Purely Joyful Movie!

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The central theme of the movie is about the historic face-off between the two chess grandmasters of early seventies. The first forty minutes or so stand as a background with a fast-forward narration from Fischer's childhood through his adulthood as a prodigy. The second half is dedicated to the famous Reykjavik chess match with Spassky. Before seeing the movie, I quickly went through the wikipedia article about Bobby Fisher and honestly, found it more interesting than the film itself. Bobby Fisher certainly had an interesting life with ups and downs from his birth to his death and it would be impossible to capture all the important milestones of his life in 115 min. So, the film correctly focused on the culmination of his professional career in 1972. However, despite all the embellished drama over the match, the depiction of the events with a style reminiscent of Rocky Balbao series seems too familiar. Besides that, the hiccupy flow of the movie fails to keep the audience attached. Tobey's acting was good but his potrayal of Fischer as a sociopath went a bit overboard.

For much of its runtime, watching "Pawn Sacrifice" is a grueling experience. Young Bobby Fischer is growing up fearing being spied on by government agents. His mother, Regina, (Robin Weigart) is a communist living in Cold War era Brooklyn. Bobby escapes from what looks like a loveless childhood and a chaotic home life by focusing on chess. Regina takes Bobby to Carmine Nigro (Conrad Pia) a teacher who greets Bobby by telling him that chess is a religion that takes anyone regardless of nation or creed. One hopes that this kindly man will serve as a ray of light in Bobby's life, but Bobby behaves as if he is autistic. He makes little eye contact and focuses only on the board, shutting out his opponent and his mother and sister who must stand and watch as he spends hours on his first chess match with a near master. Once young Bobby loses to Nigro, he refuses to shake hands, cries silently, and icily demands another game. The real Bobby Fischer was noticeably tall and slim with very striking facial features: piercing eyes, prominent nose, large, curved lips and a sprinkling of facial moles. Tobey Maguire is short and slight, with refined features, darker hair and no moles. Fischer was from Brooklyn and he lacked a formal education. He dropped out of high school. He talked like an uneducated Brooklynite who happens to be a headline-making genius; he had a lot of attitude. Maguire is from California and he never really captures Fischer's unique voice or inflection. The film picks up with the arrival of three characters played by brilliant actors: Michael Stahlbarg as Paul Marshall, a sort of fixer / hand-holder, Peter Sarsgaard as Father William Lombardy, a chess master, and Liev Schreiber as Boris Spassky. These three actors are superb, and each has a moment on screen that absolutely took my breath away. Marshall is a long suffering lawyer who prods Fischer to go to Iceland to take on Boris Spassky and become the new world champion. Lombardy is the closest thing Fischer has to a friend. He serves as Fischer's second. Bobby tears apart hotel rooms seeking hidden microphones; perhaps the Russians, the CIA, or the conspiratorial Jews are spying on him. Bobby runs from journalists' cameras and the fans who want to grab and kiss him. Bobby cracks when he hears spectators cough or when he can smell their breath. He demands more money, special chairs, different rooms, quieter cameras. Though Jewish, he listens to tapes that convince him that Jews are evil people taking over the world. All this is really hard to watch. It's especially hard to watch for anyone who remembers the Fischer-Spassky match. Bobby Fischer was an incredibly gifted man. He was world famous. After his match, he could have made millions and enjoyed a cushioned retirement. Instead he trusted the wrong people, became a raving lunatic Jewish anti- Semite and a member of a cult he would later denounce, denounced America, cheered 9-11, spat on documents, broke laws, became an exile, and, after refusing necessary medical treatment, died entirely too young and unnecessarily. His ironic, poignant last words, they say, were, "Nothing is as healing as human touch." You can't watch this movie and not wish that somebody had done something to help this man. You can't not wonder, what was wrong with him? Was it the bad relationship with his mother? His lack of a father? His illegitimacy? Was he schizophrenic or autistic? Or is that he was treated like a star and did not receive, from others, the kind of feedback that forms character? A combination of all of these factors? Because Bobby Fischer is a commodity, even in death, we will never know. In the film, Paul Marshall, the more practical and earthbound of Bobby's advisors, suggests taking him to a psychiatrist. Father Lombardy responds that chess is a rabbit hole. He mentions the hundreds of millions of moves that chess masters must take into consideration. He says that taking Bobby to a psychiatrist would be like pouring concrete down a holy well. The implication is that Bobby's chess genius is inextricably tied to his mental illness. Lombardy cites Paul Morphy, a chess genius who could not succeed at conventional life. But look at Boris Spassky. He is still alive and no one suggests that he is mentally ill. Maybe a mentally healthy Bobby would have been an even better chess player. Liev Schreiber, in the commentary, says that chess masters must constantly predict their opponent's attacks, and that doing so contributes to paranoia. Perhaps so. Although I found the film hard to watch, the performances by the leads were so profoundly rewarding that they lifted me up in awe and made me cry. I don't know how Liev Schreiber did it, but he perfectly channeled a Soviet man from the 70s. I know because I was there in the 70s. Michael Stahlberg utterly inhabits his part, a chain smoking, sweaty palmed, tireless enabler who takes every abuse from Bobby and never stops trying to push him forward. Peter Sarsgaard is just simply superb, in every scene, from praying the rosary on his knees to the moment when dawn breaks on his face as Bobby starts winning. Tobey Maguire has a moment that is so powerful it gave me chills. He is beating Spassky. He is in his element. It is his bliss. See the movie for that moment, one I watched over and over again.

Its hard to say what this movie is about.Its not about chess, as never are you shown what is going on on the board nor is it explained or put into context. We're told the climatic game is considered the greatest game of chess ever played (by some) but we're not told why. Its like being told there is something beautiful behind the curtain and then never shown.Its not about Bobby Fischer. This might come as a surprise but by the end of the movie you haven't spend more than 2 minutes in a row in the same room as him. You are not given enough details about him to sympathise or loath him. Just a lot of long dumb looks which are never explored. You are again never shown inside his head.Finally, its not about the cold war for the same reason it is not about Bobby Fischer, because no time is spent on it, the people involved nor their relations. Your just told its on and its the US vs. USSR.'Searching for Bobby Fischer' is a much better move about Bobby Fischer and chess and its not about ether of those things, officially.

I know Bobby Fischer a genius American chess player, in fact, after watching the 'Searching for Bobby Fischer', which is another biopic as this one. Other than that I know nothing about his life, so I'm very thankful for this film. From the director of many sensational flicks comes this to inspire you. Wait, did I say inspire, but I'm little confused over how this film to be considered. Bobby Fischer was a great player, but he had some mental issues. So you can compare him to John Nash from 'A Beautiful Mind', except they're from different fields, but very intelligents.This film was a little patriotic abut the American nation, especially defeating the Russians in the chess game. So I'm being neutral here. Bobby was the one to focus how he makes his life big with the game that requires a brain. The story began with short span of childhood and then soon skipped to adult Bobby Fischer competing in a biggest tournament in the world, a championship against the best. Nicely filmed with lots of exciting scenes, particularly Tobey Maguire as the main lead was brilliant. Liev Schreiber was another surprise with his frequent on and off role.Good film, but feels it is not complete, there should have more to it and like I said earlier, it has impacted, but not inspiring way which is why I'm doubting the screenplay. A man like him and a film about him should have nominated for several international awards, including the Golden Globe and the Oscars. Sadly, it failed at the box office, as well as to get recognised at the film festival circuits. Still, it got praised, looks not for the artistic work, but as the compensation. If you watch it, you will know there's something wrong, otherwise a film like this won't go unnoticed. I hope someone else makes another film about him in a grand way. Meanwhile, it is a good watch, but what do you expect from the Bobby Fischer like his game or personal issues will decide how much you liked it.7/10