"You know, without your glasses, you don't look half bad."

"You know, without my glasses, nor do you."

The most exciting moment in a dull chore of a film in which everyone and everything is on autopilot except Kate Winslet, who infuses her character with spirit and manages to create a distinct performance out of such bland material.

So... We're just leaving out Alan Turing...?

At first I thought they had straightwashed Alan Turing, but I quickly realised that the main character wasn't him.

Enigma doesn't feel enigmatic at all, and instead feels mostly dull and uninspired. Conventionally boring.

Kate Winslet is the one that carries the whole thing, and her performance is outstanding, as always. I especially like this line of dialogue between her character and a creepy co-worker:

Creepy mf: D'ya know, without your glasses, you don't look half bad!

Hester Wallace: Do you know, without my glasses, nor do you.

Girlboss 🙌

2022 #355
A decent WWII spy thriller that feels far removed from the real-life happenings at Bletchley Park (and completely omits Alan Turing altogether). Still, while it does make use of some historical events, this is striving for gripping rather than factual. On that front, Enigma is mostly successful thanks to the mystery and suspense Michael Apted creates, as well as a great Kate Winslet performance.

A decent thriller but, perhaps more so now that we have a better understanding of what really happened (Turing and The Imitation Game) this falls apart under any examination. The facts are used liberally and, at times, are often frankly insulting to our intelligence. Northam, Winslet and Scott deliver well what they are given though.

This story looks like it should only work on paper, not the screen... but it does. It tells the story of the cracking of the Enigma code with intrigue, and frankly makes something that should be difficult, and even boring, quite fun. The great British cast is used well across the board even down to a small role by Matthew McFayden. Hollander, Scott, Northam, Winslet, and Burrows all add nicely to the story.

stop forcing badly written romance plots in based-on-real-story thrillers

Those glasses kill me

2001 Movielog

Solid WW2 movie that takes a refreshing detour to the kind of war movies we’re used to. Concerned with the codebreakers themselves, Apted has no problem making this as tense as any other film in the genre thanks to a solid script, effective pacing and an impressive cast led by Winslet.