A Very well oiled machine, fueled by Benedict Cumberbatch

Rating: 8/10 (23 August 2015)

I'm not huge on biopics. To me they often feel like big budget documentaries with better actors. I'm not a fan of the genre because the movies within it rarely take any chances, they play it safe. I am a fan, however of those films within the genre that take chances: Amadeus, Schindler's List and now The Imitation Game.
Although not as good as Amadeus or Schindler's List, this film is an amazingly well crafted story, intriguing and with a very important message. Above all stands out Benedict Cumberbatch's Alan Turing, maybe his best performance yet, one for the ages. Nearly every actor is great, especially Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, surprisingly delivers a pretty solid performance as well.
The things I didn't like about the movie are that there are one or two "clever British movie" clichés in there, which I didn't love. Just little things in the dialogue particularly at the beginning of the movie just felt kind of forced. Also, the movie feels like it just ends, pretty abruptly. It seems as if a third act is missing, or at least cut in half, missing the story behind Turing's years after the war.
But overall, The Imitation Game is informative, well directed and acted and has earned a new spot in my heart as a biopic that doesn't play it safe, but ultimately scores.