Film Review – Pawn Sacrifice (2014)

To play a game of chess may, to a lot of people, seem like a rather dull way to spend your time. To watch somebody else play may sound even duller. So we should start of by giving director Edward Zwick some credit for making an engaging, feature-length narrative on, well…just that. Chess.

Bobby Fischer became hailed in the chess world as arguably one of the best players ever, back in the 70’s. However, as with most genius figures, it comes with a price tag. For Fischer, this came in the form of aggressive paranoia verging on schizophrenia. This eventually left him homeless and broke, despite his success. With physiological autopsies having been carried on the chess legend, you would think any director would be thrilled to get their hands on such a gritty character. But it seems Edward Zwick, as much as he tries, doesn’t quite make the cut.

Tobey Maguire gives an admirable stab at the tightly wound, chaotic portrayal of Fischer. And for the most part he succeeds. Being the protagonist, there is a tendency in films to exaggerate the better traits of the hero whilst ignoring their flaws in an attempt to gain the audiences sympathy. However, this is not this case for Maguire. Fischer, for all of his talents, was often unbearable to manage and extremely arrogant. Necessary, perhaps, to retain his image. Nonetheless, we do feel sorry for those victim to his tantrums. And yet, upon reaching the final game, we still root for Bobby because we know how hard he’s worked for it.  This makes Fischer a three-dimensional, flawed character but still one we pity.

Zwick gives a quick brief over Bobby’s childhood during the films intro. Unfortunately, this gloss over was not enough to establish the real roots of Fischer’s physiological issues. Though there is a steady pace when building from minor outbursts to full scale paranoia, the very heart of the issue is never fully addressed. The most we get is Maguire tearing up his apartment in a search for bugs, reminiscent of Francis Ford Coppola’s Cannes-winning The Conversation ending (1974). Clues to Fischer’s deteriorating mental state are woven in quite early, admittedly. But this doesn’t suffice as an explanation for such an extreme breakdown.

There is a strong sense of pity evoked for the troubled character, though. Watching Maguire hidden in the corner of his bedroom, whispering fears to his sister certainly puts a strain on the old heartstrings. But breaking away from these small moments, the film as a whole lacked that depth needed to carry an otherwise tedious film about chess games. Arch-nemesis Boris Spassky is given an unusually fair treatment. Rather than painting an unrealistically devious villain, he’s basically a normal guy. At first a little shallow, but by the end, just wanting to get on with the game. This for me was a refreshing take on the classic hero vs villain storyline, allowing more focus on Fischer as a character.

If only Zwick had developed this aspect a little more. Spent less time on the intricacies of the business and a shallow childhood sob-story, and more on Fischer’s tumultuously unsteady state (which I’m sure Maguire was more than capable of performing if given the space). Paul Marshall and the priest had real potential as characters, with that honest, humane element to them that really added to Zwicks biopic. Fischer’s mother, as an obvious factor in Fischer’s illness, needed more exploring.

The overall tone of the film was even, with a fair bit of creative camera work. Mock-footage and frequent cutaways to Bobby’s time with the press gave us the public’s perspective, as well as Bobby’s personal one and those who surrounded him. The game of chess itself could have easily been used in more metaphorical terms to psycho-analyse Bobby himself, but Zwick seemed to miss this opportunity. All in all, the true tale had real potential, and some good acting work. It was just a little clumsy, never managing to dig deeper than the surface of a pretty incredible story. But to a make a scene constituting of two men playing chess even partially interesting has got to cut Zwick a little slack.