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Perfect cast and a good story

Great Film overall

Fantastic!

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

"Pawn sacrifice" centers around the life and game of one of the greatest chess players of all time, Bobby Fischer, and his battle with both the cold war and his fragile mind. It thereby mainly focuses on the events of the World Championship in Reykjavyk.In my opinion, the biggest strength of the movie becomes also its biggest problem. The attempt to create a balance between cold war, Fischer's mind and chess sometimes fails a bit. While much screen time is used to portray the events of Iceland, his breakdown afterwards and the questionable views he expressed are only mentioned very briefly. Somehow the movie still tells this story as an American hero tale, the Soviets are still the bad guys and all in all you can't help but say that this is a quite patriotic movie. I think that taking his whole life into account would have helped to understand better what happened to this man. It is indeed sad to see a brilliant mind fall to very dumb ideas and turn into somebody you need to oppose.As it is, the movie is very much one in a row of movies showing us how pressure in sports or art can break people. Despite all my criticism it is still a good movie, thoroughly produced and the person of Fischer surely delivers enough aspects to turn this into an interesting film. One that is solid, but also one that could be even better.

This film takes place during the Cold War with a young American by the name of "Bobby Fischer" (played by Tobey Maguire) setting out to become the World Chess Champion which had been under exclusive domination of the Soviet Union for almost 40 years. Yet, even though he was a most formidable challenger there were several obstacles he had to overcome, which not only included an incredible number of skilled Soviet grandmasters, but his own character flaws as well. To that end, this film provides an interesting--albeit somewhat flawed—glimpse into this person's unique quest. Now, having said that, let me first state that I thought both Tobey Maguire, and Liv Schreiber (as "Boris Spassky") performed in an excellent manner. However, to be fair there were certain aspects which lacked historical accuracy and should probably be mentioned as well. First, I don't believe this film gives an accurate or honest portrayal of Bobby Fischer. Yes, he would often become quite agitated when distracted by noise. But let's be honest, he wasn't the only chess player to voice his displeasure in that regard. Likewise, there were a couple of times he walked out during certain chess competitions. However, it should be noted that Bobby had religious restrictions which forbade him from playing on the Sabbath. So when his legitimate objections were ignored he did what he felt was necessary. Yet rather than giving him credit for putting his religious beliefs ahead of everything else this film uses this fact against him. Also worth mentioning is the fact that Bobby was very shy and socially awkward. Unfortunately, rather than taking this into account this film makes him look like a raving lunatic instead. Now, that is not to say that Bobby didn't eventually go completely insane. But this was a gradual process which accelerated after he won the World Championship due in part to his feelings of betrayal by the same religious institution he had put so much faith—and money--into. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, Bobby was quite shy and as a result he preferred to do things on his own and was very much a loner. That said, this movie greatly exaggerates the influence "Father Bill Lombardy" (Peter Sarsgaard) and "Paul Marshall" (Michael Stuhlbarg) had upon him. Further, it should also be mentioned that Boris Spassky was not the World Champion when he and Bobby sat down at the board during the Piatigorsky Cup in 1966—that honor belonged at the time to Tigran Petrosian and it would be another 3 years before Boris could claim that title. To that extent, these are just a few of the inaccuracies detailed in this film--with several other flaws out there that I haven't mentioned. That being said, those who have followed Bobby Fisher's career will probably be less than impressed with the manner in which he has been portrayed. Ironically, in spite of these criticisms, I still found this film to still be entertaining to a certain degree and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Despite the fact that I can't play chess worth a lick (and haven't really even given it all that much of an effort), I've always found the game to be fascinating as the ultimate test of mental acuity. It has been said that just four moves into a match, there are 288 billion permutations thereafter. Wow! "Pawn Sacrifice" is the story of perhaps the greatest chess player of all time, Bobby Fischer, and his tumultuous battle both with the Soviet Union's best chess players and his own inner demons.For a basic plot summary, this movie begins with Fischer (Tobey Maguire) not showing up to his promoted matched with Russian Grand Master Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber). It is clear that Fischer is not well. The film then flashes back to scenes from earlier in Bobby's life, where he is managed by Paul Marshall (Michael Stuhlbarg) and mentored by Father Bill Lombardy (Peter Sarsgaard). Despite being a chess genius, without a doubt, there is always the chance that Bobby will dive off the deep end at any second. As his stature grows, he catches the eye of the Soviet Union (locked in the heart of the Cold War with America), who will stop at nothing to make sure their champion, Spassky, is seen as superior. This sets up the epic clash between Spassky and Fischer, where a good deal more than chess is on the line."Pawn Sacrifice" is a great film primarily because of the superb acting performances all around. This is the type of movie that needs simmering drama and sustained emotion to succeed (can't rely on special effects or action/adventure), and all those things are provided. Particularly noteworthy is Maguire as Fischer. It's the type of performance that, had the film succeeded a bit more financial, could have garnered him some awards. All the auxiliary cast are spot-on as well.It's also quite a feat to take a movie that primarily consists of two people staring at a board contemplating seem drama-filled. Obviously, the backstory of everything else going on is what creates the majority of the drama, but even the chess scenes themselves are fraught with tension and suspense. For those who think chess is "boring", they might have a different view after watching "Pawn Sacrifice".Probably the only thing keeping the picture from being truly great is that a bit more development could have been given to the Spassky character. The story of Fischer is intriguing, to be sure, but for every "hero" there must be equal shrift given to the "villain", and sometimes that fails to happen here. The scenes where Spassky is given some development are great and Schreiber shines, but they just seem a bit few and far between.All told, "Pawn Sacrifice" is a great movie for those who like historical biopics or are interested in Bobby Fischer's story or chess in general. The acting performances carry the way, and there is a sense of tension right up to and even through the final credits. You'll never believe that chess can be this exciting!

Tobey Maguire is best known for playing Spider-Man on the silver screen, while fellow actor Liev Schreiber took on the role of Sabretooth in another Marvel movie – X-Men Origins: Wolverine.It is an appropriate background, because in Pawn Sacrifice the acting duo assume the identities of two of the superheroes of the chess world – Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.The film was out in 2014 but the distribution has been patchy. It received only a limited release in the UK, for example, and has not been available for Brits via iTunes or Netflix. So being based in England I ordered a Polish DVD from Amazon and had to fiddle with the subtitles and language in order to watch it.Was it worth the hassle? Yes, just about.For my full review, see here: https://www.chess.com/blog/thejacka1/pawn- sacrifice-movie-review