What an okay movie!

Rating: 3/10 (4 October 2015)

This movie is good if: - you lived through this episode of American history - you read about the movie online - you like Chess
This movie is not good if: - you're inviting people for a night out
It was neat and the acting was great -- me and my friends aren't big on chess so the only way we knew what was happening was through their facial expressions. Unfortunately, this movie is so both fastpaced and slow that it manages to skip through any suspense or depth and yet really drags on at parts. For people who just want to enjoy a movie, Pawn Sacrifice is more confusing than Harry Potter 4. You don't get to explore the historical context within the movie nor does it really dive into Fischer's psychosis.
The movie really moved me however as I understood the depressing mood of the US at the time and the tension that any contact with the Russians could result in nuclear war. But for anyone who doesn't know these things, it looks like a magical world where people are holding their breath waiting for two people to make their moves on a chess board. This isn't eisenhower and Lenin playing, nor is it Obama and Putin. Although it does mention the idea of ideological struggle between capitalism and communism, it doesn't persist long enough for uninformed viewers to understand the importance of proxy matches between east and west. If you're young or fell asleep during history class (especially for those in an international audience from nations not really impacted by the cold war ... aka 98% of countries) you're continuously confused about why the focus on chess, as artful a game as it is.
Anyway, it was a good movie and decently directed for what they were given (110 mins running time I believe) and my angst is really against reviewers on IMDb that insist the film makes chess seem exciting. No it doesn't and for those who aren't waiting for this poor young man from Brooklyn to grow up to be a sensational hero for the US, his personal foibles and struggles don't really resonate.
In fact I guess I can somewhat agree with the guy that was rooting for the Russians. You're left with a feeling that Bobby's victory against the Russians was a fluke and that Bobby won by inadvertently playing mind games more than actual chess skill.