As far as Netflix-produced movies go, this is one of the best I saw. At least, it has a script that actually makes some sense, albeit in a formulaic way. After all, this is the Cold War and we've pretty much seen everything about that period in time and movie rules (and history) dictate that the Russians are the villains and nobody is to be trusted.

In this movie, the story takes place mostly in Warsaw, which makes a nice change of place from the usual Berlin. A chess championship is taking place during the Cuban missiles crises and a drunkard American professor (Bill Pullman) must act as the go-between spy, besides being the chess champion defying Russia.

Pullman looks a lot like Dennis Hopper and does a good job as the brilliant, unstable genius. His handlers are three suspicious characters, one of whom must be a mole.

My favourite scene takes places in the men's lavatory and it is edited in such a way as to make you wonder what is going on. The previous scene established a character who may also not be what he looks like and the whole plot is directly linked to the opening scene.

Quite enjoyable and suitably gritty, even if I usually don't enjoy movies where the main character is an addict.

Any bad? I cant find any really. It's not historically accurate, but I simply look upon it as a standard spy thriller, in which all sides are double crossing each other and I enjoyed the continuous suspense and the beautiful photography. I have seen a lot worse and I have seen a lot more silly spy thrillers than this one. Simply decent thriller.

Oh yes, there actually once was a nuclear confrontation between the USA and the USSR in the sixties, called the "Bay of Pigs" in which a nuclear war was closest EVER. This story uses that frantic, dangerous period in history to tell a suspenseful spy story which involves a chess game between the Americans and the Russians.

Simply enjoyable thriller, with some funny moments because Bill Pulmann is great at his role as an alcohol addicted professor, who is a genius at playing chess...

Right off the bat (or board?),there is the fact that this is or rather was based on true events. You'll either be into that or not. Bill Pullman does everything to keep you engaged though. The movie or rather the story is a bit muddled and there certainly will be confusion for many. And while Bill Pullman is a pole, some might have a problem with engaging with the movie.

Feeling something, being excited and so forth. So there are flaws, there are certain things that could be better. But it also has some fine points and there are some interesting plot points happening and some characters and places (short cuts) that are almost worth watching this alone. Again, massively flawed but also quite entertaining in a weird way