“Pawn Sacrifice” has Tobey Maguire showing another side of Bobby Fischer.
Tobey Maguire hasn’t been a name that we’ve been hearing much since his role as Spider-Man. Now with the film “Pawn Sacrifice” we see Maguire in the role of chess champion Bobby Fischer, but in a much more volatile state. Take a look at the trailer below.
The story of Bobby Fischer was a popular film subject about 20 years ago. With the release of the film “Searching for Bobby Fischer” and its astounding critical acclaim, it’s no surprise that his story would be further explored.
With “Pawn Sacrifice” it looks like we will get a continuation of the story of the child chess prodigy. Instead of capturing the wonder and innocence of the character, Tobey Maguire seems to be embracing the harsh reality of adulthood. From the perspective of an adult Bobby Fischer, “Pawn Sacrifice” seems to be injecting politics, despair, anger, and even mental instability into a character many know as pure. We seem to be getting a darker perspective on who Bobby Fischer became. My guess is that this darkness will come from a corruption of Fischer’s childhood from the pressure of being in the spotlight.
While “Pawn Sacrifice” may carry an interesting premise, I’m wondering if this is just another attempt to capitalize on the film momentum of the 1990s. I also wonder how much of this true story adaptation will be factual. If it’s just an attempt to capitalize on a previous film’s success and fictionally demoralize the main character, then “Pawn Sacrifice” could be lacking. On the other hand, this could prove to be a great supplementary tale to the original film “Searching for Bobby Fischer.”