Post by sjankis630 on Jan 3, 2015 22:28:34 GMT -4
I just caught this a few days ago and overall liked it. The performances are solid throughout - especially for Cumberbatch - and it tells a pretty compelling story throughout.
The story is one of Alan Turing a scientist who helped to break the German Enigma code (used by the Axis powers to communicate secret military information) to help the allies to defeat Germany during WW II. I had known this story somewhat and known some about Bletchley Park so I was looking forward to this.
I enjoyed it overall but I guess my one real problem with the movie is that it seems to "check all the boxes" in its narrative.
Well let's see. 1) quirky main character who is a misunderstood genius mostly criticized - check. 2) Genius always goes against the grain and others to always buck the system - seemingly singleheandedly and triumps - check. 3) Main genius character seems to exhibit at least some of the autism spectrum during performance - check.
From what I have read about Alan Turing he was a complicated man and this movie seems to make him out to be a little one sided in my opinion. He almost looks like a British Sheldon of Big Bang Theory fame. There is some back story given when he was a little boy in school - which I appreciate - but there isn't much else to really flesh out who Alan Turing was and how he came to be the person that was necessary to help crack the code. Please notice how I said "help crack the code" as this movie kind of made it seem like Turing just sat back and did all of the heavy lifting by himself just figuring out the problem and ordering others about like they were simply clerks. The way I have been lead to understand it he was helped out throughout the process by others who worked closely with him.
For you historians you might not like this as much as some as this is mainly a film about Turing the man and not so much his specific contributions scientifically wise. I am not a scientist and even I thought that the movie producers may have dumbed down this movie just slightly to make the math more palatable.
Some things about Turing that may have been left out:
1) how was his relationship with his parents? I understand that Turing was born in England but was left alone by his parents while they went out of country to work. His parents are never mentioned in the movie.
2) Turing was a top level runner in real life. The film only shows him running with an voiceover playing in the background which doesn't do justice to how great a runner he was comparitively. How did running effect his thinking process? Did he run during his time in Bletchley Park? etc. I would have liked to see some rounding out of the character in that regard.
As it was Cumberbatch - while a fine actor - does a very handy workmanlike job presenting Turing to us but I don't think this performance was as great as some are saying.
The movie tries to use a plot device to tell Turing's story in the years after the war to refer to what he did during the war and I felt that the story would have been better served to just tell the story chronologically.
I recommend going to see this, but i feel it could have been a better movie overall.
The story is one of Alan Turing a scientist who helped to break the German Enigma code (used by the Axis powers to communicate secret military information) to help the allies to defeat Germany during WW II. I had known this story somewhat and known some about Bletchley Park so I was looking forward to this.
I enjoyed it overall but I guess my one real problem with the movie is that it seems to "check all the boxes" in its narrative.
Well let's see. 1) quirky main character who is a misunderstood genius mostly criticized - check. 2) Genius always goes against the grain and others to always buck the system - seemingly singleheandedly and triumps - check. 3) Main genius character seems to exhibit at least some of the autism spectrum during performance - check.
From what I have read about Alan Turing he was a complicated man and this movie seems to make him out to be a little one sided in my opinion. He almost looks like a British Sheldon of Big Bang Theory fame. There is some back story given when he was a little boy in school - which I appreciate - but there isn't much else to really flesh out who Alan Turing was and how he came to be the person that was necessary to help crack the code. Please notice how I said "help crack the code" as this movie kind of made it seem like Turing just sat back and did all of the heavy lifting by himself just figuring out the problem and ordering others about like they were simply clerks. The way I have been lead to understand it he was helped out throughout the process by others who worked closely with him.
For you historians you might not like this as much as some as this is mainly a film about Turing the man and not so much his specific contributions scientifically wise. I am not a scientist and even I thought that the movie producers may have dumbed down this movie just slightly to make the math more palatable.
Some things about Turing that may have been left out:
1) how was his relationship with his parents? I understand that Turing was born in England but was left alone by his parents while they went out of country to work. His parents are never mentioned in the movie.
2) Turing was a top level runner in real life. The film only shows him running with an voiceover playing in the background which doesn't do justice to how great a runner he was comparitively. How did running effect his thinking process? Did he run during his time in Bletchley Park? etc. I would have liked to see some rounding out of the character in that regard.
As it was Cumberbatch - while a fine actor - does a very handy workmanlike job presenting Turing to us but I don't think this performance was as great as some are saying.
The movie tries to use a plot device to tell Turing's story in the years after the war to refer to what he did during the war and I felt that the story would have been better served to just tell the story chronologically.
I recommend going to see this, but i feel it could have been a better movie overall.
