I suppose I should
start by saying that I have never read the book Ender's Game.
In some ways I prefer this when going to see movies adapted from
novels. That way I go into the theatre with very few expectations of
the movie as an adaptation and just go in to see how it fairs as a
movie. For example, when watching the now classic Lord of the
Rings movies, I never really felt like there were pieces of the
puzzle missing because I never read the novels. Many fans of the book
were outraged that certain “crucial” scenes were missing, but
what they were looking for was a movie tailored to them specifically
rather than an adaptation that tells the story in a new medium with
different parameters than a novel. Movies will never be able to
capture every detail and nuance that can be explored in a novel, but
it can still be a successful film with different details and nuances
that serve the story well.
And if you're wondering
what my comments are on the the whole controversy surrounding writer
Orson Scott Card and his opinions... he has opinions and that's his
right and they are of very little consequence to me and didn't affect
my viewing of the movie in any way.
The film follows Ender
(Asa Butterfield), a young boy competing in battle school as children
are testing for their intelligence and problem solving in combat
situations. The military are looking for young minds to lead their
fleets against an alien race who attacked Earth years ago in an
attempt to colonize it. Anticipating their next attack very soon, the
Earth fleet find Ender, a genius with unprecedented battle
strategies. So, they snatch him up and put him through test after
test to determine if he will be the saviour of the human race.
I liked Ender's Game
on a surface level, but the more I think about it, the less satisfied
I am with the film. Even without having read the book, I still got
the sense that the film couldn't take the weight of its ambition. It
wasn't given the time to explore its concepts well enough, not at
under two hours. It goes through all the motions, but doesn't carry
the emotional weight or natural character progression that was needed
for a movie with an implied psychological edge. For it to be effective we needed to really understand Ender's struggle, but we
only get glimpses of it. There was mention of him needing to be an
outcast, but I never really got the impression of isolation because
the plot moved forward quickly and he made friends too fast. For this
movie to achieve what it wanted to, it could have easily had another
half hour added on and I don't think it would have suffered for it. I
know it's supposed to be geared toward teens, but hey, they have
attention spans too and if your movie is made well enough, they can
sit through it.
The cast is pretty
impressive bringing in the likes of Harrison Ford, Viola Davis and
Ben Kingsley as well as talented young actors like Abigail Breslin
and Hailee Steinfeld who were both young Oscars nominees. Asa
Butterfield is also a notable talent, or at least I thought so from
his performance in Hugo, but here many of the kid actors don't speak
their lines naturally. It feels strained. I don't know if that's due
to the writing or directing, but it seemed to me that they didn't
know what to do with their dialogue. The ones who seemed to have
their parts down were Harrison Ford, who does what Ford does, and Ben
Kingsley because... I don't know why. He just worked for me. As
ridiculous as some of his film choices have been over the years,
Kingsley does bring an intensity and professionalism to the screen.
He brings it all to his b-grade roles when many other actors would
call them in.
I expect that teens and
families will enjoy this movie. It's very shiny. The special effects
are amazing; it was partially funded by the effects studio Digital
Domain so their stakes were high in making he movie look good. They
succeeded. And Ender's Game does benefit from having an
interesting story at its disposal. These strengths make for good
world building and that's something that science fiction thrives off
of. It is unlikely that Blade Runner, Star Wars or The
Matrix would be the classics they are today if they didn't create
their worlds so clearly and fluently. This film isn't quite on the
same level as those visually, but the effort put into creating the
technology in the film is apparent.
But again, it all comes
down to script and pacing. The visuals can only enhance the story
telling experience, but if that foundation is weak, special effects
are never good enough to fall back on. These
characters aren't that well rounded and the story doesn't take time
to breathe. Star Wars was pop cinema, but it still gave time
to let Luke gaze at the double sun set. There is enough weight in
this film's events that it doesn't feel shallow. The first impression
is good so many will leave the theatre reasonably satisfied. It's
only when you think about the potential of the story and the
ramifications of the events within, that you see that Ender's Game is
not the future classic it could or should be.
3 Stars
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