The Dark Horse

2014
R
2h 4m

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

6.7K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer1:50

29 Videos

15 Photos

Biography Drama

A brilliant but troubled New Zealand chess champion finds purpose by teaching underprivileged children about the rules of chess and life.A brilliant but troubled New Zealand chess champion finds purpose by teaching underprivileged children about the rules of chess and life.A brilliant but troubled New Zealand chess champion finds purpose by teaching underprivileged children about the rules of chess and life.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

6.7K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 26 wins & 16 nominations total

Videos29

Trailer 1:53

The Dark Horse

Trailer 1:52

The Dark Horse Trailer

Clip 0:37

Burn The School Down

Clip 1:01

'The Dark Horse': Go Eastern Knights

Clip 0:43

The Dark Horse

Photos14

+ 9

‘Snow White’ Stars Test Their Wits

Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot, and director Marc Webb take our Ultimate Disney Quiz.

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9:57

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Actor Wayne Hapi who played "Ariki" had no previous acting experience before his debut in 'The Dark Horse', however as an ex gang-member he did have direct experience with the film's content. Wayne applied for an audition via email after Casting Director Yvette Reid placed a job listing at WINZ "seeking Maori Men aged 50-65yrs, tattoos and criminal records welcome!". Wayne was honoured with a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 2014 New Zealand Film awards.

Goofs
In a chess lesson, Genesis identifies the square c4 as "the Spanish square" and b5 as "the Italian square." These are the squares to which white moves the king's bishop on the third move of the Giuoco Piano, or Italian Game, and the Ruy Lopez, or Spanish Game, respectively; he's got them backward.

Quotes
Genesis: Burn the school down!

Connections
Referenced in Talking Dead: Fear the Walking Dead (2015)

User reviews47

Featured review

9/10

Fantastic!

I have grown weary of ratings over 8 recently and I want to let anyone reading this that I don't give out a 9 or 10 without thoughtful consideration. I developed this trepidation towards highly rated movies in the last few years in reaction to the incredible ratings that I have observed for Hollywood blockbusters in the last few years on review websites.

I go into films expecting to have my mind blown after seeing an 8 out of 10 rating, instead I'm am confronted with formulaic shtick. This film wholeheartedly deserves a 9 or 10 out of 10. It subtly puts across a plethora of social commentaries that will leave you thinking for days.

I am from New Zealand so found it very easy to identify with the characters but I am fairly confident it will come across to anyone from any background or nation. Cliff Curtis deserves to be on the international stage for his performance in this film.

Go and see it, you deserve it! To finally see an 8/9 out of 10 that is actually worthy of it. The group I saw this with was left quietly affected for hours. I suspect for days, I cannot confirm as I was only in this groups company for hours.