Pawn Sacrifice's reviews
Media reviews
Chicago Sun-Times
Edward Zwick?s Pawn Sacrifice is an enthralling piece of mainstream entertainment that captures the essence of Fischer?s mad genius, perfectly re-creates the tenor of the times AND works as a legit sports movie about the great game of chess.
The Wrap
'Pawn Sacrifice' is intelligent, absorbing, never boring, and skillfully tense when it should be, but it?s not one of Zwick?s genius flicks.
The Washington Post
Overall, the movie presents a worthy and historical look at the link between genius and mental illness. The whole world was watching as Fischer took on Spassky in 1972, but few realized at the time that Spassky wasn?t Fischer?s true nemesis.
Rolling Stone
The film offers few answers about Fischer's descent into derangement. But you watch Maguire and slowly, with pity and terror, you understand.
Entertainment Weekly
The achievement of Edward Zwick?s new Fischer biopic, 'Pawn Sacrifice', is that it does just that. It manages to turn thinking into action.
The Playlist
'Pawn Sacrifice' certainly whips up a dervish of energy, and as a piece of dramatic entertainment, it's mostly engaging, and features character actors doing very good work.
New York Times
It?s about how we manufacture celebrities on scant pretext and then destroy them, or allow them to destroy themselves while we watch.
Los Angeles Times
The film's straight-ahead approach matters less than the complete and utter strangeness of the true story it convincingly tells.
The Hollywood Reporter
A classically helmed biopic that brings nothing new to the genre, but benefits from handsome craftmanship and solid performances by Tobey Maguire as the Brooklyn boy wonder, and Liev Schreiber as his longtime Russian nemesis, Boris Spassky.
Variety
Absent the ability to really get the audience?s heads in the game, the film succeeds better at presenting chess as a subtle metaphor for the psychological warfare being waged behind the scenes.
Hitfix
As a biopic for Fischer, 'Pawn Sacrifice' can certainly encourage viewers to research more about him. It?s just unfortunate Zwick couldn?t bring a slightly more understated approach to the entire endeavor.
The A.V. Club
While this movie version of Fischer does indeed suffer from mental health issues that make it difficult for him to form functional human relationships, one of the film?s strongest, most potentially surprising pleasures is the sight of Maguire playing both with and against his usual type.
Vulture
This is another moderately interesting but shallow biopic with an actor going for broke ? to win, not to draw.
Roger Ebert
While Zwick and company do nothing to explain this bizarre mania, 'Pawn Sacrifice' definitely conjures the feeling of it, thanks in large part to the movie's greatest asset: Maguire's edgy, charismatic performance.
The Guardian
The way the script dances around the edge of his illness, exploring the surface symptoms without trying for deeper psychology, leaves the actor exposed.
The Telegraph
Maguire tries hard, and has a good stab at Fischer?s twitchy rage, but can?t bring much freshness or specificity to anything else.