Ender's Game

Cast of Characters:

Colonel Graff - Harrison Ford

Andrew "Ender" Wiggin - Asa Butterfield

Petra Arkanian - Hailee Steinfeld

Major Gwen Anderson - Viola Davis

Valentine Wiggin - Abigail Breslin

Mazer Rackham - Ben Kingsley

Director - Gavin Hood

Screenplay - Gavin Hood

Based on the novel "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card

Rated PG-13 for some violence, sci-fi action and thematic material

      Asa Butterfield, Academy Award nominees Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis and Abigail Breslin and Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley star in the sci-fi film adaptation, Ender's Game.

      After an alien race known as the Formics attack Earth in 2086, the International Fleet prepares for the next invasion by training the best and brightest young children in order to find their future leader who will fill the shoes of the legendary Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley).

      Led by Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) and Major Gwen Anderson (Viola Davis), the Fleet seems to have found their future leader in the unusually gifted Andrew "Ender" Wiggin (Asa Butterfield). Progressing rather quickly through training, Ender prepares for the next Formic invasion, which will determine the fate of all humanity.

      I've never read the novel this film is based on, but I do know that it has a devoted cult-following. The excited guy sitting behind me that seemed to climax when the first trailer appeared before Star Trek Into Darkness tells me how devoted they really are. That said, despite not reading the book, I did a little research on the story and those that have read it and found out that it's a pretty dark story with a complex lead character in Ender. If that's truly the case, then this film must've gone through a complete P.C. change in tone as it's quite a lightweight film in terms of story. Fans of the book will probably be irked by that, but I haven't read it, so I have to judge it as its own film. As a film, the lightweight story doesn't bother me, although I would've loved to see them punch it up into more darker territory. Lightweight or dark, doesn't change the fact that this is a visually impressive and well acted dud of a film. Writer/director Gavin Hood follows up his massive bowel movement that was advertised as X-Men Origins: Wolverine with another film that tries to cram in way too much plot while also suffering from some major pacing issues. I was also puzzled as to why as visually amazing as it is at times, it's as talky as it is. There's a scene in particular where Ender and one of his peers are shooting each other with freezing guns. Instead of visualizing some form of temporary paralysis, we get the characters just saying, "Hey, I can't move my leg! It's frozen!" It's like they were finally tapped out with their budget once they got to filming that scene and Hood just decides, "Yeah, let's just have them talk a lot instead." Don't get me wrong. I don't need a Michael Bay eye raping fest; in fact, I prefer anything but that. A good sci-fi film, though, has to find the right balance between story and visuals and when this film isn't bringing you the stunning special effects, we're stuck with a mediocre story. What Hood has managed to do rather easily though is apparently piss off the novel's following by completely changing the tone while not doing much at all to engage those that are new to the story (the poor marketing strategy by Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate doesn't help any either). For a film with a $110 million budget, that's the last thing you wanna do.

      It's just under two hours, but you still feel every minute of it. Ender's Game features a number of Oscar nominees and one Oscar winner. It's a talented cast, but in spite of the performances, they're still given very little to work with. I may not have read the book, but I'm kinda thinking along the same lines of those that have that I would've preferred they pack some punch with a bit more darker tone into the film. Yeah, there are some nifty effects here and there, but Hood does such a poor job at trying to make us care about the situation that we're just left with nifty effects, nothing else. Hooray for the tech crew. I give Ender's Game a C- (★★).