Pawn Sacrifice

Directed by Edward Zwick, Pawn Sacrifice follows chess prodigy Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) as he battles his demons while preparing for a series of pivotal matches again Russian opponent Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber). It’s compelling subject matter that’s employed to watchable yet far-from-engrossing effect by Zwick, as the filmmaker, working from Steven Knight’s screenplay, delivers a by-the-numbers biopic that’s been saddled with some of the hoariest conventions that the genre has to offer (including a current-day opening that quickly flashes back to the protagonist’s childhood). The picture is, as such, predominantly unable to become the engrossing endeavor that Zwick has obviously intended, although, by that same token, it’s clear that Pawn Sacrifice has been suffused with (and benefits from) a handful of compelling sequences and sterling performances by the entire cast – with, in terms of the latter, Maguire’s intense turn matched by a strong roster of periphery players that includes Peter Sarsgaard and Michael Stuhlbarg. And although certain of the aforementioned matches do manage to pack a relatively exciting punch, Pawn Sacrifice, saddled with a deliberate pace and overlong running time, ultimately comes off as a disappointingly generic drama that generally feels like it could (and should) be so much better.

**1/2 out of ****