Pawn Sacrifice

PAWN SACRIFICE is a fascinating look at high-level chess, but it's really about genius, madness, and the tenuous connection between them. Fischer is a wonder when he sits down to play, but when he's not engaged in a match, his life is -- at best -- a juggling act of coherence, paranoia, and delusion, making him often impossible to deal with. Maguire deserves lots of credit for bringing these complicated feelings to the screen, giving a compelling performance. It's not always clear whether Fischer's behavior is really due to mental illness or whether he's just trying to intimidate his opponents, and Maguire deftly depicts him as man on the edge, who may or may not have fallen off.

Director Edward Zwick wrings the tension out of chess moves that few audience members would grasp; he's helped by Peter Sarsgaard as Fischer's friend/coach, Father Bill Lombardy, whose facial expressions let viewers know whether a move is a blunder or an example of genius. Zwick also manages to imbue the matches with the sociopolitical implications they once carried, which were placed on Fischer's already-burdened shoulders. In the end, we definitely care about the outcome of the match, but we care more about the man who's moving the pieces.