Pawn Sacrifice

The ratings and the trailer I saw for "Pawn Sacrifice" motivated me to take in this movie. The paranoia of grandmaster Bobby Fischer took center stage in this story and that made it hard to enjoy the film but that can be a metaphor for Fischer's life. The script wasn't awful, the acting was good and the design work was noteworthy but nothing was truly special about this show.

What happens in Bobby Fischer's mind is believable on screen thanks to the era in which he lived and his passion/obsession. The tragedy of what his paranoia and fame cost him is best demonstrated in the scene between Paul and Joan. Paul mentions how grandmasters that play Bobby end up with tears in their eyes and in the next shot, Joan has tears in her eyes. Is fame and ideology more important than a man's sanity and family? Another part of the film that I enjoyed was that you didn't know who was going to win the championship. All hope seems lost for Bobby until Spassky cracks in his hotel room. For a moment, as Spassky becomes angered by the possibility of winning by default, I thought that maybe Bobby's madness was all an act. He is playing metaphorical chess outside competition with his opponent. Of course, this is not the case because why would the film portray an act of paranoia so realistically. The design of the movie is noteworthy because you can see the difference between the scenes that place in the 1950's, 60's and 70's. The use of sound is vital to a movie about chess. The sound editing was pretty good at portraying tension and obsession. The final element of "Pawn Sacrifice" that impressed me was the use and alterations of period footage such as the TV clip of the Dick Cavett show. Unlike in "Forrest Gump" when Forrest is on the same show and the only thing from the 1970's was John Lennon, it appears like the only thing not from the 70's in this clip for "Pawn Sacrifice" is Tobey Maguire. Unfortunately, as mentioned, this movie had nothing extremely special to offer. I guess it is hard to make a movie with this subject matter, let alone a true story about one of the greatest chess players in recent history. This film's story is a tragedy and as such, it isn't as inspirational or heartwarming like some underdog movies.

Tobey Maguire produces and stars in this movie and I felt he gave a good performance. He does carry this movie. Liev Schrieber did his role quite well. I am starting to see a lot of movies with Michael Stuhlbarg in them, which include “Hugo”, “Men in Black III", "Lincoln" & "Hitchcock" and I like all those performances. His work as Paul in this movie was good but not as entertaining as I usually get from him. However, his character in this movie wasn't like those in the aforementioned movies I have seen him in. All the cinematic characteristics of "Pawn Sacrifice" such as the acting, design and script were okay but not anything Oscar worthy from what I can judge. As long as it had good story structure then I can't say it was bad but then again, I won't need to see the movie again either.

3 stars