In 1972, Bobby Fischer faced the Soviet Union in the greatest chess match ever played. On the board he fought the Cold War. In his mind he fought his madness.
Not currently showing on the local cinema circuit.
| Cast |
Toby Maguire, Robin Weigert, Lily Rabe, Liev Schreiber, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg |
| Director |
Edward Zwick |
| Screenplay | Steven Knight, Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson |
| Music | James Newton Howard |
| Cinematography | Bradford Young |
| Editing | Steven Rosenblum |
| Sound formats | |
| Soundtrack | Available |
| Made in | 2014 |
| Produced by | Gail Katz Productions, MICA Entertainment, Material Pictures, Mels Cite du Cinema, PalmStar Media, PenLife Media |
Official Site | IMDB page | ScreenIt Report | CommonSenseMedia Report
Scroll down for embedded trailer
| Genre | Biopic |
| Language | Infrequent, mild to moderate impact |
| Nudity | None |
| Sex | None |
| Violence | None |
| Prejudice | None |
| Blasphemy | None |
| Drug abuse | None |
| Comments | |
| These details are supplied by the FPB. If you have a problem with any of the above, please take it up directly with the FPB. Read the Classification Guidelines. | |
| PG: Parental Guidance Suggested | Rated PG-13 for brief strong language, some sexual content and historical smoking |
| Runtime | 115 |
| USA version is usually but not always the same as South African release. Versions released on streaming or DVD, Blu-ray or Video may also differ. | |
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Blood / Gore / Gross |
| Guns / Weapons |
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Alcohol / Drugs |
Smoking |
Disrespectful / Bad Attitude |
Imitative Behaviour |
| Frightening / Tense Scenes |
Jump Scenes |
Tense Family Scenes |
| Music (Scary/Tense) |
Music (Inappropriate) |
Topics to talk about |
| Suggested age limit 13 + |
Positive messages |
Positive role models |
| Violence |
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Language |
| Consumerism |
Drinking, drugs, smoking |
| Scale (Max) | 20 |  |
What the Critics say | ||
| Cape Argus / The Star Stephanie Merry  US chess genius fights the enemy abroad and within. | 10 |  |
| Cape Times Jordan Mintzer Compelling chess champ biopic. | 10 | |
| ScreenIt Jim Judy A solid piece of filmmaking and storytelling about a bygone cultural event that caught the public's attention and made a hero out of a man who wasn't looking to be that. | 12 |  |
| Metacritic.com 29 critics | 13 | |
| Rottentomatoes critics 78 critics | 13 | |
| Rottentomatoes tomatometer Tomatometer Anchored by a sensitive performance from Tobey Maguire, Pawn Sacrifice adds another solidly gripping drama to the list of films inspired by chess wiz Bobby Fischer. | 14 |  |
| Movie Review Query Engine MRQE critics   | 12 | |
| CommonSenseMedia Staff evaluation Fascinating chess biopic deals with mental instability. | 15 | |
What the People say | ||
| Metacritic.com users 29 users | 16 | |
| Rottentomatoes users 8294 users | 13 | |
| Internet 1944 Netizens I didn't know chess could be so intense & thrilling! | 15 | |
Average .. 65% | 13 | |