thebrighteyes

I'd first heard of Alan Turing as the father of computer science, but I didn't know his story until a few years ago when an online petition to the UK government went viral, asking that they grant Turing a pardon and issue him an apology. And it came as no surprise when I'd found out that Hollywood had turned his work for the Allies in WWII and the subsequent years of his life into a biopic. It is quite an amazing story which deserves to be told, and The Imitation Game tells it quite entertainingly.

It also came as no surprise that they picked Benedict Cumberbatch, popular for his role as a genius detective, to play the role of Turing, a genius computer engineer. In fact, the parallels between the roles are so striking that it felt like the credits should read, "Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes, playing Alan Turing." There's even one of those Sherlockian "Eureka!" moments thrown into the movie. A moment which was worked in for dramatic effect, but also came across as a bit forced and lazy.

In fact, my only big criticism of The Imitation Game is that a lot of this movie comes across as being dramatized rather than true. It seems like a lot of extra narrative was thrown into the mix, adding a lot of extra heavy-handed messages about the morality of war, women's rights, bullying, autism, etc. I'd have been nice to see a more straight-forward telling of the story.

In spite of these criticisms, there is a lot to like about The Imitation Game: Keira Knightley had a great character. The scenes of Turing's childhood hit all the right emotional notes, and Alex Lawther - an actor who'd I'd never heard of before - did a great job as Young Alan Turing. And overall it was an engaging movie with only a few slow spots here and there. And fans of the BBC's Sherlock (with Cumberbatch) will definitely enjoy it.

The Maze Runner opens with an unknown panicked boy, awaking in a dark, steel elevator, ascending into the unknown. The doors open to a grassy plane - The Glade - where he is surrounded by a group of mocking boys. We soon learn that they remember nothing of their past lives, except that they are all trapped here, surrounded by a gigantic labyrinth which they must navigate to (hopefully) find freedom. It's certainly an intriguing plot.

Having never read the book, I didn't really know what to expect. And to that end, the mystery kept me interested throughout. However, I can't say that I felt much for any of the characters. Perhaps those who have read the book will feel differently, but there just didn't seem to be much depth to them. Even the lone girl in the movie seemed to be mostly a useless character, adding very little to the plot.

I'd heard many compare it to The Hunger Games, which definitely shares many of the same elements. Both are fun movies, but the main fault of The Maze Runner is with the payoff at the end. Why are these boys trapped? By whom? You'll get answers, for sure, but I felt like they didn't make a whole lot of sense.