When a movie based on a book comes out, fan expectations commonly reach astronomical heights. Often these films underachieve, relying on the fact that the book’s fame will insure some box office success. Fortunately, Ender’s Game, based on Orson Scott Card’s book, avoids most of these pitfalls.
Gavin Hood’s rendition of Ender’s Game features stellar visual effects and solid acting to support the plot, which is usually less complex than the book. While some of the moral ambiguity and complex characters that made the book so intriguing may be lacking in the movie, it should be noted that conveying these visually would either be impossible or take as much as four hours.
The story begins on a futuristic Earth, which has narrowly survived an invasion by the alien Formics, largely due to the heroics of Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley). To prevent future invasions, the International Fleet begins a program to train children as the new Earth commanders due to the faster analytical capacities of young minds.
Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) is a rare third child on the overpopulated Earth. He is a strategic and intellectual genius, and one of the Fleet’s prime candidates for command. His personality is conflicted between his violent brother Peter (Jimmy Pinchak) and his gentle sister Valentine (Abigail Breslin), which concerns the International Fleet’s training commander, Lieutenant Graff (Harrison Ford). However, after Ender decisively defeats a bully at school, Graff determines that Ender is ready to move on to the Battle School, where the Fleet’s commanders are trained.
The Battle School pits Ender against other children in both a classroom setting and in a strategic laser-tag-like game set in the incredible Battle Room. He is soon socially isolated as a prodigy, forcing him to learn leadership skills that will be key to his later success as a commander. The pressure on Ender is immense and some of the Battle School’s methods are slightly questionable, but Ender largely grows through the difficulty, aided by the newfound support of his fellow trainees.
Ender next must face his greatest challenge: overcoming his own doubts and the flawless strategy of the Formic forces. As he reaches his final battle, he needs all his brilliance and fortitude to have a chance against a vastly superior force.
Ender’s Game features excellent visual effects, with stunning battle scenes and shiny technology. Also, the acting comes across well, for the most part. Butterfield and Ford interact well, and the young cast of other cadets play their parts accurately.
The Battle Room, in particular, is beautifully portrayed. I would have liked two or three other scenes from the book in the Battle Room to have been included just to see more of that room, but time constraints likely eliminated that possibility.
The plot itself, however, is merely adequate, as Card’s deeply moral questioning is mostly lost in this simplified version of the story. However, this is excusable considering that the largely internal drama of the book would not translate well into a movie, and the plot overall is certainly not subpar, just slightly shallow.
One thing that bothered me as a fan of the book series was the character of Petra Arkanian (Hailee Steinfeld). Petra is somewhat of a love interest for Ender in the film, unlike in the books. That is not a problem and I can see how this helps the film as a whole. My problem is with the transformation of Petra’s character from the aggressive, caustic genius of the book to the kind, supportive girl of the movie. I liked the old Petra better. People who have not read the book will likely not care, but that change irritated me.
Still, I truly enjoyed the film, which is saying something, considering how picky I can be. Hood’s presentation of Ender’s Game is about as good as such a movie can be. While it cannot match the book for complexity, I would still recommend it as a good science fiction/action movie, with or without the original book. But seriously, read the book.
Ender’s Game is just under two hours long and is rated PG-13, largely for violence. It premiered in the US on Nov. 1.
For more movie reviews, read the Oct. 24 article, “Reshowing old-time film disappoints senior, pipe organ impresses.”
