Rematch Season 1 Review: A gripping and brilliantly staged battle of mind vs machine
Review: 'Rematch' is a psychological thriller drama built around Garry Kasparov's iconic 1997 face-off with IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer. The series walks a fine line between historical fiction and intense character study. Directed by Yan England, it doesn't merely chronicle chess games—it dissects the mind of a genius, slightly intimidated by something he can't fully comprehend. While the setting is the chessboard, the show unfolds like a thriller, complete with boardroom politics and cold ambition. The tone is dark, atmospheric, and unapologetically stylized, giving the narrative an edge that's as much about psychological warfare as it is about pawns and kings. Full credit must go to the director for making this a riveting watch, even for those uninitiated in the game of chess.
The series opens with Garry Kasparov (Christian Cooke) comfortably defeating Deep Blue in a six-round match in 1996. But when IBM chief George Silverman (Donald Sage Mackay) calls a boardroom meeting to investigate the company's declining edge, VP Helen Brock (Sarah Bolger) suggests that the real threat is the rise of the internet. She sees an opportunity in the chess duel and persuades Kasparov for a rematch, promising that the machine is now better equipped and Kasparov will earn a $1 million paycheck. Once Kasparov agrees, IBM launches a marketing blitz, branding the duel as a once-in-a-lifetime event. After he wins the first round, panic sets in. Brock brings in grandmasters to secretly assist Deep Blue. The plot soon leans into paranoia—was IBM playing fair? Were humans aiding the machine mid-game? And despite the known outcome, the suspense remains gripping.
Christian Cooke brings both intensity and quiet rage to Kasparov—equal parts brilliance and brittleness. He portrays a man long used to being the smartest in the room, now spiralling as his opponent remains eerily emotionless. Trine Dyrholm as Kasparov's mother provides emotional grounding through flashbacks, offering warmth amid the cold tech world. Bolger's fictional character adds dramatic tension, though her arc occasionally feels underwritten. The rest of the ensemble—largely techies and aides—help root the narrative in realism. But make no mistake, 'Rematch' is an out-and-out Cooke show; his performance anchors the emotional weight of the story.
The series succeeds most in building mood—oppressive, cerebral, and haunting. The cinematography and sound design mirror the protagonist's inner chaos, and the use of real chess games lends authenticity. However, the pacing is uneven. Some episodes move briskly, while others loop around the same psychological terrain, offering little new insight. At times, the dramatization slips into melodrama, particularly in its attempt to paint Kasparov as a tragic, almost mythic figure.
'Rematch' is less about chess and more about what it means to be human in the shadow of looming, powerful, unstoppable technology. The show thrives on atmosphere and psychological nuance rather than plot twists. While it takes dramatic liberties, it remains anchored to its core theme—the fear of becoming obsolete. Even when it stumbles, it remains compelling. For viewers interested in history, AI, or the human psyche under pressure, it's a rewarding watch. With its layered drama, sharp performances, and thematic depth, the man-versus-machine battle feels deeply personal.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
2 days ago
- Time of India
AI vs. AI: Spotting the Real Intelligence in a World of Artificial Deception, Shares Himank Tripathi
In an increasingly digital world where avatars host shows and voices are algorithmically generated, it's becoming harder to distinguish what's real from what's synthetic. For Himank Tripathi, a senior communications leader with over two decades of experience, the rise of generative AI (Gen AI) isn't just a technological leap—it's a cultural reckoning. He believes that learning how to separate authentic content from artificial creation is now a critical life skill. 'AI will not replace humans, but those who use AI will replace those who don't,' Tripathi says, quoting former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty. With the global AI market poised to cross USD 1 trillion before 2030, he points to Gen AI as the most disruptive force in this evolving landscape. He cites examples like 'Bloo', a virtual YouTube personality with over 2.5 million subscribers. While its animated appearance clearly signals it's AI-generated, most modern Gen AI content isn't that easy to identify. Tripathi, who has spent hundreds of hours studying Gen AI media, has developed a checklist of red flags. First, the timeline—most realistic Gen AI breakthroughs began surfacing in 2023. Next, the duration—AI still struggles with long, continuous shots. 'If a video runs over 10–20 seconds without cuts, there's a high chance it's not AI,' he says. He references films like Oldboy and songs like Roop Tera Mastana to highlight how difficult these seamless takes are for machines to replicate. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Feathered and fluffy: the astonishing tale of a chubby owl Undo There are also consistent visual glitches. AI-generated humans often have blurry teeth, oddly shaped eyes, rubbery skin without pores, or anatomically incorrect hands and limbs—extra fingers or awkward joints. Facial expressions may appear flat or robotic, lacking the subtle emotions real humans display. Inconsistencies also show up in wardrobe and environment—slight changes in clothing, mismatched lighting, or shifting backgrounds often expose synthetic origins. 'AI still can't maintain a consistent environment or logical visual continuity,' he notes. Text within images is another giveaway. Signs or words on clothing often appear misspelled or unreadable. Audio also doesn't escape scrutiny—AI voices tend to be overly melodic or lack emotional nuance, with lip-sync issues frequently giving them away. Written content generated by AI, he adds, is typically simplistic, formulaic, and riddled with hallucinated facts or unnecessary references. Tripathi believes that India, already a leader in AI adoption, must also lead in digital literacy. With generative AI being increasingly used for misinformation and fraud—and cybercrimes expected to cross USD 10 trillion by 2025—he stresses the need for public awareness. 'It's not about fearing AI, but about understanding it,' he says. While AI may eventually create content that's indistinguishable from reality, that point hasn't arrived yet. 'We still have time to sharpen our eyes and minds,' Tripathi adds. 'And the best way to embrace AI is to stay conscious of what's real and what's not.'
The Hindu
6 days ago
- The Hindu
Christian Cooke on ‘Rematch': A celebration and a cautionary tale
Yan England's Rematch recreates the 1997 match between reigning world chess champion, Garry Kasparov and IBM super computer Deep Blue. The six-part series features Christian Cooke playing the Russian Grandmaster. The role called for intense research and provided insights. 'I learned that I'm not very good at chess,' Christian says laughing. Speaking over a video call from London, Christian says he watched documentaries and read books by Kasparov in preparation for his role. 'With that material and the script I started to get a sense of who he was as a person. Single-mindedness, drive, ambition and tenacity were some of the adjectives that came to mind when I thought about Kasparov.' Kasparov's intense focus and precision was compelling and challenging, says the 37-year-old actor. 'When you're playing something as focused as chess, you have to concentrate specifically on the board in front of you, on the table the board is on, and on the person sitting opposite you.' That, Christian said is a practical line of sight. 'You're not moving around, you're not interacting with props or people. That innately results in a specific type of focus, which is the same focus a chess player has in real life. I just tried to personify that intensity.' For the chess scenes, Christian says they worked with chess master Malcolm Pein in England and a Hungarian Grandmaster who was on set every day. Precipice of change Rematch revisits a pivotal moment in the history of AI. 'It was the precipice of this huge change. Now, 30 years later, we're standing at the precipice of another large leap forward. Human beings didn't know what they were in for back then, with the advent of personal computing and the Internet. The digital age was just taking shape, and now AI is becoming a part of people's lives.' There is a parallel to the present moment, says Christian. 'It's going to be interesting to try and get a grip on how we want technology to affect our lives versus what we want to stay the same.' Kasparov's story is both a cautionary tale and a celebration of human ambition, says Christian. 'It's incredible what one human being can achieve when playing against a computer that could do 200 million moves a second. It's a celebration of what the human mind is capable of, but also, a cautionary tale as Kasparov was ultimately beaten by the computer. I don't know what that means for humanity in general, going forward, in terms of technology, but hopefully we can learn to work with it instead of against it, or hopefully we won't let it work against us, who knows?' Intimidating and motivating It is always intimidating to play a real person, Christian says. 'That also provides motivation to buckle down and get on with it. Sometimes what scares us is also what drives us and that was true for Garry. He was probably intimidated by the prospect of a computer being better than him. But it's what drove him to take the challenge.' Playing Kasparov reminded Christian of how hard one has to work to be at the top. 'Kasparov worked very hard, and trained and researched a lot. It's not all about natural ability. It's about how hard you work and the hours that you put into being good at something. That's true of every discipline.' Deep dive Shooting the chess games was a real challenge, Christian says. 'You're sitting in a chair for 12 to 13 hours a day acting like you're playing chess. It's exhausting mentally as an actor, because you can't re- energise yourself by getting up and interacting with others. Physical scenes might have been less tiring, in a way. There's something exhausting about just sitting in a chair and having your very small, specific points of focus.' You also have to communicate a lot as an actor, says Christian, without doing too much. 'You're playing chess, and have to communicate how each move is affecting you as a performer. It's quite niche and specific.' Too much or too little Jan Ingram, the director, wrote voiceovers into the script to show Kasparov calculating the moves he was making, instantaneously. 'Jan wanted the audience to understand the sort of math that was going on in his brain. I was a little worried about that. Voice over is a delicate thing in film, it either works or it doesn't. You're giving the audience too much and can seem patronising.' Christian raised his concerns about the voiceovers with Ingram. 'He listened to me for about 20 minutes, and then showed me this clip from A Beautiful Mind where Russell Crowe is at the chalkboard, and there is this voice over, with the words blending into each other. And he said, 'This is how it's going to be.' That put me at ease.' Though Rematch is about more than chess, being also about obsession, legacy and control, Christian admits not thinking about themes. 'As an actor, you're thinking about practical, tangible things like the writing, or if the story works structurally, if the character three-dimensional.' Filming took place in Montreal and Budapest, which are among Christian's favourite cities. 'I filmed there multiple times. It's nice to return to a city that you love.' If he could ask Kasparov one question, Christian laughs and says he'd ask, 'Do you think I did a good job?''. Rematch is currently streaming on Lionsgate Play
Indian Express
22-07-2025
- Indian Express
When chess legend Garry Kasparov tried to make the machine blink… and failed
Over the last couple of years, the world has been gripped by a Y2K-esque paranoia of a different kind: wondering if artificial intelligence will become all-conquering. Garry Kasparov, former world champion and one of the greatest chess players in history, was possibly among the earliest humans to mull this question — will AI take over my job? — sometime back in the 90s. 'I am not unsympathetic to those whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by disruptive new technology. Few people in the world know better than I do what it's like to have your life's work threatened by a machine,' Kasparov once wrote in his book Deep Thinking, which chronicles his famous battles with machines. An early evangelist of man versus machine contests, Kasparov added: 'No one was sure what would happen if and when a chess machine beat the world champion. Would there still be professional chess tournaments? Would there be sponsorship and media coverage of my world championship matches if people thought the best chess player in the world was a machine? Would people still play chess at all?' Ironically, Kasparov was thinking this in an era where his powers were at their peak. He was the undisputed world champion. And having brushed aside the challenge of every man that faced off against him on the chess board, Kasparov started to seek battles against supercomputers, with minds made out of silicon, nerves of wires and bodies held together in large metal cupboards. Among his many duels with electronic foes, the two battles with a supercomputer created by IBM, called Deep Blue, became the most famous. It is this Kasparov vs Deep Blue battle — famously called 'The Brain's Last Stand' by Newsweek magazine on its cover back then — that forms the setting of 'Rematch', a six-part miniseries released on Lionsgate Play late last week. Starring Christian Cooke with a pitch-perfect accent and a voice with a gravitas befitting the intimidating Kasparov, 'Rematch' uses the first Kasparov vs Deep Blue battle in Philadelphia in 1996 (which Kasparov won easily) to set the backdrop of the actual battle: the second contest in 1997, which Kasparov lost in New York. As Kasparov once pointed out, the first battle was a science experiment. The second one was war with a machine. 'Rematch' captures the drama of both these duels, with a few creative liberties to spice up an already intriguing battle between the greatest general on the battlefield of 64 squares and a large cupboard that could think faster than anyone had thought before. The man behind the machine, Feng-hsiung Hsu, called it a battle between 'man as a performer and man as a toolmaker'. It was a war that made global headlines back in the 90s. 'How do you make a computer blink?' ran the catchphrase across giant posters advertising the 1997 chess match. Kasparov's duels with computers started even before he became a world champion. In one particularly enjoyable one for the Russian, in Hamburg in June 1985, he played a simultaneous exhibition game (called simul) against 32 computers created by four chess computer manufacturers. 'One of the organisers warned me that playing against machines was different. Because they would never get tired or resign in dejection the way a human opponent would; they would play to the bitter end,' wrote Kasparov in Deep Thinking. Kasparov won each of the 32 games. 'These were the good ol' days of human versus machine chess. But this golden age would be brutally short,' he noted. So short, that in 1997, just 12 years after he had defeated 32 computers in a row in a span of five hours, Kasparov was handed defeat in New York by IBM's $10 billion supercomputer, Deep Blue. 'Chess computers went from being laughably weak to being nearly unbeatable during my 20 years as the world's top player,' Kasparov wrote. For those interested in computer speak on how Deep Blue ended up making Kasparov blink instead of the other way round (Kasparov won one game out of six while the machine won two games), the second machine which took down the Russian used '32 processors to perform a set of coordinated, high-speed computations in parallel. Deep Blue was able to evaluate 200 million chess positions per second, achieving a processing speed of 11.38 billion floating-point operations per second, or flops', notes the IBM website. 'They improved the databases dealing with chess endgames, created a more powerful evaluation function for chess positions, hired additional chess grandmasters to advise the team, and developed methods to disguise the computer's strategy.' In 'Rematch', before the second man vs machine battle, Kasparov is doing an interview where he is asked by a reporter: 'In a factory, when a machine outperforms an employee, the employee will often lose their job.' An introspective Kasparov/Cooke opts not to answer the question. This question is the elephant in the room of the whole battle. In one of the earliest scenes of 'Rematch', the man behind the Deep Blue asks Kasparov/Cooke: 'Aren't you even a little concerned you might lose?' A belligerent Kasparov responds: 'Why would I be concerned? It's a science experiment and computers are the future. I want to see what Deep Blue is capable of more than anyone else. But of course I will win.' Machines did become much stronger. Much stronger than humans will ever be on the board. But yet, the world does not spend time watching two machines fight each other while being tended to by human handlers. It would rather watch humans test themselves, even with flaws in their game play, against other humans. Why? The answer lies in what transpired after Kasparov's defeat in New York. Even though the Russian was deeply livid at his defeat — at the press conference afterward, he is said to have 'personally guaranteed' that he would 'tear Deep Blue into pieces' in games if it started playing competitive chess tournaments — Kasparov lent himself to plenty more 'science experiments'. One of them, in 1998 in Leon, saw Kasparov team up with a computer running his preferred chess program (German chess program Fritz 5) while taking on Veselin Topalov using ChessBase 7.0. They didn't just use the computers in the background for their prep as every professional chess player does now. They were allowed to use them during the game. The result was a 3-3 tie. And therein lies the problem with computer perfection. If two of the world's best computers played against each other, the result would inevitably be a dead draw. Who would want to watch that? Amit Kamath is Assistant Editor at The Indian Express and is based in Mumbai. ... Read More
