Strong characters with minimal history. Decent as a crowd pleaser if you don't mind a serious tone.

Rating: 7/10 (31 August 2015)

I don't know that this will be a lasting classic, but at the moment it is pretty socially pertinent. Most of us have probably been exposed to plenty of WWII movies, though no others featuring the Enigma that I know of. So to just make another holocaust movie would be a little redundant. There are also an increasing number of gay movies featuring homosexual issues as the problem becomes more and more prominent in western society. I've observed that this is where most of the negative feelings toward this film has come from; people get irritated with so-called "gay propaganda". I don't want to say that they're wrong or right, but I'll just say that Alan Turing seems to be portrayed fairly with his strengths and shortcomings and his homosexuality gives rise to qualities in both categories.
The story flows nicely for a non-fiction basis, mostly because it involves a lot of character conflicts. Also, the more in-depth character writing is not limited to Alan as you might expect in this sort of movie. Of course, Alan has the most depth being the protagonist. He uses his intelligence as a defense against anything else that might be said about him, and makes himself socially isolated as a result. Much of his arc involves gaining the respect and friendship of his co-workers. Joan (Kiera Knightly) is pivotal in this arc as she convinces Alan to be more cooperative and open to Hugh, John, and Peter. She also provides an internal conflict for Alan since he cares for her in his own way, but has obvious doubts about marrying her. However, that doesn't mean she is a 1 dimensional character; she has plenty of dignity and women's rights style vigor. Hugh is Alan's greatest intellectual adversary at first, but becomes a similarly formidable ally as they grow less hostile. John becomes kind of the opposite, and once Alan discovers that John is a Russian spy, John threatens to reveal that Alan is gay. Peter is the least prominent of the Enigma crackers, but has his time in the spotlight later after Alan perfects his machine. Peter's anger at Alan for allowing his brother to die was presented to a suitable degree, but is the only real instance where Peter is treated with importance. Other notable characters include Alan's childhood friend Christiopher (who is shown in flashback), and the two military figures that oversee the Enigma project.
The story is mostly driven by the progression of breaking Enigma, with the character conflicts intermingled throughout it. Enigma's coding method and Alan's decoding method are explained sufficiently, but of course the technicalities aren't so important as they might be in a sci-fi movie where you need to have some kind of scientific plausibility. When I saw the trailer, I was afraid that the story might be over-dramatized. While there is a lot of emotion it doesn't feel forced or overdone in frequency or drama, with the possible exception of the scene at the end where Joan visits Alan. There is a subplot in a post-war setting with a detective investigating Alan hiding his being gay.
Benedict Cumberpach gives a good performance, though quite different from his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. This is kind of odd because Turing and Sherlock have a lot of similar traits, but Alan is a lot more timid than Sherlock. There are a lot of points where Cumberpatch stutters when he talks, which might be to the credit of the screenwriters rather than the actor. His periodic voice-overs are delivered naturally. You feel like he's in a conversation rather than just thinking out loud into a vacuum. The script may not be worthy of the Oscar it won, but it's definitely one of the better written scripts I've encountered. The directing isn't anything special, but there isn't a lot of room for directorial feats in this sort of film either. The same goes for the supporting actors. They pretty much get the job done as best they can.
If you're looking for a historical WWII movie to show in a classroom setting, I'll just warn you that it focuses a lot more on the character(s) than the historical events. So in that case, you might do well to watch it to help write an Alan Turing bio project. It works fine as a family movie, as long as you're comfortable with the topic of homosexuality. The trailer makes it seem more inspirational and dramatic than it is, which isn't good or bad, just something to consider. It doesn't have any huge gay rights statements in it apart from maybe trying to increase the cinematic dignity of the stereotype. So, if you're in the mood for a serious movie and don't mind non-fiction, pick it up at a redbox or something and "pay attention". Overall Rating: 8.4/10.