Oscar contention is eight moves ahead of the competition, with Tobey Maguire starring in the biopic as Chess great Bobby Fischer, in “Pawn Sacrifice”. In a gripping true story set during the height of the Cold War, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer (Maguire) finds himself caught between two superpowers when he challenges the Soviet Empire. He makes a promise to takedown their prime player and world champion Boris Spassky (Liev Shreiber). If Fischer can keep it together mentally, he can make American history during a time when a victory of the Soviets seemed unreachable. Far beyond the measures of a board game, “Pawn Sacrifice” is a story about obsession, country tensions, and most importantly, paranoia. It’s a film about the life of one of the most complex minds in American history leading up to the biggest game of his life, as well as the distractions that handicapped any chance he had a straight forward game. The movie brilliantly puts the sound mixing into Fischer’s head. We hear what he hears and it adds more effect to the thought that Fischer might just be a victim to his own mental torture. This man is clearly a ticking time bomb whose fuse is already reaching dangerous levels, but this was the guy who America put all of their hopes on in the 70’s, and it’s in that desperation combined with glorious cinematography by Bradford Young, that really casts a sense of hopeless dread for our home base during this period. Lets talk about the acting roles for a second, because they make the events of Fischer’s greatest outbursts come to life. Plenty of newscasts as well as real life interviews fit so perfectly in the film’s narration, and they certainly give the movie a better design colorfully as to what these broadcasts felt like. The movie has a supporting cast that is out of this world Oscar worthy. Peter Sarsgaard serves as a best friend to Bobby and perhaps the only person who truly understands the coil that is unwrapping to his sanity. What Sarsgaard pulls off is a narration to every outsider who sees Bobby as just another opportunity. It’s great to see him narrate through every game, considering he is the only guy in the world who defeated both Fischer and Spassky. Liev Schreiber was very believable with his Russian accent, and why not? this is his fourth film with such a heritage. We expect Boris to be this evil antagonist to Fischer, but what we get is a quiet soul of a man stuck in the wrong place during the wrong time, with a love for a game taken to absurd levels. Tobey Maguire, take a bow. This is your best performance to date. His portrayal of Fischer is almost detestable, but we see there is so much more to his performance than just child like tantrums. This is a very sick man who believed absurd things about the people trying to help him, therefore chasing everyone he loved out of his life. Maguire showed dramatic signs of brilliance in 2009’s “Brothers”, but it’s in this movie where he is a one man storm that gains more and more momentum the louder he strikes. This is a performance that definitely has to be seen, as the trailer only tips the iceburg of Tobey’s emotional transformation into such a complex role. Props also goes to director Ed Zwick for taking a child’s game and putting a tension behind every move. It’s easy to get lost in this film because every move means so much for the future of the games and how they play out. Complete this with an orchestral led score by the always great James Newton Howard, and you have a back and forth staredown to Shakespearian proportions. I had to search high and low for something that i had a problem with in this movie, and it took to the final five minutes for it to surface. I was very close to making this film my second 10/10 for 2015, but the ending kind of wastes away an opportunity for the audience to revel for a minute in Fischer’s triumph. The film stays with a somber kind of tone throughout the film, and that’s not a problem. Frankly, anything else for Bobby would be a lie. What i did have a problem with was how that tone never changes even with the end result. We see six of the twelve games between the two best players, but we never get to see the other six, instead settling for text that reveals the rest of the result. I think the audience deserved that one moment of triumph, but it never comes. The film stays on one emotional note, so the audience (Like Bobby) never really feel like the juice was worth the squeeze for his chase for greatness. It’s not an earth shattering problem as evidence by my rating for the film, but it does keep it from reaching that upper echelon of a rare number of films to reach my perfect level. Overall, “Pawn Sacrifice” is a carefully constructed depiction to an emotional enigma. It’s complete performances, as well as creative point of view, makes this film a can’t miss, one move at a time.

9/10