An excellent screenplay by Steven Knight makes chess just about as thrilling as it can get - and you don't need to know anything about chess to enjoy it. Couple with the Cold War backdrop and it works on two levels. It is also a look at Fischer's rather sad decline and it would have been nice to see more of the post-game developments rather than the pre-game story.Some of the direction and/or editing slows the pace a little too much in places and cutting the running time by 15 minutes would have tightened it up considerably, perhaps garnering nother * but it would be churlish to criticise it too much.The actors are all superb with a special mention of Michael Stuhlbarg but that's to single out one gem in a bag of diamonds. And an excellent score by James Newton Howard.It didn't have a wide release but it's well worth watching if you can catch it.

Never has there been a competition movie where the "hero" is so loathsome. The funny thing is, Fischer was much MORE loathsome in real life than as portrayed in the movie. In a more normal world, someone who acted like Bobby Fischer would be locked in an insane asylum and not foisted on the world because of a particular genius. At the same time, the movie is gripping. I came of age the summer of 1972 so everything that happened that summer is still so vivid to me. I watched every second of every game, chessboard in front of me. Anyone of a certain age should really see this movie and relive the period.

It is a film that without being a movie, at least yes that manages to keep you until the end. It is a way of learning something of what happened in this piece of history.I do not usually like either of the two main actors and at least Tobey does not play an impressive role, if he can be convincing.The movie tries to be a good movie, the problem is that it does not get to be it. When you're watching it, you see it's left in every department to be a great movie, none of them are on a level to be great.Photography is not a great photograph. It is a correct photograph, but not astonishing. If it gets you into the age but not more.It's pretty well set up. You think it's the time but at the same time, something fails, there is something that tells you that it is not total. It has a direction that to be Edward Zwick falls short. He is a great director, but this is not his best project. I do not usually like his planning, but he usually gets you completely focused on his films. In this one it does not obtain at all. It has good rhythm and tempo although some moments of archive take me out of the film.I think it will be a movie that will not go beyond its year

During the height of the Cold War, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer finds himself caught between two superpowers when he challenges the Soviet Empire. With an impressive performance by Tobey Maguire Pawn Sacrifice is a film with a lot of tension mostly every time there's a chess scene between Fischer and his other opponents as for negatives the rest of the cast is just there and it's pacing is kinda moody and that ruined the whole film for me a bit and i'm gonna give it an 7.0 out of 10. It's still worth your time just for Maguire's performance but if you except something way more you will probably be left disappointed.