ATTENTION! At ease, cadets. Welcome to the To Infinity Retrospective, a series created in preparation for Rise of Skywalker. Each month, you will receive reviews of different Space Operas, and it will be your job to read said reviews, like them, and share them with all your friends. Failure to do so will mean the end of the human race. This month, you’ll be looking at a critique of 2013’s Ender’s Game. What’s it about? Well…
50 years after a failed alien invasion, Earth’s leaders funnel all of their resources into training a new generation of soldiers. They specifically recruit children since they’re more decisive, and, most importantly, their minds can still be molded. One of the children brought into the fold is Ender Wiggin, a brilliant strategist who nevertheless struggles with a violent temper. Commanding Officer Hyrum Graff, however, thinks he’s got the skills to make a great leader, and pushes Ender to ever greater responsibility. As the years go by, and the war games become more elaborate, Ender finds himself maturing into the role of Admiral. At the same time, however, he begins questioning the morality of their cause.
Ender’s Game is based off one of the most famous and popular sci-fi books ever written. It’s got an absolutely fantastic cast, including Harrison Ford, Viola Davis, Ben Kingsley and Hailee Steinfeld. And the visuals, particularly in the zero gravity war games sequences, are nothing short of spectacular. So why, back in 2013, did this film bomb so hard? It could have been boycotting, since it came out before the release that Orson Scott Card, the author of the original novel, is proudly homophobic. It could have been the fact that the film’s heavier themes, including genocide, child soldiering and the mirky decisions military commanders have to make in order to win, didn’t sit well with audiences hoping for fun, sci-fi spectacle. Or, hell, it could have been the fact that the movie’s young lead, Asa Butterfield, was a total unknown at the time, and therefore not a box office draw. Whatever the case, the movie failed, barely recouping its budget back, and since then, it’s basically been forgotten. Which is wrong. This, like The Last Starfighter, is an underrated movie, and I definitely think more people should see it. Though for completely different reasons.
While The Last Starfighter was a sweeping, sentimental, “hero’s journey” adventure, very much in the same vein as the first Star Wars, Ender’s Game is much more cerebral. You watch Starfighter for the light humor and epic battles between good and evil. You watch Ender’s Game to see pedigreed actors exchange heated dialogue about the morality of their actions, and the ugly, mirky side of war. I can’t stress enough how good the performances are, and how the material, which is very thought-provoking, helps elevate a premise that, on paper, is Harry Potter in space. Seriously, you’ve got a young prodigy going to a school where people learn special skills. There are bullies. There are girls. But unlike Harry Potter, this film has no sentimentality at all. That’s most evident in how it treats the aliens, the ostensible villains. Something that you’ll notice when you watch the movie is that the aliens, while always spoken about, are never seen. Likewise, you’re never told why they tried to invade Earth. At first I thought this was just lazy storytelling, but then I got to the ending, and I realized that this was a very deliberate choice on the filmmaker’s part. If you want to watch something well-acted and emotionally complex, give Ender’s Game a look.
That said, the film isn’t perfect. It’s very talky, and while the things the characters are discussing are interesting, upon rewatch, you realize that the movie doesn’t have much in the way of plot. It’s more of a series of philosophical exchanges, strung together by a “sports team preparing for a tournament” framing device. On top of this, while the acting is superb, the characters themselves are fairly underdeveloped. We really don’t know much of anything about anyone who isn’t Ender. Even his own siblings, whose differing world views provide some internal conflict, don’t get much in the way of background. The characters also have some kind of silly names, like Ender, Bonzo, Valentine and Beans. And the film uses a lot of voice over and montages to skip through Ender’s training. Yes, it’s necessary to get through the rest of the story, but, at the same time, sitting in moments with the various characters would probably have allowed us to get to know them better, and generated more sympathy for them.
All that said, I do like this film and would recommend it. It’s not the most exciting Space Opera ever made. But it’s one of the most interesting, and it has one of the best casts you could ask for. Go and give it a look.
liusviews 