of this film is in it's 3rd act in "the present" when Turning reveals what he has to do to keep the fact that he had broken the code a secret.
Alan Turning the man is presented as a broken and lonely human, who has no social skills at all and can barely function without a riddle to solve (So really a lot like Sherlock Holmes then). But it seems the film unfortunately has a hidden agenda, The Imitation Game is a strong work it's true, but it seems to be more concerned that Alan was gay than any other aspect of his life, this is a terrible shame because I think it ultimately sits awkwardly along side the rest of the film, which for the majority of the time is outstanding.
The Imitation Games is an exceptional portrayal of a different side to the Great War. It is focused and concise, this is how a film with a message should be made.