“Sometimes it’s the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things no one can imagine,” Joan Clarke, played by Keira Knightley, said. This quote is a perfect representation of the film, which tells the story of a man named Alan Turing, who was by no means an ordinary man, though many people failed see the greatness inside of him.

Based on a true story and set during WWII, The Imitation Game follows the life of Turing, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, as he and a few fellow cryptanalysts try to crack the “impossible” enigma code. The enigma code was the code used by the German troops that allowed them to relay messages that could only be understood by a fellow Germans. This machine that had 159 million combinations and the Germans would change their combination every day. The British government brought together the best and brightest cryptanalysts, including a female, thanks to Turing’s unbiased views, to work in complete secrecy to crack the German’s code and win the war. The movie showcases much more than the work done to crack the code. It also shows the viewer Turing’s background, the development between the characters and his life outside of Bletchley Park, where all the work on enigma was done.

The Screenwriter, Graham Moore, created a very realistic script that stayed true to the time period in which the movie is set and the way people truly interact. Director Morten Tyldum did a wonderful job capturing the audience’s attention with a quiet suspense that perfectly intertwines with character and keeps everyone intrigued throughout the entirety of the nearly two hour run-time.

Benedict Cumberbatch beautifully brings to life the socially awkward, slightly arrogant, generally misunderstood and absolutely brilliant man that was Turing. Cumberbatch does a fantastic job displaying the many different sides of

Turing and showed great care in the way he portrayed the incredible man, whose accomplishments have gone without their deserving recognition.

Cumberbatch wasn’t alone in giving a great performance, with Knightley and Matthew Goode adding to the overall quality and believability of the movie with their portrayal of their respective characters. Knightley and Goode both added dimensions to their roles, which resulted in an evolution of their characters throughout the movie and helped substantiate their relationships with Turing and the rest of the cast.

Overall the movie had a quiet, compelling nature to it that was uniquely brought to life by the actors who took so much care into becoming the characters they were portraying. The movie’s plot may seem to some as though it would be boring and make the audience think far too much to be actually enjoyable, but those people would be mistaken.

The movie doesn’t waste time with too much thinking, nor does it dwell on the any minor details, but instead it immaculately tells the story of one man’s life, who has changed all of our lives without anyone really realizing it.