Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Pawn Sacrifice Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 21, 2015

The intercontinental competitiveness of the Cold War was never directly tested on the field of battle; both the United States and the Soviet Union fought proxy wars in the advancement and defense of their respective perspectives, but the direct clashes were reserved for more cordial, but no less critical, battles of will and skill. The Cold War may someday be (and in many ways already has been) boiled down a single hockey game, the "miracle on ice" that saw collegiate American athletes defeat a hardened, heavily trained, finely tuned, and determined Soviet team in what was arguably the single-biggest upset in sports history and a critical historical turning point in the decades-long feud between East and West. But that wasn't the only defining competitive clash of the Cold War. One of the most highly publicized, but today somewhat overlooked, confrontations came when American chess wizard Bobby Fischer sat across from Soviet champion Boris Spassky in a tournament defined more by the American's idiosyncrasies than his skill at chess, which would ultimately be put on full display in their sixth game, widely considered the single finest chess match in recorded history. Director Edward Zwick (Glory, Courage Under Fire) tells Fischer's story in his captivating film, Pawn Sacrifice.

Make your move.

As a child, Bobby Fischer (Aiden Lovekamp) never lost a chess match, not until his mother, concerned for her son's well-being and what she deemed an unhealthy obsession with the game, took him to play against one of the top-ranked players in New York, Carmine Nigro (Conrad Pla). But Bobby's tearful loss only led him to a heightened sense of determination to be the best. As an adult, Fischer (Tobey Maguire) dominates the chess scene. He becomes the youngest U.S. champion and has his sights set on bigger and better accomplishments, but his first contest with the Soviet contingent exposes his paranoia. He believes they're skillfully manipulating the tournament to underhandedly eliminate him from competition. He's recruited by Paul Marshall (Michael Stuhlbarg) and Father Bill Lombardy (Peter Sarsgaard) to hone his game and represent his country in a Cold War clash with the Soviet Union, including its finest player, Grandmaster Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber). But Fischer's paranoia, environmental hypersensitivities, and general unpredictability threaten not only his career, but the nation's best interests in a proxy war against the Soviet Union fought on 64 squares and with 32 pieces.

In many ways, chess plays second fiddle to the finely studied and precisely realized madness that swirls around the film's lead character. Pawn Sacrifice uses chess as a facilitator for a story that is a Cold War microcosm and the humanization of both sides while still using the game, even as it's more a psychological tool, to not simply heighten drama in key moments but better understand Fischer's immense talent and enormous mental burdens and hurdles that shaped his life. Indeed, it's Fischer's life as a walking time bomb that's the movie's most engaging component. Zwick smartly leaves behind chess' complexities to instead focus on the player's idiosyncrasies and how his life -- his paranoia, hypersensitivities, and unpredictability -- shaped not just his game but the greater world around him. Zwick's chess segments are less about the game -- there's no real focus on specific moves beyond some cursory details necessary to advance the story -- and more about how the players react to it. Those reactions are often more than simple maneuvering on the board but instead come in response to the psychological warfare both those moves and the players' own volatile personalities create, both in the moment and as they shape the greater social and political worlds around them.

The movie shines under Zwick's careful direction, but it's Tobey Maguire's standout performance as the chess maestro, whose enigmatic lifestyle feels often more complex than his carefully calculated chessboard maneuvers, that makes the movie great. Maguire brings a carefully constructed dichotomy of genius and insanity to the part, keying on the small eccentricities but commanding the part with his detailed embodiment of everything from deeply held paranoia to minute hypersensitivities to his environment. His ability to demonstrate the raw strategic genius and inability to accept anything other than a perfect win under ideal circumstances is commendable, but it's when the actor plays his life as he plays chess -- as the whirlwind of calculations and permutations that define his game shape his every moment -- that the film truly shines. The picture further benefits from a fantastic and highly calculated work from Liev Schreiber as Fischer's Soviet nemesis, a character whose personality is not dormant but who works more from the inside out rather than the outside in, as seems the case with Fischer. Peter Sarsgaard and Conrad Pla are terrific in support roles.

Pawn Sacrifice Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Pawn Sacrifice maneuvers onto Blu-ray with a top-flight 1080p transfer. The movie begins with Fischer's childhood, which takes on a fairly gritty texture and decisively warm palette that emphasizes golds and ambers. The image takes on a more refined, if not mildly cold, appearance as it transitions to Fischer's adulthood. Grain remains but settles considerably. Details are fantastic. Intimate skin textures are effortlessly visible, complex clothing lines -- notably on period sports coats -- are precise, and even the finest details on chess pieces and the board are striking. General image clarity is exceptional. Colors are balanced and natural. Some of the finest moments come in a barrage of California pastels and, later in chapter ten, colorful fall foliage. Black levels are deep and precise and flesh tones fine. The image suffers from no immediately noticeable compression issues. This is a beautiful film-like, organic, cinema quality image that bests its digital contemporaries in every way.

Pawn Sacrifice Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Pawn Sacrifice features a solid and technically sound, but not particularly noteworthy, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The movie is dialogue intensive and relegates everything else to minor support. The spoken word plays clearly with positive center placement and no prioritization problems. Ambient effects -- a house party early in the film, city traffic and general din, light breezes and other natural elements -- are nicely folded into the mix when necessary. Ocean waves realistically roll through the front and crowd applause near the end proves suitably immersive, though failing rain heard in chapter seven seems more concerned with saturating the front speakers than the rears.

Pawn Sacrifice Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Pawn Sacrifice includes one supplement. Bobby Fischer, The Cold War and the Match of the Century (1080p, 3:17) offers a brief overview of the movie and the character who is at its center. Also included with purchase is a voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy of the film.

Pawn Sacrifice Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Chess, and even the Cold War, play second to the fascinatingly enigmatic Bobby Fischer in Pawn Sacrifice. Tobey Maguire delivers a staggeringly intense and detailed performance as one of the most fascinating characters of the 20th century, a man whose reclusive life after chess, which the film only briefly highlights in a pre-credits montage, may be even more interesting than his time behind the chess board and across from a Soviet grandmaster. The film is masterfully assembled by Edward Zwick, one of the finest filmmakers of the past few decades, and the movie is arguably his best work since Glory. Universal's Blu-ray release of Pawn Sacrifice features superb video and solid audio but is unfortunately devoid of any meaningful supplemental content. Still, this is a must-own release that comes very highly recommended.