Hollywood loves making movies in which a genius finds success, but at the same time is plagued by his excentric side, disability or psychological issues (just think of movies like A Beautiful Mind, Rain Man, The Imitation Game or The Theory of Everything). It makes it easier to offer the viewer a story about someone who is able to solve complex issues which are important, but at the same time is a human being with a flaw. Of course that means there is a lot of predictability in this type of film. With the good ones that isn’t an issue, so the question is what about this one?
Pawn Sacrifice tells the story about chess player Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire), who as a boy is obsessed by chess. When his mother takes him to one of the best players in New York, he sees that young Bobby is talented and very focussed when playing the game. He decides to teach him and it doesn’t take long before the boy manages to beat everyone and become the best player in America. As a person though he is paranoid, partly because his mother is a member of the communist party who doesn’t trust anyone. That character trait has a big effect on his chess career because he doesn’t always show up at the big matches or changes his demands at the last moment.
nbsp;The chess world isn’t famous for its wild parts and actionfilled matches, but still Pawn Sacrifice tries to make this world interesting by adding little elements during the matches itself and people explaining what is happening. There are various moments in which Bobby and an old friend are playing matches from the top of their heads, just naming positions. Not really the kind of material which makes the heart beat faster.
The moments during which Bobby is angry or is wrecking his room trying to find bugs are atmospheric, but don’t manage to save the movie. His game in Iceland against reigning champion Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber) should be the highlight of the film, but doesn’t manage to keep the tension. I caught myself regularly checking my watch, wanting to know how much longer it would go on. In this case the real story, which was told in the documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World, is a lot more interesting. The pawn might be sacrificed here, but it doesn’t lead to checkmate.
I was not enamoured with this either. I did kind of like Liev.
Yeah, he was cool.
Bummer this wasn’t very good, but I was wondering how cinematic it would be to do a film about a chess match. I was curious about Liev Schreiber speaking Russian though.
Well it is cinematic, but that only won’t make a film enjoyable.