Directed by Edward Zwick (Legends of the Fall, Shakespeare in Love, Traffic, Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai) and starring Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man, Pleasantville, The Great Gatsby, The Cider House Rules), Liev Schreiber (The Manchurian Candidate, The Last Days on Mars, X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Peter Sarsgaard (Flightplan, Green Lantern, Knight and Day Blue Jasmine) and Michael Stuhlbarg (Hugo, Men in Black 3, Lincoln, Hitchcock).
Biopic / drama, 115 mins, 12+
Set during the Cold War, and starting back in 1951, Pawn Sacrifice follows the story of flawed genius Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) from his upbringing in a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. He showed early promise and potential by playing chess and regularly played against the best before becoming the best in America by the age of 16. He then played against European Grand Masters and eventually earned the right to play the world #1, Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber).
By this time, he found himself being used by the Americans in the Cold War against Russia, but he had his confidants and supporters in Father Bill Lombardy (Peter Sarsgaard) and lawyer Paul Marshall (Michael Stuhlbarg), Yet, these were not enough to save him against his demons as his eccentricities showed more and more signs of his mind becoming unbalanced. His paranoia increased, with regular belief that the CIA and/or KGB was following him and/or eavesdropping on his telephone conversations. Nevertheless, he studied the Russian Grandmasters at such an intense level that chess was his only life. The film culminates with his epic chess match against Spassky in Iceland in 1972 for the World Chess Championship, with the world tuned in to every move.
Director Edward Zwick has managed another great film to equal, even surpass, his previous best, even Legends of the Fall. Many people would not think that chess could be that interesting, but the director has managed to creat a tense drama full of emotion based on superb story-telling. The period drab interiors and costumes, even down to such detail as glasses frames, match the mood of the period down to perfection. The soundtract heightens the tension and also releases it, at just the rigth momemts, recreating the national pride stoked by the media frenzy of the time.
The cast shone too, with Tobey Maguire in arguably his best performance to date, was excellent throughout, with Liev Schreiber also putting in a stellar performance as the cool and calculated Russian grandmaster. Don't forget the must-watch film clips and conclusion to the story right before the credits-roll.
