Surprisingly brilliant

Rating: 8/10 (8 January 2015)

As sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, there will always be at least a couple historical dramas to wade through during Oscar season, especially ones set in the pivotal World War II era. With so many of these period dramas coming and going throughout the years you really have to stand out to be remembered and taken seriously. The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch is one of those films that I feel has a good fighters chance at being one of the remembered ones.
The always stellar Cumberbatch stars as Alan Turing, one of history's greatest mathematicians and the man who, in his mission to unlock the key to encrypted German messages being sent between Nazi forces during the war, accidentally created what we know today as the computer. The Imitation Game tells his story which, it turns out, is one of great strife, tragedy, and deserves to be recognized and memorialized forever in our history. If nothing else this film is an incredibly important one, that tells a story that was sadly lost and unrecognized for over 50 years due to controversy surrounding Turing's life, and a dark ages political system that failed to recognize the staggeringly vital impact Turing was imprinting on history.
The Imitation Game's greatest contribution is absolutely its immortalizing of such an important historical figure. It highlights one of the most beautiful things about the art form of filmmaking, which is its ability to preserve these key moments in history in an accessibly dramatized way. The Imitation Game is fascinating, gripping, and powerfully motivating, revealing new sides and new perspectives on a war we thought we already knew everything about. In some ways its the great plot twist of one of history's most notable, significant, and discussed periods. If you thought you were an expert on the Second World War, watch The Imitation Game and find out for yourself what other secrets are still yet to be discovered.
Obviously this film is a huge success on the side of historical importance, but what makes it even better is that its a success on the side of filmmaking as well. It boasts some great performances, especially from the magnificent Cumberbatch, but also from the slew of fantastic supporting players like Keira Knightly, Matthew Goode, Charles Dance, Mark Strong, and plenty others. It gives us a mostly great script, with only a handful of moments where character motivation feels scripted and forced. It also gives us a compelling structure that starts out slow, but really becomes enthralling once the gap between the story taking place during the war and after the war is bridged and the ultimate purpose of this film starts to glean.
I went into this movie with expectations that leaned neither high or low, and was pleasantly surprised by the end. Given its slow pace and non-risk taking atmosphere where subject matter is played close to the chest I thought I would come out of this movie with a satisfied yet unenthused attitude, but by the end and after giving it some thought I found myself so thankful that this movie exists, and only found myself thinking back on it fondly and proudly. It is a solidly compelling film, but moreso, and vitally important one.