Skip it! If you want to know why, read on. Otherwise, just pass.
The Coldest Game is a fictional story about a brilliant but horribly addicted mathematician chess master being summoned by the CIA to play chess against the Russian grandmaster champion, during the week at the height of the Cuban missile crisis.
If you like spy movies? Sure. If you are drawn to historical fiction? Dig in.
If you love chess? There are some chess pieces and indiscriminate moves shown. Note that this is however the primary plot of the movie and there’s really no chess involved.
If your cinematic preference is engaging dialog? No. Depth of character development? Nope. Compelling story? Absent. Range in acting? Zip.
Granted, there is one little gem: PKIM Director, the hotel “manager” and he is a treasure.
It’s just shallow. That’s about it. I honestly should have loved it based on the premise alone. Instead it threw pawns all over the board until the king was backed into the corner, bored and resigned. Wrapping up a paultry spy movie in a “who are the moles” mystery masked as if it required strategy to win is a gross misclassification of The Coldest Game.
Note to the 9 different production companies that had their hands in this: if you’re going to make a movie about chess or strategy, hire a writer who knows how to play. Otherwise you’re wasting our time and your investors’ currency.