From: blake7@herahera.cc.bellcore.com (berardinelli,james)
Subject: Review:  KNIGHT MOVES 
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 13:39:02 GMT
Summary: chess "thriller"


KNIGHT MOVES

     Running Length:  1:51
     Rated:  R (Language, violence, nudity)

     Starring:  Christopher Lambert, Daniel Baldwin, Tom Skerritt, Diane Lane
     Director:  Carl Schenkel
     Producers:  Ziad el-Khoury and Jean Luc Defait
     Screenplay:  Brad Mirman
     Music:  Anne Dudley 
     Released by Interstar

Peter Sanderson (Christopher Lambert) is one the world's most accom-
plished grandmasters of chess.  During the course of his latest match, a 
victory at which would make him eligible to play for the international title, 
someone decides to take the game one step further and play it for real - with 
young female bodies representing the pieces.  Captain Frank Sedman (Tom 
Skerritt) and Detective Andy Wagner (Daniel Baldwin) begin investigating 
the serial killings, and the trail leads them to Sanderson.  Psychiatrist Kathy 
Sheppard (Diane Lane) is called in to evaluate his sanity.  As the killings 
continue, the police must decide whether Sanderson is the killer, or merely a 
pawn in someone else's game.  

KNIGHT MOVES is a walking clich.  Plot elements have been borrowed 
from almost every mystery and thriller since the genre was invented.  Red 
herrings, stupid characters, and false endings abound.  In all one-hundred 
and eleven minutes, there is not a single original idea.  This complete 
bankruptcy of innovation leads to a movie-going experience that is not only 
uninvolving, but somewhat tedious.

One of the most annoying things that can happen in a mystery/thriller is for 
the audience to be able to figure out puzzles before the characters do.  This 
happens regularly in KNIGHT MOVES.  Each of the four main characters 
is given ample opportunity to commit a number of inexplicably stupid 
mistakes.  With a police force headed by idiots like Sedman and Wagner, 
it's no wonder so many people get killed in their town.  They never even put a 
tail on their chief suspect.

I don't enjoy movies that feature foolish people, and I like them even less 
when those characters are one-dimensional.  Lambert's Sanderson is 
cold and impassive.  He's supposed to be the protagonist, but he inspires 
nothing more than apathy.  Baldwin's Wagner is so belligerent that it's impos-
sible not to find him offensive, and Skerritt's Sedman isn't much better.  
The only one who's remotely likable is Diane Lane's Sheppard, and she's 
too often relegated to the role of the impotent victim. 

Another problem with KNIGHT MOVES is the atrocious dialogue.  It's really 
bad - so bad, in fact, that it makes some of Madonna's lines in BODY OF 
EVIDENCE sound believable, and that's difficult to do.  Someone should clue 
writer Brad Mirman into how people really talk.  One scene in particular, 
with Lane and Lambert on a beach, made me feel an acute sense of embarras-
sment for the involved parties.  It was difficult to keep from chuckling, and 
humor was definitely not the intention.

The cinematography, which is credited to Dietrich Lohmann, is dark and 
dreary.  Almost every scene, whether inside or out, is shot in dim lighting, 
frequently making it difficult to identify characters or their actions.  
Lohmann was probably trying to establish a mood, but for that to work, he 
needed a script worth making the attempt for.

Did I guess the ending?  No, but a more apropos question might be whether 
I cared.  The answer is the same.  By the time the tired climax rolled around, 
I was more interested in which route to take on the drive home than in 
how KNIGHT MOVES was going to be resolved.

This film has not received national release, and such selective distribution 
is usually indicative of a poor product.  Several large metropolitan areas are 
being spared the indignity of having KNIGHT MOVES use up theater screens.  
If you're in one of those places, consider yourself lucky. If not, pretend that 
you are.  As far as this film is concerned - to borrow a phrase from another 
game - the production team has struck out.

                         Rating:  4.5 (D, *1/2)


- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)