Review of Pawn Sacrifice (2015) by Andrew M — 23 Oct 2015
A decent albeit somewhat cluttered biopic. This movie is all Tobey McGuire's to carry, and he does a good job of portraying Fischer's gradual fall to mental illness, with this match against Spassky as the backdrop (up to game 6).
My main issues with it are that jumps around quite a bit, understandably from focusing on the build up to the world championship match, but as a result Fischer is the only one who gets ANY character development, although perhaps Lombardy and Spassky get some as well, although the former's role appears to be greatly expanded in the real-life events prior to the match.
Most other characters are just peripheral, with me not even knowing Lily Rabe was Fischer's sister until a conversation AFTER she appeared on screen. The effects are also questionable, with many achieving an uncanny valley effect by sticking McGuire's face over actual interview footage of Fischer.
Still, it's certainly never boring, and although it doesn't bring chess to the level of drumming that "Whiplash" did last year it may be worth checking out.
This review of Pawn Sacrifice (2015) was written by Andrew M on 23 Oct 2015.
Pawn Sacrifice has generally received positive reviews.
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