The Imitation Game: An "A Beautiful Mind" British Re-make?

Rating: 8/10 (6 January 2015)

The Imitation Game is a very good film...I promise. Benedict Cumberbatch, the highest rising actor in Hollywood, gives a stand out performance as Alan Turing an eccentric mathematician who helps crack the Nazi messaging code called "enigma" which allowed the British to intercept Nazi communications without their knowledge and use it to their advantage to win the war. Turing was certainly a genius an possessed many of the common traits that come along with being a genius. Arrogance, the inability to read social cues, defensive, awkwardness, and an overall display of anti-social tendencies. He was also a deeply secretive man and it was his secrets that led him to paranoia that controlled his life to the end. This is all well and good but while I was watching the film I couldn't help but think that I had seen this movie already....13 years ago with Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind.
Again, I really enjoyed the film as a whole and expect it to be a front runner at the Oscars (I mean hey, it's a WWII film that contains a main character struggling with his homosexuality...two of the Academy's favorite themes!) but the whole time I just couldn't get A Beautiful Mind...well...out of MY mind. Think about it, John Forbes Nash (Crowes' character in "Mind") nearly fits the exact description I make of Cumberbatch's Turing above. He had those same personality qualities, the same genius, and the suffered through similar forms of paranoia of the government for years which had negative effects on his health. It's hard not to see these similarities and not be distracted by them (at least for me anyway).
Now I am not going to sit here and try to say that Nash went through everything that Turing went through because I'm not that stupid or irresponsible. Turing's battle with his homosexuality and maintaining that secret seemed to torture him throughout his life which was an issue that Nash never had to deal with. It is with all of this inner turmoil where we see Cumberbatch succeed with the performance. He is one of those people who you look at and think that there is more to him than meets the eye. His unique look and his voice give him almost unlimited range as he can go from sounding and looking like a peaceful harmless wimp, to a dark and insidious villain in the blink of an eye. You got the feeling that Turing was a man who wasn't as interested in breaking the code to defeat the Nazis and save lives, but just to beat "the game" and put his genius on display for all to see and this is where Cumberbatch excels in the role the most.
We get some solid supporting work from Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, and Charles Dance, but it is Cumberbatchs' show. He should be one of the favorites to get nominated and to even take home the Oscar...for playing a role that Russell Crowe some say should have gotten many years ago over Denzel Washington in Training Day. Cumberbatch's performance is not to be diminished by my undeniably distracted mind when it comes to this film. He does masterful work and is certainly worthy of any accolade he gets.
However, the fact that "A Beautiful Mind" exists and the similarities are too daunting to me it decreases my overall feeling for the film because I felt like I had seen this movie before.