by Cameron Tejeda | staff writer

Pawn Sacrifice is based on the true story of Bobby Fischer, a World Chess Champion during the 1970s. Fischer’s life is an interesting one, and the film definitely does a great job of translating it on screen for the most part.

 Tobey Maguire was tasked with the job to portray Bobby Fischer, and he is very good at doing so. Fischer dealt with a lot of different mental problems as he was competing in the chess competitions. Maguire does an exceptional job at showing the extreme paranoia and also the arrogance that Fischer suffered from. Tobey Maguire really steals the show, and the film would not have worked without his brilliant performance. Liev Schreiber is also fantastic as Boris Spassky, the Russian opponent Bobby Fischer had to face. The movie teases that Spassky had some problems to deal with as well. One of the best things I can say about the movie is that the chess matches were actually very intriguing to watch. Who’d have thought that watching people play chess would be exciting? But the film does it in such a way that creates a lot of suspense and tension.

I think that the pacing could have been better however. It got a little bit slow around the middle of the movie, but then picked up near the end. The other actors in the film were solid, but in the end forgettable.

 James Newton Howard does a great job with the soundtrack for the film, as I feel it added a lot more to the suspenseful scenes in the movie. The camera work was also very well done, especially during scenes that were portraying the paranoia displayed by Fischer.

 You don’t have to be a chess fan to enjoy this movie. Pawn Sacrifice, despite a few flaws, is a riveting film that truly interested me about the life of Bobby Fischer.

My Rating: B+