Pawn Sacrifice 2015

Richard Roeper, 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. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Tobey Maguire does a great job Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Tobey Maguire gives an angry, bristling performance as chess champ Bobby Fischer in Edward Zwick's conventionally effective biopic. Read more

Jesse Hassenger, AV Club: It's a fitfully entertaining and well-acted movie that doesn't quite come together-though maybe the frustrating lack of resolve is appropriate for Fischer's arc-resistant life. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Genius is fascinating, particularly when it is complicated, as it always seems to be. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: Despite his best emoting, Maguire ultimately comes across as Peter Parker with a mole and a bad haircut. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Screenwriter Steven Knight sticks with the popular notion that genius and lunacy grow on the same vine, which doesn't tell us much about Fischer in particular but certainly conforms to the sad trajectory of his life. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: There are other good performances, including a small one by Peter Sarsgaard as Fischer's chess trainer, but overall this is a film in which, as the end credit documentary footage attests, the real story overwhelms its dramatization. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: While the first half of the film is a bit too by-the-numbers, the second half is good enough to make it worth sticking it out. Read more

Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter: This well-acted and handsomely crafted biopic is not a total checkmate, but takes the queen all the same. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: "Pawn Sacrifice" is a solid and entertaining addition to the Fischer film canon. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: Despite the rigid yet slapdash filmmaking, the movie conveys the outsized fascination and mystery of a tormented genius at work. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: The challenge of "Pawn Sacrifice" was to capture the colorful Cold War '70s, the inner strategies of one man's paranoid mind and make chess cinematic. Check, and mate. Read more

Neil Genzlinger, New York Times: Utimately, it is only partly about Bobby Fischer. It is equally about us - Americans or any other nationality inclined to put too much importance on chess matches, soccer matches, space races, whatever. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Biopics are a dime a dozen, but Tobey Maguire gives such a transfixing, transformative performance as chess master Bobby Fischer that you're hooked. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Features a showboat performance from Tobey Maguire as the increasingly disturbed Fischer, along with a more composed one from Liev Schreiber as the taciturn Spassky. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Zwick, who made the exceptional nuclear thriller, "Special Bulletin," once more proves his gift for generating suspense in his handling of the chess games the whole world watched in the early 1970s. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: As Fischer, Tobey Maguire is outstanding at capturing the man's intensity, arrogance and single-mindedness, while ensuring that the audience stops short of dismissing him as a talented screwball. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Pawn Sacrifice" is first-class right up to its incomplete endgame. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: In one of his strongest and most impressive performances, Maguire goes all in on Fischer's quirks and insecurities. Although Fischer is unquestionably a genius, he's not an easy person to like, and Maguire brilliantly gets that point across. Read more

David Sims, The Atlantic: Like all of Zwick's works, it's perfectly watchable fare, but it's often infuriating for its refusal to dig deeper into its incredibly compelling subject. Read more

Brad Wheeler, Globe and Mail: Fine-looking but safe ... Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Archived news reports and a Dick Cavett interview fit seamlessly into the dramatic recreations, as do era-specific rock tunes. Read more

Tim Appelo, TheWrap: Is anybody better at playing a dotty, preoccupied genius than Tobey Maguire? Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: Pawn Sacrifice clicks along with crisp efficiency. Zwick, the director behind movies like Glory and Blood Diamond, is old-school in his attention to craftsmanship, alive to telling details. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The suspense of Pawn Sacrifice is getting Fischer sane enough so that he can sit down across from his opponent and focus. We end up as impatient as those poor souls sitting in Reykjavik, looking at our watches. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: Overall, the movie presents a worthy and historical look at the link between genius and mental illness. Read more