Chess players will always have his brilliant games and the memory of how he took on the Soviet chess system. The story here is his personal qualities good, bad or indifferent. I think it will be a good movie because Toby McGuire seems to avoid taking parts in bad ones.
Well, I wouldn't get too pumped up for a review of Fischer's brilliance -- a movie made for the general public isn't going to get into any kind of depth about the chess itself. Joe Six-Pack isn't going to appreciate the unusual significant of the rook v. 5 pawns endgame in Game 13 of the title match.
The story of his ascent just seems kind of bland... prodigy makes good. Again, I can't see how they'll dramatize how he fought the Soviet chess machine in a way that's understandable to the layman, without making it insulting to chessplayers. For example, will they just show other players whispering to each other in the middle of the game?
It also seems hollow without addressing the cost of it to his psyche. Maybe it's not intended to be a character study, but it strikes me like doing a picture about how Hitler revitalized Germany in the 1930s and then ending it with the invasion of Poland. You can't discuss just part of this public figure.
I dunno, maybe it'll be good, we'll see. Maguire is a fine actor.
My point was that the movie shouldn't focus on the details of his chess brilliance. It should encompass things like the toll on his psyche. We agree on that. Its true that his confrontation with the Soviets couldn't end with a climactic chase scene. This movie won't be called "Bullets Over the Benoni." However, I do think it could be incorporated into the script successfuly.
A good screenplay writer can make just about any subject compelling. There is ample drama and emotion in Fischer's life and the lives he touched to provide fuel for a quality script. If the screenplay turns out to be weak it will be because of the inadequacies of the writer.