eventually, Ed Zwick will make a movie that's entirely comprised of expository post-film title cards. at this point, that almost seems to be his goal.

"In 1972, Bobby Fischer defeated Boris Spassky to win the World Championship title in the game of Harder Checkers.

...Today we call it Chess."

Boy, am I glad I am too dumb to play chess.

1. first off this is my dads new favorite movie of all time he said its a 9.8/10 so honestly u have to believe him because he's like 63 and really likes manhunter
2. i thought tobey maguire was using an iPad even though this was the 70s when really it was a cute little portable chess thing
3. my uncle thought that this was just a dude who looked just like tobey maguire
4. i love the great gatsby (2013)
5. i have been to washington square park therefore i like this movie
6. i went to the bathroom and fell down on my way back that was rough
7. goddamn it bobby

I’m a bit of a chess obsessive so I’ll watch pretty much any chess movie or show, but Toby is awful in this. The move here was clearly to make the movie about Liev Schreiber in cool sunglasses with maybe a very broad cameo by Toby. Not sure how you mess that up. Anyway, download SocialChess and drop your handle in the comments if you ever want to play.

me, to myself: why are you watching a movie about chess?

myself, to me, exhausted, with my buttons in the wrong holes, only one sock on and my hair sticking up to the sky, i haven’t been outside in 10 months, my mother has forgotten my name, my only solace is the light of my laptop: god I wish I knew at this point

Spider-man 3 did some harm to my man, Toby....

Another film where the lead steals the show and has the entire movie resting on his shoulder... and that's kind of unfair.

The story itself has its moment, but just like the game itself, the excitement would really depend on whether you are interested in it or not. Personally, I found the movie very tenseless, which doesn't help for a feature that desperately seeks for it.

Zwick does what he can to make this movie interesting, but the results are pretty uneven. There are some nice footages used in between the film to set us in the period, that was good, though at times feels a bit weird.

All in all, if you are a fan of Maguire or Chess or history, you might like this one. Otherwise, you might want to skip this.

Tobey's got to learn how to turn off that Spidey-sense.

Pawn Sacrifice has a ton of potential, and for the most part, Ed Zwick does a good job with the material. The climatic chess match itself is enthralling, and Bobby Fischer's mentality is shown from an interesting point of view. That being said, the film takes way too long to reach its central conflict and becomes composed mostly of exposition rather than insight. Tobey Maguire's excellent performance makes even the dull points of the film watchable, which helps, but it doesn't fully make up for the plot's overall lack of focus.

In the end, Pawn Sacrifice is a messy but intriguing film about the life of Bobby Fischer. It may not be perfect, but it's solid depiction of Bobby Fischer's mentality during a crucial point of his life.

It was a serviceable dramatization of this scenario. There is a documentary about Fisher I like better.

Before The Queen's Gambit...

An interesting film about a sport that is rarely caught on film.

The script is an average script by the great Steven Knight.

Tobey Maguire is also enjoyable.

3 - Average

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Bobby Fisher went nuts! So sad! that he died! 😢 I think Tobey Maguire fits this movie very well, - Spiderman turned into a chess player!

خير ماتبدأ به عامك، رهيب

This is an interesting character driven biopic, based on real events. Of course its mainly about chess but it's also about getting an idea of the main character's mindset. It's pretty clear from early on that he has some personal issues and paranoia is an obvious factor at play. It's frustrating watching someone with a clear talent take the decisions and do what he does. I did feel somewhat sorry for him, which is perhaps surprising given his attitude but I understand that people don't necessarily realise that what they believe to be true, isn't necessarily so.

I thought Tobey Maguire was a good choice of actor to play the main character, Bobby Fischer. I also thought there was some good cinematography. There are subtitles on screen at times, due to the Russian language being spoken, with Russian media shown reporting on what was happening at the time.

There's going to be a good film to be made about the Fischer Spassky duel and the surrounding circumstances unfortunately this is not it.
It has its moments but always falls back on stereotype and melodrama and never gets to grip properly with internal tensions of the chess games.

BBC TWO RECORDED

The last 5 mins were much more interesting than the whole movie.

This is probably my favourite Tobey Maguire performance. He is just unbelievable and against type as Bobby Fischer, playing him as a really unlikeable flawed genius. The rest of the cast - Liev Schreiber as Boris Spassky, Peter Sarsgaard as William Lombardy, Michael Stuhlbarg as Paul Marshall, Lily Rabe as Bobby's sister Joan, and Robin Weigert as his mother - are all fine as well. The movie itself is merely ok.