This biopic reminded me of "Ali"--it ran through all the obvious parts of a famous man's life, parts you could glean from reading a Wikipedia bio, threw in some over-dramatic music and a backstory about "family" and viola! --biopic to order.
If you are clueless about who Bobby Fischer was, then you will probably like this film, because you won't roll your eyes at all the chess clichés, you won't get bored at being shown the obvious things about Fischer (such as the details around the 1972 Reykjavik match), and you will probably enjoy the novelty of the whole thing.
But who are we kidding? This event happened 44 years ago. If you don't know about it by now, you are either very young or you live under a rock. The film did not really try and show any INSIGHT into Fischer; it just replayed the same record that anyone who knows ANYTHING about Fischer already knew. But even then, they took liberties that were not only inaccurate, but unnecessary and just distracting.
First of all, Bobby Fischer was a man from BROOKLYN. Everything about the way this guy walked and talked showed he was a city kid, a real NEW YAWKAH. Did you get that sense from Tobey's impression? I didn't. Tobey didn't really sound all that Brooklyn-ish. In the famous Cavett interview, the real Fischer bragged, but he did it in a way that was a bit endearing. Tobey instead made him sound like an ass.
Second, Fischer was tall and lanky, and even gaunt-looking because of that, yet Tobey was short and puffy-faced. Bad casting. Alexander Saarsgaard (not Peter, as in the movie!) would have been a much better casting choice.
Third, Spassky was a consummate gentleman. He never spoke to Fischer like that during a game, or flipped over chairs to inspect them, and I didn't buy the hotel room tantrum, which was really a transparent device to make it appear that even Spassky was sick of the Soviet control.
Fourth, Fischer received a cheap plastic set when he was younger and used to play a lot with his sister, and then IN THE CLOSET. Instead they show him sitting on the bed with a very nice wooden set, and the next thing you know, he's beating strong club players. The entire youth of Bobby Fischer was quickly skimmed over, although I did very much like the part about the Russian mother, although I have a hard time believing they were self-professed Jews, esp. with the rather sloppy behavior of the mother.
Fifth, his second Lombardy, although he was a former priest, did not go around wearing his priest outfit, esp. to Reykjavik.
Sixth, to say game 6 was the "greatest chess game ever played" is quite pretentious! I can think of a particular Marshall game which is more exciting and filled with more nuance.
Seventh, I don't buy Fischer losing his virginity to some hottie in the hotel; they could at least have made him more charming if they're going to embellish like that.
Finally, and this is most important--Fischer's mental demise was not really that pronounced at Reykjavik. Yes, he complained and was a prima donna, and suspected the Russians of cheating. But he didn't go full-bore on the Jews and the Zionist conspiracy thing until years later. The film was not ambitious enough to explore possibly WHY Fischer turned into a loon; it was complacent and even eager to just SHOW his looniness.
The acting was decent. And the whole story--framing it as a cold war battle between the US and Soviet Russia, was fitting, but easy--esp. when they simply interspliced a lot of period footage and music between the scenes.
Avoid if you already know about Fischer's story and are a chess player!
If you are clueless about who Bobby Fischer was, then you will probably like this film, because you won't roll your eyes at all the chess clichés, you won't get bored at being shown the obvious things about Fischer (such as the details around the 1972 Reykjavik match), and you will probably enjoy the novelty of the whole thing.
But who are we kidding? This event happened 44 years ago. If you don't know about it by now, you are either very young or you live under a rock. The film did not really try and show any INSIGHT into Fischer; it just replayed the same record that anyone who knows ANYTHING about Fischer already knew. But even then, they took liberties that were not only inaccurate, but unnecessary and just distracting.
First of all, Bobby Fischer was a man from BROOKLYN. Everything about the way this guy walked and talked showed he was a city kid, a real NEW YAWKAH. Did you get that sense from Tobey's impression? I didn't. Tobey didn't really sound all that Brooklyn-ish. In the famous Cavett interview, the real Fischer bragged, but he did it in a way that was a bit endearing. Tobey instead made him sound like an ass.
Second, Fischer was tall and lanky, and even gaunt-looking because of that, yet Tobey was short and puffy-faced. Bad casting. Alexander Saarsgaard (not Peter, as in the movie!) would have been a much better casting choice.
Third, Spassky was a consummate gentleman. He never spoke to Fischer like that during a game, or flipped over chairs to inspect them, and I didn't buy the hotel room tantrum, which was really a transparent device to make it appear that even Spassky was sick of the Soviet control.
Fourth, Fischer received a cheap plastic set when he was younger and used to play a lot with his sister, and then IN THE CLOSET. Instead they show him sitting on the bed with a very nice wooden set, and the next thing you know, he's beating strong club players. The entire youth of Bobby Fischer was quickly skimmed over, although I did very much like the part about the Russian mother, although I have a hard time believing they were self-professed Jews, esp. with the rather sloppy behavior of the mother.
Fifth, his second Lombardy, although he was a former priest, did not go around wearing his priest outfit, esp. to Reykjavik.
Sixth, to say game 6 was the "greatest chess game ever played" is quite pretentious! I can think of a particular Marshall game which is more exciting and filled with more nuance.
Seventh, I don't buy Fischer losing his virginity to some hottie in the hotel; they could at least have made him more charming if they're going to embellish like that.
Finally, and this is most important--Fischer's mental demise was not really that pronounced at Reykjavik. Yes, he complained and was a prima donna, and suspected the Russians of cheating. But he didn't go full-bore on the Jews and the Zionist conspiracy thing until years later. The film was not ambitious enough to explore possibly WHY Fischer turned into a loon; it was complacent and even eager to just SHOW his looniness.
The acting was decent. And the whole story--framing it as a cold war battle between the US and Soviet Russia, was fitting, but easy--esp. when they simply interspliced a lot of period footage and music between the scenes.
Avoid if you already know about Fischer's story and are a chess player!