robert harris 1995 bestseller enigma be an engaging romantic thriller that shed light on the unsung heroism of the world war ii cryptanalyst of the british codebreaking headquarters at bletchley park . harris manage the trick of create character of more than one dimension who you actually care about and who seemingly have a reality beyond their function in the plot line of his well research novel . unfortunately and enigma the movie and a script by tom stoppard and direct by the workmanlike michael apted and fall well short of a similar achievement . primarily and a film like this stand or fall on the charisma of it leading man and but dougray scott take on harris vulnerable but brilliant hero tom jericho be a curious one . his dour and drowsy performance be no doubt an attempt to capture the emotionally break down state that jericho find himself in follow the collapse of a doomed romance with bletchley co worker claire ( saffron burrow ) and but his doleful and heavy lidded expression quickly become irritate . a the movie attempt to ratchet up the suspense and scott remain withdrawn and space out so that sequence that should be nail biting a in the novel almost pas by unnoticed . what desperately need and breakdown notwithstanding and be a jericho with a little intensity . kate winslet and always a watchable actress and fare rather well in the small role of the plain but spirited hester and who attempt to help tom solve the riddle of claire disappearance and of the steal cryptogram find in her room . jeremy northam meanwhile offer an agreeably oily and snake like turn a the secret service investigator who suspect that claire or even jericho may be a spy . no one else make much of an impact . support part be low power and under developed and particularly the pivotal character of puck . there such a dearth of thought provoke cerebral movie thriller that it be almost tempting to applaud enigma simply for attempt to engage the brain rather than deliver the usual crowd pleasing but mind numbing thrill and spill . but that can hardly be an excuse for deliver a thriller entirely devoid of excitement and bogged down a it be with often clunky dialogue in which character do not so much relate to each other like normal people and a spend most of the time spell out the story so far or explain the finer point of cryptanalysis for the evident benefit of the audience . several key plot twist seem to occur in expository dialogue rather than be actually depict and and this tendency increase a the film draw to it rush and some would say botch and climax . sadly and the only real enigma here be how such a strong and involve novel manage to translate so tediously from page to screen .