User Reviews

Such a simulation to enter the political world. Just be a friend with the small intelligent tactic and don't be seriously

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This movie was brilliant, Toby really pushes his artistic creativity as an actor, the story might be bland in some parts, basically 'play Chess here then next location' but the film does take you on a journey so brilliant that it makes you chuckle at the end. It has some flaws but those are outweighed by the good. It's a classic.

In 1972 there's was plenty of stuff going on. The moon landings were still happening. There was Watergate. The Vietnam War. The Yom Kippur war. So why was the game of chess dominating the mainstream media for several months? Because of the cold-war battle between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. It was so famous it caused a huge spike in chess interest around the world for the next decade. However this movie didn't make me feel engaged in anyway. It was largely factual, but somehow made the event seem small and inconsequential. If you want to experience just how big this chess event was instead watch the excellent "Bobby Fisher against the world" documentary.

Great performance, fantastic story, character development, pacing takes it's time, and how this movie is executed is very amazing. This is a movie worth watching this yea

With this 'Searching for Bobby Fischer' is over for me. 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

Very interesting bio-epic and really well acted too. Not just by Maguire but Sarsgaard as well, He did a wonderful job in the small amount of dialogue he had. I wish they used Schreiber more though, He was silent for a majority of the film and wasn't utilized much in the film.

An interesting movie which shows the inside of Bobby Fischer's life and his struggles. Even though I didn't know much about it and don't like chess that much, it was quite an interesting watch. Some people say that the actual chess should have been shown more, or maybe for someone like me explained better - I mean his crazy good moves should have been commented more or whatever, but otherwise was a great movie.

Esta película que nos cuenta la biografía del mítico y considerado el mejor jugador de ajedrez del mundo es estimulante y a menudo destellante. Con una potente actuación del actor Tobey Maguire(el cual es conocido por ser el que interpretó a Spiderman en 3 ocasiones), esta película nos hace querer adentrarnos y saber un poco más sobre la vida del considerado como el mejor jugador de ajedrez de la historia a pesar de los problemas psicológicos a los que se enfrentaba. ¿Hubiera podido ser mejor? Tal vez sí, pero no por ello hay que olvidar que este es un decente biopic que está bien interpretado, bien realizado y que nos da un claro reflejo de la inteligente pero perturbada personalidad de Fisher.

Pawn Sacrifice tells a story **** prodigy of chess about his inner and outer conflicts during his journey to become the best, add to that the cold war conflict of that era that influences him in his decisions, Overall, a good movie to watch about a great person,

Bobby Fisher is not nearly the best chess player nor worthy of the multitudinous movies about him sheerly as he is an uninteresting character. Just not that interesting.

Though the performance from Tobey Maguire is fantastic and the mental condition aspect of the film is handled perfectly, Pawn Sacrifice does largely fall a bit flat. Though it is never boring or a bad film, it only rarely captivates and even worse, it is like every other biopic ever made. Following the biopic formula to a fault, Pawn Sacrifice gave me deja vu many times as I could have sworn I saw this film before, even though I had not. This is problematic for a biopic. Fortunately, the story of Bobby Fischer is quite interesting, the scenes of his mental turmoil are grueling and sad to watch, and the performances of Maguire, Peter Sarsgaard, and Liev Schrieber, are all very, very good. At the end of the day, I wish this one was just not so typical because it has a good story, but its generic nature certainly hurt it at the end of the day.

Enjoyable movie designed for enjoying and that's it. If you want another movie like this, cross your fingers, keep promises, and hope that it'll happen one day.

Okay, I'm old. I was college age when the Spassky matches happened. But in those days, mental illness was not out in the open like it is today. Nobody talked about it, even on college campuses. So when Bobby was acting nuts, we thought he was a bad boy, or working some strategy on the Soviets, or just acting the way all geniuses acted, which was accepted from geniuses. Seeing this movie explained a lot. I also played chess from childhood so seeing how Bobby attacked the Soviet chess machine was an eye opener. There was no talk of this back in the day.

This is an extremely well made film about the life of Bobby Fischer. Tobey Maguire is great as Bobby Fischer you really see what this guys mind is going through. I do feel the fact that Fischer is so hard to route for pulls you away emotionally in some ways. In the end the film works because of the great performances. B+

Who: Tobey Maguire, A Serious Man, and Wolverine's Brother as Boris Spassky What: A movie where Tobey Maguire is actually a good actor and doesn't make the Uncle Ben cry-face at all ​Where: The place where every kid in chess club dreams of going, which is apparently Iceland... When (can I watch again): A few years Why: If you like chess, this is probably the only movie other than the end of X2: X-Men United that will satiate your theatrical needs

Pawn Sacrifice is a good enough drama to leave you well entertained but not good enough to leave a deep, lasting impression. It is terribly uneven for one thing and can't decide if it wants to be a biography of Bobby Fischer or a story of that moment, their game, and it's meaning for that time. Is it about the game of chess or a man's descent into paranoia and madness? It undecidedly wavers between the various points and can't make them come together to a satisfying whole. That said there is nothing particularly bad about Pawn Sacrifice. Even though the story is mediocre the cast all give good performances. Tobey Maguire especially stands out by creating a character that is a brilliant yet arrogant genius slowly loosing his senses, more pitiable than likable. He is the most memorable thing about this film. Paranoia is the one thing that the movie does really well. It creates an interesting atmosphere of fear and distrust. But in the end there is nothing that really shines about this film and that is always kind of sad about biographical films because it is after all someone else's life story that you are using. Overall Pawn Sacrifice is a decent film, solid entertainment, but nothing to make you want to rush to the theatres.

This bioipic follows the life of chess prodigy Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) from his boyhood days thru the tournament that made him a world champion. Even at an early age, he was peculiar and his mental issues develop throughout the film. The structure repeats several times: arrogance, then paranoia, then a high stakes game. Watching people play chess is already unexciting, but repeat the process several times and it's downright excruciating. Even edited with plenty of cuts and angles, the underlying event is a snooze. Maguire plays the traits of arrogance and obsession without being sympathetic, although Liev Schreiber manages to make his character (Boris Spassky) compelling with few words.

This movie will be appreciated more by people who lived during this era That being said ...BRILLIANT ||| What a great adaption of the importance which was placed on each of their shoulders by their governments. Nationalism was at an all time high & the Cold War helped stoke the fire. Toby Maquire was absolutely spectacular as was the supporting cast. By far the "Best Movie" frontrunner in my opinion. BRAVO ...BRAVO

........the direction of this film is SO HEAVY HANDED that I soon felt numb and then indifferent and **** feels like a 1970s Made-for-TV movie that used to make a lot of sense when you were 12 years old i.e., everything gets TELEGRAPHED to you in scene after scene and those ominous words "dumbed down" soon hover over every scene...... the scattered all-over-the-map script seems to be searching in vain for a focus to help organize the **** moderate this criticism somewhat, I would add that biography can be one of the most unforgiving film genres there is.......aesthetically- speaking people often end up living extremely unsatisfying lives !

This is a bio-pic about a chess match between Bobby Fisher and Soviet Grandmaster and then chess world champion Boris Spassky. It could have been a very good movie. Tobey Maguire played Bobby Fisher and he did an excellent job. But what hurts the movie in my opinion is poor casting (in some cases, namely, Spassky’s role) and details that do not look right. "The devil is in the details". I am a demanding movie goer, and if details look phony, especially in a bio-pic, the movie looses credibility and therefore is not a good one. As I mentioned above, Boris Spassky was, of course, a Soviet Grandmaster, and he could not speak Russian with an American accent. The actor who plays Spassky is too buff and looks more like a boxing champion than a chess player. There are dozens of native Russian speaking actors in this movie. Spassky's role was not that big. Every time he spoke, it bothered me. An interview that Bobby Fisher gave to "60 Minutes" on CBS in 1972 did not look real either. Either you make it look right, or do not put it into the movie... I could go on and on. Having said that, the over-all atmosphere of Cold War times is caught quite nicely. Plenty of chronicle reels that attach the movie to it's time frame. If you are a chess enthusiast, do not miss it. My score, though, is only 6. Could have been much higher.

This is an enjoyable about the life and times of the Chess Genius, Bobby Fischer. It tries to portray his life growing in Brooklyn and his obsession with the game of chess. It tries to explain where some of his paranoia might have started as a child as a result of his mother being a communist. I thought Tobey McGuire did an excellent job of playing him. There were some minor inaccuracies in that while Fischer did capture the rook's pawn in game 1 against Spassky, he did not immediately resign. He kept playing the game even after Spassky trapped Fischer's bishop until Spassky got an advantage that could not be stopped. There is also the matter of the room used for game 3. While game 3 was played in the room that was normally used for table tennis, the movie made it seem like several games were played there. I think only game 3 was played in that room before returning to the main playing area. I also did not care for the lady that he met and had a physical relationship with since I don't think it needed to be included in the movie. Otherwise a very enjoyable movie about his life and the tragedy that fell him with his mental state upon his accomplishment of becoming the world chess champion.

great performance, fantastic story, character development, pacing takes it's time, and how this movie is executed is very amazing. This is a movie worth watching this year.

An excellent period piece biopic about an event and a persona that captivated the world for reasons other than its stated purpose. While the film could have been a bit stronger on the back story of the principals involved, the film nevertheless effectively conveys its primary narrative, the implications involved in it, and the look, feel and hype of the era. Tobey Maguire does his best screen work here, backed by an excellent supporting cast.

Easily the best biopic so far this year, "Pawn Sacrifice" is as much a cold war drama as it is a psychological character study and a sports movie, featuring some delightfully stylish directorship from Ed Zwick and quite possibly the greatest Tobey Maguire performance ever committed to film.