Code breakers that help the government during an international crisis are quickly becoming popular in the world of cinema these days. A Beautiful Mind started this particular craze and Enigma and Windtalkers will continue it into the summer. In fact, Enigma also shares another similarity with A Beautiful Mind in that the main character suffers a nervous breakdown of sorts and the main character is a brilliant mathematician. Enigma’s main character doesn’t suffer Schizophrenia though like Russell Crowe’s John Nash character in the aforementioned Best Picture winner last year. Enigma also just so happens to share another similarity with Windtalkers in that it is a World War II film.
Mathematician Tom Jericho (Dougray Scott) is hired by the British government to break the Nazi submarine “enigma” code that allows the submarines to remain undetected while they are hunting down enemies. He’s joined by two other men to help in the code-breaking process, Baxter (Richard Leaf) and Puck (Nikokaj Waldau). They are soon informed by intelligence officer Wigram (Jeremy Northam that a spy may have infiltrated their operation. Jericho also has to cope with his quest to find a past flame (Saffron Burrows) being put on hold. He had a brief relationship with her that he had to end because of personal reasons.
Director Michael Apted does his best to make Tom Stoppard’s blandly written screenplay intriguing but fails. The film often drags would it should soar and when it attempts to delve deep into Jericho’s personal life the film becomes an absolute bore. What Apted does manage to do is make the film a spy film that for once isn’t too similar to the Hollywood manufactured James Bond films.
Enigma features generally solid performances that still suffer from the occasional faults. Dougray Scott is good when he is attempting to break the “enigma” code and interacting with his fellow code breakers. Where he is flawed though, is when he tries to display a believable sufferer of a nervous breakdown. He just comes across as cheesy and he overacts way too much during those scenes. Faring much better is Saffron Burrows in her role as Scott’s former lover. She plays the femme fatale character to a tee. Also faring well is Jeremy Northam. He aptly steals his scenes away from the other actors on screen with ease. He’s so magnetic in his role you wish that the film focused on his character more often.
Overall, Enigma is a solid mix of drama and thrills that nonetheless doesn’t maintain its goal of entertaining the viewer throughout.
Rating: 75
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