Sadly Over-hyped

Instant Favorite.

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

An excellent screenplay by Steven Knight makes chess just about as thrilling as it can get - and you don't need to know anything about chess to enjoy it. Couple with the Cold War backdrop and it works on two levels. It is also a look at Fischer's rather sad decline and it would have been nice to see more of the post-game developments rather than the pre-game story.Some of the direction and/or editing slows the pace a little too much in places and cutting the running time by 15 minutes would have tightened it up considerably, perhaps garnering nother * but it would be churlish to criticise it too much.The actors are all superb with a special mention of Michael Stuhlbarg but that's to single out one gem in a bag of diamonds. And an excellent score by James Newton Howard.It didn't have a wide release but it's well worth watching if you can catch it.

What use is winning, if it costs one man his mental health?" I'm sure this phrase or one like it was coined for the sake of this movie. It features Toby McGuire as real life Chess Champion Bobby Fischer, who was once the greatest player in the world but sadly let the pressure of the game and the attention bestowed upon him slowly drive him to the brink of insanity. He's not the only one though: as we see from the irrational behaviour of his Russian Grandmaster final opponent later on, the rigours of such a complicated strategic game can affect anyone, if they let it take over their existence to the extent as shown here.You don't have to appreciate the finer points of chess to derive enjoyment from Pawn Sacrifice. It would probably help, but the themes of Cold War anxiety and obsessively having to be 'the best' are more universal, and should make it appeal to a larger crowd. McGuire proves he can be so much more than just a webslinger, and we feel every inch of his paranoia as the film goes on: his character shuts himself off from the world, always thinks he's being watched, refuses to eat food unless it's prepared in front of him... one of the earliest 'conspiracy theorists', perhaps?Anyone familiar with the real-life story knows that this movie can't have a happy ending, as the final text during the episode so bluntly demonstrates. All the cheering from Fischer's family and adoring crowds won't change a thing to what occurred after his triumph, and we're left with the stark question: was it all worth it?In this viewers opinion, no. 7/10

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.

During the height of the Cold War, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer finds himself caught between two superpowers when he challenges the Soviet Empire. With an impressive performance by Tobey Maguire Pawn Sacrifice is a film with a lot of tension mostly every time there's a chess scene between Fischer and his other opponents as for negatives the rest of the cast is just there and it's pacing is kinda moody and that ruined the whole film for me a bit and i'm gonna give it an 7.0 out of 10. It's still worth your time just for Maguire's performance but if you except something way more you will probably be left disappointed.