Ender's Game

There are so many sci-fi movies that it is difficult to find a new one that comes across as fresh and intriguing. But the visual styling and tactical based plot of Ender’s Game does just that. The story, based on the 1985 novel, follows Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a gifted child recruited to help save the Earth from an alien invasion. Dealing with normal adolescent issues like bullying on top of the strategic sci-fi warfare the characters are preparing for creates a layered dynamic that gives the film legs to stand on for the full running time.

The 16 year old Butterfield already has quite the résumé. He proved he could carry a big film by playing the title character in Martin Scorsese’s 2011 hit, Hugo. This time around he does very well balancing all of Ender’s necessary characteristics. From the vulnerability of a teenager leaving his family (and the planet) to a battle hardened military leader, there is never a moment where he misses the mark. It is great seeing Harrison Ford back in sci-fi as he plays Colonel Graff. The performance is balanced even if it is mostly one-dimensional. The rest of the star-studded cast follows suit as strong but mostly underutilized.

Director Gavin Hood does a great job presenting the war games and simulations as highly dramatic moments of character and plot development. The enemy is ambiguous and the inner-team politics give authenticity in place of the usual good vs. evil addressed in genre fare. A cast of teenagers hogs the screen time over Academy Award caliber adults and I’m not complaining. Throwing a teenager into a sci-fi hero role doesn’t always give us Luke Skywalker. Sometimes we get Jaden Smith in After Earth, but not this time. Ender’s Game is book smart sci-fi for the modern age. It trades in blasters for drone warfare, which is something that seems more poignant in 2013 than it did in 1985 when the book was written. Visually impressive with a story to match, Ender’s Game snuck up on me 27 years in the making.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.