Alien at the Movies

This is the story of Bobby Fischer (Tobey McGuire), America's child chess prodigy who grew up to challenge Russia's Grandmaster Boris Spassky (Liev Schreibner) for the World Champion Title. Was Fischer an arrogant, paranoid, spoiled child who never grew up and a pawn in the Cold War battle between the U.S. & USSR? Filmmakers have a tough time here making chess tournaments interesting so they focus on Fischer's unpredictable mental state while coloring the film with old film footage & popular tunes of the time. McGuire is excellent as the seemingly mentally unstable chess genius who comes off as unlikable. The movie fails to cash in on featuring some historic chess maneuvers from this remarkable worldwide event set in 1972 Iceland. At the film's end, the movie recaps Fischer's status since this famed tournament & reveals some images of the real Bobby Fischer in his later years.

Alien gives it 2 "match of the century" stars out of 4.