Movie Review: Ender's Game

I hope everyone had a pleasant Halloween. Mine was spent at home watching Wrestlemania 9 in my pajamas with a pitbull sleeping on my feet. I wish it didn't rain all day, we only had 4 trick or treaters. Oh well, at least I was able to cap off the evening with a trip to the cinema and an enjoyable night watching Ender's Game.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is regarded as one of the best Sci-Fi books ever written. Some schools require reading it as part of their curriculum because of the underlying message, which I will touch on later. I haven't read any of Card's novels, and as a librarian, I am a bit ashamed of this fact, especially after seeing this movie.

Card has several book's in the Enders Saga, but this was the very first, published in 1985. Card has won many awards for this book, including the Hugo Award for best novel.

I had the privilege to view this movie on an IMAX screen and enjoy the beautiful and sometimes thunderous HD sound system. This is a large scale movie that really takes advantage of the huge screen and wonderful sound. At points I felt my seat shaking during a massive air battle, awesome! If I were to build my own house from scratch, there would be two rooms an IMAX screen and a decent sized kitchen with a griddle so I can make hashbrowns and omelettes easily without dealing with crappy spatulas and a small frying pan.I could sleep on a cot on the ground level of the screen. Is is too much to ask for in life?

Let's get back to the part of the blog when I mentioned that this was a big movie. The plot itself was pretty massive, but not too complex at all. Over fifty years ago the Earth was invaded by an alien race known as the Formics. They are an insect looking race and killed millions on that day. Mazer Rackham, an Earth pilot, finds a weakness in the formic army and they are sent packing back to their home planet. The Earth's army swear that they will never be invaded again and seek revenge on the Formics. The government starts recruiting talented youth and try to find a way to eliminate the threat once and for all.

Andrew Ender Higgin is a gifted child enrolled in Battle School. Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) sees massive potential in Ender and starts to test him in ways that other students aren't be tested. Naturally Ender passes because of his perfect balance between compassion and violence mixed with tactical genius. He inherits his compassion from his sister Valentine, in which he has a very strong bond with and plays a pivotal part of the story. His violence and anger issues are contributed from his brother Pete, who is just a complete ass. Ender gets promoted quickly through the ranks of Battle School into Command school and eventually becomes commander of his own army because of his tactical skills. Ender finds himself in a crucial point of the Earth/ Formic war.

I feel that there are a few ethical questions that are raised by this movie. The government is willing to exploit their youth to protect the entire world. How can any child be raised normally after dealing with all the stress and mental anguish of the rigorous training of battle school. Ender is constantly put into situations that wears on his mental stability. The tactics they use to test the students of battle school are very unethical and sometimes downright devious.

So the story was great, how was the delivery? I will tell you how it was, pretty fantastic. The CGI was spot on. Nothing looked cheesy, which can easily happen in a Sci-Fi space oriented movie. The creature work was probably my favorite aspect of the movie. It reminded me of District Nine or something Guillermo Del Toro dreamed up. The special effects and sound were remarkable. I wonder if it was the IMAX experience or that they did a really great job with this movie. I'll just say both to be safe. The acting was competent and consistent. Asa Butterfield played Ender really well and toed the line between brilliance and insanity.

The only gripe I have, is the lack of back story between his sister and himself. They are extremely close and I want to know why. Maybe I'll just have to read the book, which is totally cool with me. I highly recommend seeing Ender's Game and if you can see it in IMAX, do it. Don't be scared of the $15 price tag and $2 convenience fee, it's well worth it.

I give Ender's Game 4 out of 5 Burning Lariats.

Rated PG-13 Runtime 114 Minutes

Movie poster provided by imdb.com.

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