Pawn Sacrifice is a down-the-middle Hollywood biopic of infamous chess sensation Bobby Fisher. Squarely directed by Edward Zwick (whose Civil War epic Glory remains his career highlight), the film is content to be solid at almost every turn without the desire to go beyond the expected. It’s confidently crafted, very well acted by Tobey Maguire as Fisher and Liev Schreiber as his arch nemesis Boris Spassky (who are surrounded by deep and classy supporting cast), and is helped by the swift editing of Steven Rosenblum who keeps the pace moving without feeling rushed. The production design is evocative of the cold war setting, and Maguire’s descent into madness is certainly communicated well by the choices in Bradford Young’s smooth cinematography, the sharp use of sound, and Maguire’s innate ability as an actor to burrow deep into a character’s inner turmoil. But the film never went beyond the traditional, and considering how legitimately messed up Fisher was as a human being, the narrative might’ve been structured in a different fashion to allow for an even more introspective approach to the material. Granted, the story they chose to tell narrowly focused on the intense rivalry between Fisher and Spassky, but still, I was hoping for something a bit larger in emotional and narrative scope. Considering the screenwriting talent involved (Steven Knight, Stephen J. Rivele, and Christopher Wilkinson), one might have expected something more robust and distinctive. The various chess matches are routinely staged, lacking directorial zest that might’ve spiced up the action; Zwick seemed curiously removed from this film to a certain extent, never bringing the panache from something like Defiance or Blood Diamond or the exuberance from his underrated romantic dramedy Love and Other Drugs. Pawn Sacrifice is a comfortable Saturday night movie, undemanding yet entertaining, but might’ve been more rewarding had it wanted to really get down and dirty.
Podcasting Them Softly 