Ender's Game

Here's the problem with my review of this movie right off the bat. I read this book in middle school. I loved this book in middle school! I have not read this book since middle school. Its to the point where I know the general idea of the story, I know the twists and turns that makes this story just so good. The things that I don't remember are the intricacies and paths taken to get from the beginning of this story, to the end.

Is this going to be an incredibly fair review. I don't think so. I'm going to try and stay away from comparing this movie to the book because A) Not everyone has read this book so they might not know what I'm talking about and B) Its been so long since I've read the book that even i you have read the book, I can't give a fair review of this movie as an adaptation of that book. I just feel like I remember enough about the book that I'm not able to give a fair review of the movie.

But let's start at the basics.

Andrew "Ender" Wiggin (played by Asa Butterfield) is growing up in future times, and is a cadet in the space military. He's being watched by higher ups, Colonel Hyrum Graff (played by Harrison Ford) and Major Gwen Anderson (played by Viola Davis).

These two are looking for a leader, somebody who can lead Earth's army and defend the planet form an alien species that attacked years ago.

See the story takes place in a world where aliens tried to invade us and we drove them back. Since then, the human race has been terrified of this alien race and will stop at nothing to defend themselves. This has gone so far as to recruit children to be the soldiers and leaders of the military. This was something I never really understood about this story and its kind of something you have to suspend your disbelief in order to get the story. Apparently children understand war differently and that's what they need, a different strategy because their old ones aren't working.

Ender is the third in his family to try this program. His brother was too ruthless, his sister was too compassionate, Ender seems to be the perfect balance of the two and Graff realizes that.

He's sent to space cadet boot camp and challenges are put up against him by the cadre of the camp to test his resolve and his abilities. He's put in the basic team and then quickly moved up to a group where the leader is a Napoleon complex asshole. Then he's moved up until he commands his own team. All the while they're playing this cool anti-gravity space war game.

Its all in the hopes that Ender is the leader that humanity needs to defeat these aliens.

The majority of the movie is the tests and trials Ender has to go through. As he climbs up the ranks and eventually does become the commander of the human fleet.

As far as performances go, the cast is pretty good. I think I wanted to see a movie of Ender's Game, again, in middle school. I don't know who I imagined playing all the characters but watching it now and having that separated but not totally severed view of the story, I think the casting was really good.

The obvious draw of the movie is Harrison Ford. To me, Harrison Ford can do no wrong. The guy is just a talented actor and he's just fun to watch on screen regardless.

But this he is actually bringing it. You can tell that Harrison Ford is not phoning (or as I like to call, Kingdom of the Crystal Skulling it) this one in and the character dynamic between him and Ender is really good. There's this father-son dynamic but at the same time, there's this removed feeling, taking any possibility of that kind of relationship away. Graff knows Ender is meant to do great things, he wants him to be great, but he doesn't want to be a distraction. Ford reminds me of actual Colonels that I have met int he military. They're tough leaders but they know potential when they see it.

Viola Davis's part is pretty good in the film. She kind of leaves half way through the film pretty abruptly. I guess at that point they didn't really need her, but she just kind of leaves.

Then there's Ben Kingsley. I can't really reveal who his character is in the film as it is a surprise. But I wasn't totally sure what he was doing in the film. I don't really remember his character in the book that well but his actions don't really match up with his experiences. In the end, he kind of feels like he just got shoehorned into the film. It didn't really feel like he needed to be in the film except for kind of tying loose ends and staying true to the book.

Again, I don't remember the character that well from the book so he could be staying very true to the character, but I wasn't that wild about Ben Kingsley in this film. Again, it felt like he was kind of shoe horned in.

But its interesting because this is the second film that I've seen Asa Butterfield in and it also had Ben Kingsley in it, same as Hugo.

Now, Asa Butterfield didn't really impress me in Hugo. I don't think he was bad, I just didn't come out of Hugo saying, the movie was mediocre but that Asa Butterfield, damn!

In Hugo, I think Butterfield was more of a vehicle and he didn't really need to carry the film. This movie is a little bit different. He still has the star power of Harrison Ford, Viola Davis, and Ben Kingsley to help, but for the most part, Butterfield has to carry this film and lead it.

And for the most part, he did.

Its difficult because Ender is a character who is incredibly smart. Its difficult to play a boy genius without acting like a robot. And for the most part, Butterfield does it pretty well.

Bottom line, the guy can act. I think he did a good job for this film. Is he a really good actor? I can't say that for sure. Only time will tell I suppose, I need to see him in more.

The main reason I'm so hesitant on this guy is because there was a rumor yesterday that he's our new Spider-man. I haven't decided on whether or not I'm going to do a post on that specifically right now or wait a couple days to see if Disney and Sony announce something. You'll get something soon. I'll be totally honest, I was probably spending half the time wondering if he'd be a good Peter Parker.

Is Ender's Game worth a watch?

The short answer is, yes. If you haven't read the books, chances are you'll probably watch this film, think its decent and enjoy the time you spent watching it. You've got good characters, a futuristic world with really cool effects, and you actually get surprised on how normal it seemed young children are in a setting that you would probably see in Star Wars or Star Trek.

The long answer I suppose is a little bit more difficult. Having read the book, knowing a broad idea of the story, I know that there was a lot of stuff missing from this film.

And that's to be expected. Ender's Game is a long book. Its a very well written book too, but long. The book takes place over a couple of years where the movie seems to take place over a couple of months.

Ender goes through a lot more trials and tests. You see different kinds of leaders throughout the book and Ender picks up different styles of leadership from each of them.

And that's the point of the story. This is something I realize now that I have completed ROTC and continue in my career in the military (not saying thats impressive at all). The book is about leadership. How do you find a proper balance between being the hard ass violent type that Ender experiences in the Salamander Team and the compassionate loving leader that his sister Valentine is.

There's a lot more psychological things he goes through in the book, and not just him, his friends. There's a lot that could have been put in this movie but it wasn't.

Now I don't know if I'm saying this because I actually think it, or because I know what else could have happened, but the movie at some points seemed rushed. He does experience other kinds of leaders but there's not totally enough time for him to process them and actually deal with them. He's just sent off to do his own thing. I don't think we were given enough time to actually tell what Ender is pulling from these examples he gets throughout the film.

I feel as though Ender's Game deserves a better direction. It needs to be turned into an epic. The result of this movie was not bad by any means, but it wasn't the level I think the novel really deserved.

 I do like this film, don't get me wrong. I had a fun time watching it.

But I think the epicness of the story out weighed the scale this movie was able to go. This movie was made to appeal to young adults and science fiction readers when I really think the book goes farther than that.

Now, as I've said multiple times, I haven't read the book in a long time. Maybe I am blowing this story out of proportion and maybe this film was exactly what it needed to be to capture this book. But I don't think so. I think Ender's Game could be something huge but its too high of a risk to go overboard with. I don't think anybody on this project was thinking this was going to be an Oscar contending film and they made exactly what they were told to make.

Sorry if this is kind of a depressing way to end the review. Let's just go with the short answer. I liked this movie. The end.

But what did you think? Have you read Ender's Game? Did you think the movie did it justice? Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 there you can send me your thoughts on films, give me requests of movies I should review, and get updates on future reviews and movie news.

I'll leave you with this. Its kind of difficult to find videos about Ender's Game because its kind of obscure and nothing I can find is really funny or interesting... so I'm putting up a video about Harrison Ford! Here he's talking about his life and his career... enjoy!