Review of Pawn Sacrifice (2015) by Abhinandhan D — 17 Sep 2015

Pawn Sacrifice is directed by Edward Zwick and stars Tobey Maguire as Bobby Fischer, one of the greatest chess players in the world. I didn't really know much about Bobby Fischer other than the fact that he was a really good chess player.

My biggest issue with the film is that it never really delves into Fischer's Psyche. The movie doesn't really explain Fischer's Paranoia/Hate of the communists(Why is he so afraid of the CIA,KGB? Why is he so scared that he is being spied on?).

The script instead follows a standard sports drama outline and focuses on showing the lead up to Fischer's match against Boris Spassky and ends abruplty without showing the events after he becomes the world champion where he starts to go crazy.

There are some pacing issues as well and the movie does get slow at parts and it was slightly disappointing that they didn't show more of the final chess match between Spassky and Fischer. The movie still ends up being compelling because of Tobey Maguire's terrific performance as he makes you dislike Bobby Fischer but gets you to feel sympathy for him as well.

Its also funny to watch his family/friends react to his adamance of wanting things to go exactly as he wants it to. B-.