We are supposed to believe that chess is a metaphor for how Abigail Breslin manipulates the relationships and circumstances around her in this movie. I get the metaphor, but it really doesn't translate particularly well, as she never actually knows where all the pieces are, what they can do, or how they move. So, constantly showing us the chess board is a bit too heavy handed, in my opinion.
Abigail is in that stage of her career where she is too young to be taken seriously as an adult and too old to be a kid actor. Normally, this would mean doing movies like Twilight where she plays a teenager who is more serious and more adventurous than either adults or children. Instead, she takes this role where she struggles to influence adult themes and issues while clearly not completely comprehending them. She does an okay job, but her character is written by someone who doesn't understand teenage girls, and they wind up just writing her like a very short adult.
Alexa PenaVega (also known as Alexa Vega for a reason I don't care to look up) plays her big sister and the cause of her problems and solutions. Along with her drug addict uncle (played by Lew Temple) they provide the unstable home life that she is hoping to maintain at least until she is no longer under threat by CYS for being removed. Both of them do a fine job with their respective roles, and I found that they were relateable, even though they really don't have anything to do with what I would call normal life. Okay, maybe the drug addict isn't relateable, but he's certainly sympathetic.
Sean Bean was really the reason I watched the movie in the first place. He plays the grumpy uncle who masterminds the criminal enterprises in the area, and he's kind enough to give Abigail a job as a runner, even though she seems not very well suited to the job. The acting opportunities for him in this movie are very limited, and he pretty much gets through them with grumbles and grunts. These aren't the nice, communicative grunts like Tom Hardy gave us in Lawless, they are much more dismissive and apathetic.
James Purefoy plays the local lunkhead criminal. He sells the bad things that he gets from Sean and also is trying to date Alexa. He begrudgingly becomes friends with Abigail, and I'm sure you can expect that anyone who befriends her will inevitably wind up in a bad way.
Speaking of being in a bad way, Jake Busey is Sean's right-hand man, and he plays the big, thick-headed lunk. I remember him playing a similar character in Startship Troopers, but here he doesn't have some kind of laser gun, so it's completely different. I wonder if all the Buseys get massive teeth and play the insane characters. I'm sure it's not type casting.
Story is okay
Dialog is boring
Pacing is stretched out
Acting is good for the most part
Movie is probably not worth watching
1.75/5