classicsoncall Review of The Coldest Game

The Coldest Game (2019)

"There is no plan B. We need you to be a patriot."

[6/10 · 17 June 2021]

The whole time I'm watching this I'm thinking to myself - what did I miss during the Cuban Missile Crisis? Apparently nothing, because this is a fictional story that offers some intrigue with an international chess match as a backdrop. I didn't think it very credible, but someone else's judgment might be different. That whole business about a hypnotist engaged by the Russians to distract Josh Mansky (Bill Pullman) during the second match against Alexander Gavrylov (Evgeniy Sidikhin) sounded rather bizarre to me, but it was an accusation leveled in 1978 for real that couldn't be substantiated. The mingling of fact and fiction in the movie leads to a rather muddled story with escape hatches and bottles of booze stashed away in bathroom stalls. You almost need a second viewing of the film to get a better grasp of the players and the double crosses involved, something I'm not committed to since I got the main gist of it and that's good enough for me. As good an actor as Bill Pullman is, I was a little put off by his performance here, rather brooding in his delivery, much like his work in "The Sinner". But he does play a a high performing alcoholic with some aplomb. As a spy thriller, this has it's moments, but they're rare and far between.