Pawn Sacrifice appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This turned into a more than satisfying presentation.
When appropriate, sharpness looked good. Only the slightest hint of softness affected some interiors, and those examples occurred too infrequently to cause problems.
Instead, the film looked concise and well-defined. Exceptions came from material intended to look “vintage” but those were inevitable given the photographic choices.
No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects occurred, and edge enhancement was absent. I also failed to detect any source flaws – outside of some that came with archival footage or those shots intended to look “old”.
In terms of colors, the movie featured a palette that favored a strong golden/orange tone along with a lot of teal. Across the board, the hues looked fine within those parameters, although they became almost comical in their intensity.
Blacks were dark and deep, while shadows appeared clear and smooth. Even with the intentionally “flawed” shots, I thought the movie consistently looked positive.
I thought that the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Pawn seemed fine but it didn’t excel because of a lack of ambition. Like most character dramas, the movie featured a limited soundfield that favored the forward channels.
It showed nice stereo spread to the music as well as some general ambience from the sides. Panning was decent, and the surrounds usually kicked in basic reinforcement.
Audio quality appeared good. Speech was natural and distinct, with no issues related to edginess or intelligibility.
Effects sounded clean and accurate, with good fidelity and no signs of distortion. Music was perfectly fine, as the score and songs showed positive dimensionality. This track was good enough for a “B-“ but didn’t particularly impress.
A featurette called Bobby Fischer, The Cold War and The Match of the Century runs three minutes, 17 seconds. It provides notes from producer Gail Katz, director Edward Zwick, and actors Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber and Peter Sarsgaard.
“War” discusses story/characters. Little real information appears during this promo piece.
The disc opens with ads for Trumbo, Everest, Danny Collins and I’ll See You In My Dreams. No trailer for Pawn appears here.
A mix of competition drama and psychological study, Pawn Sacrifice fails to prosper in either mode. The movie offers decent entertainment but it falls short of its goals. The Blu-ray comes with solid picture, adequate audio and skimpy supplements. Though watchable, the movie disappoints.