The Imitation Game (2014)

4/5

The Imitation Game tells a fascinating story spectacularly well. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Alan Turing, a British math professor who gets enlisted into a covert military mission to break the Nazi's Enigma Machine and help win WWII for the Allies. (Spoiler alert: he succeeds.) He plays the role to perfection, although I fear that Cumberbatch is well on his way to getting typecast. Here he plays an unlikeable genius lacking any interpersonal skills, nearly identical to his equally uncharming title role on BBC's Sherlock.

The writing somehow simultaneously represents the best and worst aspects of the movie. It is expertly paced, engaging from beginning to end, continuously drawing you in. But the timeline is also unnecessarily complicated, going back and forth between three distinct time periods much too frequently. Also, the film seems to use Turing's homosexuality sometimes to great effect and sometimes for shock value. It ends the movie in a surprisingly sad light and gives the title enormous new weight, but it also deviates from the character study we signed up to watch to tackle Britain's abhorrent policy on the matter.

There was also a little too much old timey footage, and its inclusion feels more like laziness rather than value-added benefit. Or maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine, like unnecessary voiceover narration. Still, The Imitation Game is an engrossing and compelling watch. Highly recommended.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2084970/

Headhunters (2011)

4/5

Headhunters is a film based on the book of the same name by Jo Nesbø. To review the movie, I must first describe the book. The book is full of twists and turns. It is written in such a way that surprises and delights with every chapter. Even the premise of the book is only revealed after the first chapter (an interview with a potential applicant). And once you discover the premise while reading the second chapter, you want to go back and re-evaluate that first chapter for its double meanings and hidden subtext. The premise of the movie is not only revealed in the description for the film, it is used as an action-y setting for the opening credits. So now, even before we get to that interview in the first scene, we know what is up and the scene loses its cleverness and mystery. This is to say nothing of the biggest curve ball of the book--the big reveal at the end--which is announced much earlier on in the book and merits no less than a pause for the movie-going audience.

All things considered, the movie is a relatively faithful adaptation, in that specific events happen in the same way and order that they did in the book. But it loses the charm and brilliance of the writing. Still, the film is enjoyable and engaging and one that I highly recommend. More than anything, however, I recommend reading the book. The twists are absolutely to die for; you can't put it down until the jaw-dropping finale. Writing this review for the movie just makes me want to read the book again--that's how good it is.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1614989/