enders-game-whysoblu-7

“Ender’s Game” had a difficult journey getting to the big screen. The author of the original novel, Orson Scott Card, refused to give up the rights to the film for decades due to creative differences. But now that it was finally made, thousands of people vowed to boycott it due to Card’s homophobic views. Whatever his views might be, the boycotters are going to miss out on a visually stunning film — but that’s about all they’re missing.

The movie is set in the future, 50 years after a battle with an alien race called the Formics, or “buggers.” In anticipation of another invasion, the military believes their only hope is taking children to Battle School in space and training them to battle these formidable creatures. The story opens with Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) getting beat up by bullies who think he’s the runt of the litter. He’s soon picked up by Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) and Lieutenant Anderson (Viola Davis) to attend the battle school, taking advantage of his detected strategic talent via a monitor in his head. However, Ender’s life as an outcast is quickly forgotten once he is on his way to Battle School.

In the novel, Ender was promoted to commander of his own army because he survived intense bullying from the other child commanders and soldiers. However, the children in the film seem a lot nicer. When Graff calls him out as being the brightest of the recruits, Ender complains that he made his peers hate him. However, the only person he really has problems with is his team captain, Bonzo Madrid (Moises Arias), who despises Ender for his intelligence. He quickly finds people to confide in, such as Bean (Aramis Knight) and Petra Arkanian (Hailee Steinfeld).

Butterfield, as a whole, is a perfect choice to play Ender. He is able to fit the character’s awkward, nerdy attitude, and his seriousness feels genuine. However, it’s difficult for the audience to relate to Ender or know him at all; in the novel, inner dialogue is used frequently to get inside Ender’s head, and it’s what really made him likable as a character. In the film, he just seems like a super soldier who gets everything he wants too easily. For instance, he convinces his army to respect him, and the authority to give him pats on the back, without any sweat at all.

Overall, the effects seem stunning, although the audience doesn’t get to experience a lot of them. A beautiful world is created but the director moves too quickly through the film for it to really be appreciated, leading to scenes where the effect of stun guns are only revealed when Bean outright tells the audience that, while practicing for battle, the stun gun makes whoever it touches frozen. The same goes for the actual battle room. Instead of being able to experience Ender going into a simulated battle with these insect creatures, we just see him crazily wave his hands on his screen, making it look like he’s playing with Kinect on a giant TV screen. If Space Mountain ever got a movie, it would borrow its extremely fast-paced light effects from this scene.

The film ends with a final battle that feels rushed, even though the whole movie had been spent preparing for that battle. Since Ender already felt like Rambo from outer space, it didn’t take him long to outsmart the enemy. However, the battle ends with a twist that doesn’t necessarily compensate for the film’s lack of a climax, but still feels like a reward in the end and could easily spawn a sequel or two.

“Ender’s Game” is a visual treat, but left the audience wanting to see more of its futuristic world rather than a small bite of it. Despite it being nearly two hours long, the film needs work on pacing and character development; we shifted from Ender being an outcast to him being a full-fledged super soldier without any sort of obstacles in between. Despite that, it was a fun film to watch and is recommended for anyone not looking for anything too serious or puzzling.

 Rating: 3.5 stars