Imitation Game // Benedict Cumberbatch {Movie}

Why I'm watching
I could say that I think Alan Turing is awesome, and it wouldn't be a lie. But I’m really watching this because I’m (still) on a Benedict Cumberbatch kick. I love Turing, but a docu-drama probably wouldn’t normally interest me.

Where I got the movie
Borrowed from Greenwich.

Expectations
Nothing specific; Turing is awesome, Cumberbatch is awesome, Knightly is pretty awesome too. So… awesome. But tragic, all things considered.

So how was it?

Hmm. It pains me to say this, but… not so awesome.

I can’t believe this got an Oscar for screenplay. Worth watching for the acting, absolutely; but the story itself is painfully trite, romanticized, and nowhere near accurate.

The story follows Alan Turing (Cumberbatch), misunderstood mathematical genius, who applies for a job as a code-breaker during WWII. He works to break the German Enigma code, more or less single-handed, often having to fight the rest of his department to do so. The timeline sticks mostly to the WWII era, with a few flashbacks to childhood events, and a small amount of time on Turing's tragic end.

As for the accuracy, well... it's not. I didn’t know most of this when I watched the movie, but it still felt inaccurate because it was just such a textbook hero story. You can read a list of inaccuracies on Wikipedia. Slate also has an interesting article about characterization; I can't bring myself to blame the characterization problems on Cumberbatch, because the entire first half of the plot hinges on Turing being basically on the Autism spectrum. He couldn't have played it any other way (and indeed, when the plot stops harping on the Autism, he becomes a much more engaging character).

Recommendation
It's absolutely still worth the watch if you're interested in Turing's life, gay rights, WWII, cryptography, etc. Don't let my disappointment make this seem like a terrible movie. Just don't expect realism.

Feels
Deliberately classic. Insistently uplifting. Hollywood.

Favorites
Everything about the last few scenes. When Turing breaks down after the project is over, it’s heartbreaking. Apparently Cumberbatch was actually upset.

A police officer also finds him sweeping up cyanide from an experiment -- a nice reference to how historians now think he might have died.

I also appreciated the subtlety and dignity of Turing’s homosexuality. Somehow they got that right, when everything else is so ham-handed. Cumberbatch and Knightly have this fantastic non-sexual chemistry. He manages to deliver a desperate marriage proposal that has all this affection and honestly… and zero romantic interest.

Least favorites
The plot. It’s just so contrived. It tries so hard to be heartfelt, but you can't be heartfelt without being honest and human... which means not relying on a bunch of Heartfelt Tortured Hero tropes. The inaccuracies aren't just inaccuracies; they change the whole tone of the film.

So what did I really think?

Click "read more"... massive spoilers ahead!

Alright, I'm going to review the tropes and plot holes that ruined the movie for me, personally. There are a bunch of other tropes (nothing is trope-free) but these really got to me.

• Turing is hired because he’s an acknowledged mathematical genius; his entire department proceeds to brush him off, preferring to derp around with the same old useless paper and pencil methods.
• Turing invents this entire elaborate machine -- one of the first modern computers -- all by himself, fighting tooth and nail against his whole department. Not only is it trite (our hero against the world!) but it's not how most science actually happens, and it's not a very good use of resources.
• Turing's boss tries to pull the plug on his machine after it's completed, and the parts are bought and paid for. Why? Because now it's suddenly expensive. 
• The moral of the story that's painfully driven into our skulls. I hate when characters need to verbally state the moral of the story... multiple times. The same motivational-poster-worthy line is said, verbatim, by three different characters throughout the story. And no, as far as I can tell it's not an actual Turing quote.
• Randomly giving the computer a name (Christopher) to emphasize how hurt Turing was by the death of his childhood friend/crush (OMG he's gay!), and presumably how he's become emotionally connected to the computer. I found this fairly infantilizing and insulting to Turing.
• The group of cryptographers/mathematicians who invented the computer were... put in charge of important intelligence decisions? What? No.

Those are just the really big problems I had with the movie, and they all turned out to be complete inaccuracies. The screenwriter basically tossed out Turing's actual life and replaced it with a bland, tropey hero story.