Accept No Imitation

"The Imitation Game" is one of those movies that would have bored me when I was a kid.

As I have written countless other times, my parents were pretty liberal when it came to taking me to the movies.  I'd be dragged to see anything.  It wasn't just Disney cartoons for me.  If I was restless during a more-adult movie, I would keep myself busy by running around the theater.   You could do that at those movie palaces.   There was always more than one seating level to explore.

So, back to this film...

Yes, it would have been a snooze for me back then because it had all the aspects of a dull film.

There were British accents.

It was a spy or military story that was over my head.

Whenever the characters walked anyway, you could hear their footsteps clicking.  That sound alone could lull me into a nap.

This is a long way in saying that my movie going tastes have obviously changed.  "The Imitation Game" had me riveted from reel one.  Indeed, set originally during World War II, I imagine it would have been my dad who would have taken me to see it originally.  But I could still feel his presence a little bit in the theater.   

And I didn't doze off.

This film tells the true story of Alan Turing, some genius and Sheldon-Cooper-like young mathematician who is engaged by the British government to help decipher Nazi messages about their wartime movements and plans.  The decoding project was called Enigma.   Making the process even more daunting was the fact that the Germans changed the pattern every day.  So, just as Turing and the others got close to solving the letter scheme, it would get changed.

So, as a result, there's a lot of dialogue and scientific equations and heavy-handed vocabulary in "The Imitation Game."  So, yes, if it was made decades ago, this movie would have been lights out for me.   But, in 2014, this is the type of adult and smart entertainment that I crave.

There is tons of Oscar chatter for the movie's star, Benedict Cumberbatch, who is the main reason the film works.   He is haughty and pompous and overly intelligent, but, at the same time, he becomes the ideal hero in this piece.  You feel his pain when he gets close to the code solution and then has the rug pulled out from under him.  Indeed, as "The Imitation Game" progresses, the story moves into directions you didn't foresee.  And, as a result, the second half becomes even that more compelling.

Keira Knightley is the romantic interest for Turing and she usually can do no wrong.  I've been a fan ever since her short appearance in "Love Actually" a dozen or so years ago.  And, yes, that is Allen Leech, the chauffeur from "Downton Abbey" as one of the other decoders.  They all help to snap this movie together into a tight and provocative mystery that...surprise, surprise...is less than two hours long.  

"The Imitation Game" is definitely worth your time.  You'll be hearing it amongst the nominations this upcoming Oscar night.  

Hey, if I can now get through a movie full of British accents and heel clicking on the floor, so can you.

LEN'S RATING:  Three-and-a-half stars.

Dinner last night:   Still working on leftover Christmas ham.