mike_bike_kite

The actors did their part, the various scenes were stylish and the action sequences were fine. All it lacked was a spark of originality. Even the title of the movie was identical to a (much better) film from last year.

You wonder if the writers and produces (and possibly the whole crew including the tea lady) could of sat around and come up with some original element to make the film different. I appreciate backers for films want a guaranteed success but that doesn't mean you have to mimic every other action film. You'd think that adding a spark of originality to a film would be fairly cheap to do.

The end result was watchable but it certainly wasn't a film I'll remember for long.

I loved this film and had the strange feeling it was produced just for me. It felt like you were looking through the keyhole into a fairly recent past that's now almost completely forgotten. It's less about chess and more about the type of strange people that could dedicate their time to something that almost no-one else cared about. These people can't relate to ordinary folk, or to each other, but they're forced together for this competition. I thought the film worked brilliantly but I'll accept it's not for everyone.

Why was this film for me? I love strange unusual films. I'm fairly old so I also remember these competitions and playing chess against their creations. I've even written fairly decent chess programs myself.