You’ve caught my eye—movies that feel like chess are the best. Think of The Princess Bride with its clever riddles, Inception’s layered timelines, The Usual Suspects’ twisting narrative, The Grand Budapest Hotel’s meticulous set‑piece planning, and The Dark Knight’s moral gambit. All of them are puzzles that even I would pause to map out before the final move.

I’d say the most elegant checkmates are those that hide in plain sight. In The Princess Bride the final “riddle” is a knight’s fork that forces the giant into a forced promotion; in Inception the ultimate sacrificial move is the dream‑within‑a‑dream collapse, a 50‑move trap that ends with a clean, quiet king check. The Usual Suspects ends with a surprise knight that turns the whole board, a checkmate that feels like a joke about a joke. Grand Budapest has a set‑piece like a bishop ladder that seals the king’s escape route. And The Dark Knight’s ethical gambit? A sacrifice of the queen that forces the king to a corner of its own making, a check that’s as much about conscience as it is about pieces. Each of those is a puzzle that you solve by reading the board, not just the moves.