Ender's Game

Gavin Hood's adaptation of the 1985 Orson Scott Card young adult classic sci-fi book of the same name brings us the anti-Katniss in deep space. A young boy with an unlikely combination of an unusually mature sense of compassion and a penchant for violent conflict resolution.

Ender Wiggin is a military strategy prodigy in a futuristic society that has been decimated by an alien attack, only to decide that the best defense against the second coming is in fact, as Whitney Houston claimed, the children are the future. Young kids' meddle is tested on Earth, and if they show promise, they are shuttled up to an advanced training facility dubbed "battle school". It's a pretty cool idea and the book paints a nearly impossible picture, but surprisingly, Gavin Hood handled the task about as well as I could have expected.

Asa Butterfield is the titular hero, playing a few years younger than his 16. He's got great poise for his age, and has some great experience working with quality actors and directors. For a young actor with an unfortunate name, he has a bright future. His shouting match with Harrison Ford got me thinking how amazing it must have been to be on set that day, and I found myself envious of his scenes with Ben Kingsley, who is a headscratcher as Mazer Rackham, a Maori war hero from the first alien invasion.

Hailee Steinfeld and Abigail Breslin play the young ladies, and it's crazy to think that Steinfeld was the breakthrough star of True Grit three whole years ago. She hasn't seemed to grow up, as she plays young and is still only 17. Breslin is a wasted character with just a few minutes of screentime, and the starpower could have been better spent elsewhere. Playing Ender's sister, there is never the emotional investment in the Wiggin family (parents, brother, or sister) as they aren't even eluded to throughout the film more than a couple of times in reference to Ender's divergent and exceptional personality.

Harrison Ford, Viola Davis, and Ben Kingsley play the adults, and they are on cruise control except for a few intense showings by Ford. It makes me wonder if he's working on a real comeback, as he took significant time off from high profile films in the early 2000's and has been on a tear this year with his great performance of Branch Rickey in 42, and some upcoming shows of range in Anchorman 2, Expendables 3, Indiana Jones 5, and Star Wars 7. Whew, that's a lot of numbers. Anyhow, with Abrams Star Wars VII announced to drop on 12/18/15, and rumors of a Han Solo stand alone, you can bet that Harrison Ford will be showing up in Hollywood quite a bit over the next 2 years.

Andrea Powell plays Ender's mother, Theresa, and for the record she is a Joan Allen doppelganger. Don't be surprised if you are fixated on her face. She looks nearly identical to Joan Allen ten to twenty years ago (sorry Joan - who's only nine years older).

Gavin Hood is rebuilding his directing career nicely after the impressive 2007 drama Rendition, and the absolutely terrible 2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It nearly destroyed Hugh Jackman's career. Alright, not even close, but it was a terrible attempt at the first Marvel X-Men stand alone. It put the franchise on hold indefinitely after talks of a few others. Fortunately, America loves superheroes, although Gavin Hood's blown his chance at that career builder. Ender's Game however, he did a nice job considering the abundance of visual effects and literary interpretations. There was a good blend of staying true to the story, and eliminating scenes that didn't build to the climactic twist ending.

All in all, it was a really fun movie experience, but was a very average sci-fi film based off of some great source material. The book was better, but it usually is. 7/10.