How do you make a movie about people playing chess exciting, intense, and gripping? Pawn Sacrifice pulls it off brilliantly. I saw this the day after I watched Spotlight, another film based on a true story and although Pawn Sacrifice isn’t make a lot of top 10 lists this year, I felt it was a more compelling and even more interesting film. That’s saying something because Spotlight is fabulous too.
I’m not a big Toby McGuire fan but I have to admit, his role as the unstable chess player Bobby Fisher was nothing short of amazing. Best work I’ve ever seen him do. Along with his career-best performance is an ensemble cast that all just completely knock it out of the park. The story is engrossing, the tension high, great conflict in every scene. One of the best biopics I saw this year.