Juego a muerte

KNIGHT MOVES

Aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Sound format: Dolby Stereo

Filmed on grim Canadian locations by German director Carl Schenkel (OUT OF ORDER), this curious psycho-thriller has the look and feel of an Italian giallo, despite the American setting. All the elements are in place: Christopher Lambert plays a chess grandmaster targeted by a serial killer who leaves obscure one-word messages at the scene of his/her crimes, hoping to draw Lambert into a lethal game of cat and mouse. That the murders are based on well-known chess manoeuvres should come as no surprise to seasoned thriller addicts, and nor should the killer's identity, which is betrayed by a seemingly throwaway bit of business near the beginning of the film (not a spoiler - only the truly attentive will spot it). Brad Mirman's convoluted script bends over backwards to cast suspicion on Lambert throughout (which means it *can't* be him - or can it?), but the narrative is undermined by some poorly-drawn characters, and everyone but Tom Skerritt - as the detective leading the investigation - seems to be coasting through proceedings on auto-pilot. The murders aren't explicitly detailed, and Schenkel goes out of his way to avoid crowd-pleasing exploitation, which rather curbs the film's commercial emphasis. But at least it's never dull, and the climax is reasonably proficient, complete with overwrought thunderstorm and psycho with a mommy complex! Daniel Baldwin exaggerates wildly as a macho cop determined to nail Lambert for the crimes, while Ferdinand Mayne hovers in the background, making the most of a glorified cameo as the hero's blind mentor.

A psychopath uses the game of chess as a blueprint for a series of brutal murders, in this stylish 1992 film directed by Carl Schenkel. Cinematography, sound effects, scary music, and sparse dialogue combine to create an atmosphere of terror, suggestive of the "giallos" of Dario Argento.

We see the killer's black gloved hands; we see the flashlight shining in the darkened room of the next victim; we hear the killer's breathing through a mask. And in these scenes, absence of dialogue amplifies the surreal, menacing presence of the killer.

Suspense scenes alternate with scenes of mundane normalcy, which gives the viewer a chance to select the murderer from a pool of suspects whose behavior appear more or less normal. But beware; there are plenty of plot twists and false clues. The whodunit element kept me guessing and unsure; the film's suspense kept me fully engaged.

Acting quality is average. Diane Lane gives perhaps the most convincing performance of the bunch. My main criticism is the screenplay. In any murder mystery, the viewer needs enough information to have a fair chance at solving the whodunit puzzle. But in "Knight Moves", crucial details are left out. Also, several characters are poorly defined; we know almost nothing about them. Moreover, in several key scenes, the behavior of one of the main characters is not credible, given the story's underlying premise.

As a result, it's going to be almost impossible for the viewer to identify the killer, based solely on the plot. A script re-write, with more emphasis on character development, combined with the deletion of superfluous scenes would, I think, have made for a more satisfying whodunit puzzle.

Even so, I recommend "Knight Moves" as a most frightening and spine-tingling suspense thriller. For maximum effect, try watching it alone, in a mansion, at night with the lights turned out, during a thunderstorm.

Peter Sanderson is a chess master in town for a major tournament. After visiting her and having sex with her, Sanderson's casual lover is murdered and left in a strange pose. The police suspect him as the person who was with her moments before her death but things are confused when Sanderson is contacted by the killer wishing to play a game with him. The murders continue as Sanderson and the police try to outsmart the killer – however clues still indicate that Sanderson could still be a suspect himself.

There are very few thrillers that would chose to set themselves in the world of grandmaster chess as the basis for their plot, and even fewer that would manage to pull it off convincingly; this film falls into the former but not the latter. The plot only really uses chess as the background so that it can make a rather tenuous link between that game and the game that is played between Sanderson and the killer. This basic plot is interesting enough even if it doesn't really stand out from the basic video-thriller genre that the chess connection suggests it is better than. The chess connection doesn't really work as it doesn't actually fit in with the murders very well – feeling forced quite a lot; certainly the whole chess championship is just a side issue and the film never manages to actually convince that this is a battle of wits, in fact the police do most of the leg work and Peter only occasionally blurts out the odd 'Eureka in the bathtub' line.

The solution is semi-clever in that I realized that the film had tricked me from the first scene onwards, but, despite this fact, the identity of the killer is as out-of-the-blue and you would expect it to be. The film is littered with minor characters who jump out of shadows, appear at suspicious times or say menacing things under their breath, all red herrings of course but most of them are not explained and it is obvious the writer never thought about whether or not they made sense in any context other than them being red herrings. Having said that, the film is enjoyable but mainly as a genre film rather than anything clever or particularly inventive. The lack of a really clever cat'n'mouse game was a letdown for me because of the potential that the chess connection had suggested.

The cast are a fairly average mix that contribute to the feeling that this is a genre film rather than anything particularly clever. Lambert has had a very mixed career and this is just another strange role that he doesn't play that well – certainly the words 'Lambert' and 'chess master' are words that words that don't seem to naturally appear together. Sticking with the clichés of both the genre and Lambert films, we get the obligatory love scene (twice!) that have little relevance but gives the film the added selling point of breasts! Skerrit and Baldwin are better than the rest of the cast even with poor characters – the two of them control each scene they are in and make the film feel better than it is.

Overall, the title and background suggest a clever game of wits between a chess master and the killer but it doesn't manage to be anything more than an OK genre film. The twist is out of the blue as always but getting there is quite fun and the end result is a film that is enjoyable but quite unspectacular.

Some consider opening scenes about events from past, when they were children, shot in B/W as great. I don't think so. It was too long, slow(ed), over top. And worst, it made it much more predictable.

Direction was fine most of part, script, dialogs, acting not really. I blame mostly script and dialogs for seemingly bad acting. No actor which would pull it much better than Daniel Baldwin, because it was just character written as utterly stupid one. C. Lambert was OK most part, in some scenes seemed away.

Despite mentioned flaws it could be solid thriller, but last 10-15 minutes were really letdown. Extremely predictable, cliche overall, and just 'game over', the end. Still, it was watchable - I watched it on TV some 25 years ago, and now on some better display. I would give it higher rating then, now I'm more mature :-)

Ratings:

C. Lambert: 6

D. Lane: 6

Tom Skerrit: 4

Daniel Baldwin: 5

Director: 7

Script: 4

Knight Moves starts as a clever movie about a murder investigation over some "Zodiac" wannabe. It's one of those movies where you'll only get your answers at the end-ish.

"End-ish" because, as the movie goes on, it seems like they couldn't keep up with their complicated murder plot, so they pretty much simplify things out.

In the end, an abrupt ending and a bunch of weird fight scenes sour out the movie.