Pawn Sacrifice

A film that can't decide if it wants to be about the thin line between genius and madness, or about the Cold War, and ultimately ends up being unfulfilling as either. It's handily propped up by some great performances, including what is certainly a career best from Maguire, but the largely mediocre cinematography and plotting still drag it down.

Just hours after the most devastating attack on the United States in history, in which thousands had died, Fischer could barely contain his delight. "This is all wonderful news," he announced. "I applaud the act. The U.S. and Israel have been slaughtering the Palestinians, just slaughtering them for years. Robbing them and slaughtering them. Nobody gave a shit. Now it's coming back to the U.S. Fuck the U.S. I want to see the U.S. wiped out." HERO

Well acted, very weak otherwise. A chess movie without a single digestible moment of chess.

Doesn t really know what part of the story it want to tell. Also why didn t Michael Shannon play Bobby?

If you can't film Chess in a way that's exciting or understandable, you probably shouldn't make a movie about Chess. How about that Tobey Maguire guy, though?

Never really finds its focus. You're a lot better off just watching the documentary, Bobby Fischer vs The World.

Of course it's a near impossible task to depict a charismatic person like Fischer. And even though Maguire is not that, that isn’t the problem of this movie. That’s the Hollywoodsauce of editing, music and directing creating simple explanations and uniformity, for example, his lost bisshop in the first match gets summarized to 'he acts confused’. The nagging question whether he acts as a hypersensitive outcast, a strategic genius or an intimidating alpha behind the board doesnt get even asked.

riveting performance by the principals

For a movie about a game that sometimes needs breakthrough moves to be great, this one tries to play it a little too safe. It's stuck between a true Cold War showdown -- hinted at, but never quite felt -- and a showcase of how brilliance might come with a price. The performances, surprisingly, were strong (and they don't shy away from the antisemitism); it's just that the story never really made me believe that this was anything more than a side frolic when it really was a nightly news item.

I really wanted to like it more :(

a film with very limited imagination. for a story about one of history's most brilliant (and tragic) minds, the story is told with the flair of a 14-year-old giving a high school presentation. this is particularly reflected in the soundtrack, which is composed entirely of material now used in car commercials. the story itself is one of the great sporting events of the 20th century, so it is appropriate that it is perhaps as good as the movie about the century's single greatest: the Space Jam

I don't know if is the subject or the acting or the story. Regardless I found it boring and annoying. It is just a weird movie, I can't make more of it. 38/100.

It's probably impossible to make a good movie about chess. If there was going to be one it would be about Fischer (not the best player ever, but inarguably the most interesting). This was mostly just a paint by numbers biopic. Maguire was pretty good tho.

fascinating story but a rather clumsy adaption for cinema. maguire does not impress.

It's great to see Tobey Maguire do pretty well in this role. The only problem is that the movie isn't sure, whether it should focus on the chess or the person, and gets to an awkward median which doesn't quite work, and you want them to show more of one or the other. It's a same because it has an interesting story to tell, just not told right.

All the big players get their act on, but the movie was a little easy and one-sided. However "mental" the real Bobby FIscher was, I'll bet he was more sympathetic than the one written for screen here.

This could've been a hit or a miss, for me a miss. I was disoriented, this movie was about Fischer, I should be rooting for him (go America!) but what an annoying character, awful to watch a paranoid materialistic self-centered chess player, on the other hand Spassky was so cool an nice I really wished to see more of him and for Bobby to loose. Anyways, the movie drags most of the time, direction all over the place and messes with my feelings for USA.

More chess, less paranoia. It never finds it's focus. *Okay

Nothing really stood out as great and besides a few terrible accents and a portion or two where Fischer's mental deterioration seemed to be played for a laugh nothing was really bad either. Just a fine movie.

Very good.

Trying to be a politic sport film... There is no chess! If there was, it could be smart one.

Bobby Fischer is the CM Punk of the chess world. And Tobey Maguire is good here. Really, really good. But there is a truly-underrated performance here from Peter Sarsgaard, who may actually be the strongest performance in the movie. This is another of those "propelled almost entirely by its performances" movies, but at the same time, it looks very authentically-filmed and it has a really enjoyable soundtrack. Well-done all around. If you dig dramatized biographies, you're certain to dig this.

Great performance by Maguire is a movie that had potential but didn't quite deliver.

Good acting, but could have been about anything, not necessarily chess. For a movie about such a fascinating guy and event it's really quite pedestrian and uninvolving.

...and then Bobby Fischer was like: "You sunk my battleship". Troll level: Master.

15.10.2015, Buyulu Fener Kizilay

Sure you've seen this kind of true story dramatic thriller/biopic before, but Zwick, Knight, and company just do it better with the perfect mix of politics and character study, plus perfect pacing. Maguire delivers an exhilarating career best performance, with Schreiber in a more understated but equally engaging role. Sargaard and Stuhlbarg are highlights of a very good supporting cast. Lastly the score was terrific. It was present without being overbearing or gimmicky.

Pawn Sacrifice is a safe, shallow biopic about chess legend Bobby Fischer. It has exciting chess scenes - although it doesn't have enough of them - but, on the whole, it winds up being a disappointing movie. It saddles us with an annoying protagonist who, regardless of the reasons behind his attitude, is tough to watch, and its characters are largely devoid of depth. The film places great importance on a match from which we only get to see a few games, and it feels cliché from moment one.

Biggest disparity between a box office and my score, ever. An indescribably small $1 .3 mil ($1.6 including international !), though the rating are relatively high by those who have actually seen it. Excellent performances by Maguire, Schreiber and especially Sarsgaard, who was the character I identified with the most. I'm guessing most of the subtle humor wasn't obvious, to most--some of it being Chess humor. The movie perfectly portrays the fact that we'll never know how much of Bobby was s [Full review]

Nothing to look out for here except Tobey Maguire's good acting. When are we going to have a good chess movie?

Bobby Fischer is such a fascinating, bizarre, one-of-a-kind character, and this is a highly watchable, old-styled biopic with some terrific performances (Maguire and Stuhlbarg both deserve Oscar noms) and a classical, easy-to-digest structure. Effective, engaging, and certainly worth seeing, even if it misses true greatness for whatever reason--the definitive Bobby Fischer Movie probably remains yet to be made.

Pawn Sacrifice is good, but perhaps in the wrong places. With some great acting by Maguire and a solid if not always truthfully advertised story, it feels like it could have been an Oscar nomination if they had tried just a bit harder. Zwick's direction is kind of annoying. What is trying to be a good shot is blurry characters or close ups of Maguire's acne. Maybe with a better director this could have gone farther, but right now it is forgettable.

Good story about an esoteric subject. Tobey McGuire was great.