Movies: Ender's Game

Score:  *** out of ***** (C)

Long Story Short:  At long last, one of the greatest sci-fi classics (and one of my favorites) comes to the theater:  Ender's Game.  And... promptly falls on its face.  The moving and entertaining story is almost completely ruined by a terrible script - even great actors like Ford, Davis and Kingsley can't salvage it.  And the most important step - finding a great Ender Wiggin - ends in failure.  At least Ender's Game is visually successful and engaging, but that's not nearly enough to make for a good movie.


At last, back to the movies!  October turned out to have fewer intriguing films than I thought it would.  However, the late fall/early winter blockbuster season has now arrived, to combine with (hopefully) the release of some Oscar-worthy films, too.  I was hoping 12 Years a Slave would come out here, but so far, no luck.  It was about a year ago that I heard Ender's Game was being made into a film; I loved the book when I read it years ago, and was excited to see Harrison Ford attached to it.  Thus, it was one of my most anticipated films of the year.  Ender's Game was directed by Gavin Hood, and stars Asa Butterfield, Ford, Viola Davis and Ben Kingsley.

Taking place far in the future, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin (Butterfield) is a young cadet in the military.  An extremely smart student, Ender easily defeats his classmates in video game-like simulations.  His strategic mind goes beyond the theoretical, though, as he defends himself from bullying classmates, too.  His genius attracts the attention of Col. Graff (Ford) and Major Anderson (Davis).  The military commanders invite Ender to the space station-based Battle School, where he joins the best of the best.  Graff in particular is confident that Ender is the one who will someday be able to defend Earth and all of humanity against an alien race that had previously attacked - and nearly ended it all.

As Ender continues to be monitored closely by the commanders, he quickly establishes himself as a leader and unifying force at the Battle School.  Before long, he conquers the School's primary team combat simulation league.  The fun and games can't last forever, though:  personal crises emerge, as well as the pressing danger to all human life that Graff is desperate to counter with Ender's special gifts.

Ender's Game is filled with recognizable faces, but no stand-out performances.  Asa Butterfield (Hugo) plays "Ender" Wiggin, the amazingly talented yet tormented young boy.  Unlike his character, Asa is no special talent at his craft - acting.  He isn't terrible, but he doesn't sell Ender's tremendous emotional conflict nor display his one-in-a-billion, born leader presence.  Ford plays Col. Graff in a role that is bigger than the one I remember (of course, it's probably been thirteen years or more since I read it).  Ford occasionally shows his stuff, but the script is especially terrible for him and more often than not he can't overcome the handicap.  He's basically used as the same gruff but well-meaning tough guy he's been for the last ten years.  Viola Davis (Major Anderson) and Hailee Steinfeld (Ender's gal pal) both do alright but get little screen time and are mostly passive partners to Ford and Butterfield, respectively. The worst acting comes from some of the children; Moises Arias in particular should definitely find an alternative field of work.

It's been so long since I read Ender's Game that I really don't remember a lot of specifics, moreso just impressions.  What I remember is Ender being an amazingly gifted young boy who is a magnet for his peers, not just because of his skill but also his innocence and kindness.  The bonds he forms with his classmates are powerful, and when he's pulled away from all that it produces a strong negative feeling.  The film adaptation really doesn't replicate this experience very well.  Mostly, the script is just poor, hampering all involved - but to make matters worse, Butterfield was a bad choice for Ender, the film's lead.  Now, it's not all bad:  visually, Ender's Game is quite impressive.  From the uniforms to the space station to the team combat game, it all looks much like I imagined it years ago, and it's fun to see.  There is plenty of CGI battle toward the end; while it can seem a little video-gamey, it's surprisingly suspenseful and immersive, too.  I was disappointed that the aliens were yet another race of generic bugs in desolate locations, but oh well.

***

Ender's Game is certainly going down as one of the biggest film disappointments for me in the last few years.  It could be that my middle-school aged self simply liked the book more than I would if I read it again now; it might be that the characters and story just aren't as compelling as I remember.  But this film adaptation strikes me as a cynical combination of A) dumbing down to the simplistic thinking of teenagers, B) awkwardly and unsuccessfully trying to cram in book elements for the fans (Valentine and Peter most significantly), and C) tossing in big name but unmotivated (and unsupported) stars to raise broader interest. Honestly, I might have forgiven that stuff to a degree if they'd found a special young actor to play the special young Ender - but they didn't.  I mean, you still have the skeleton, at least, of Ender's Game, which lifts it above other poorly executed sci-fi/action/YA films.  And I was happy that in such a visually-dominant medium, they got the look of most things right.  But that certainly doesn't make this worth going to see in the theater; and unless you're a fan of the book, you can skip it on Netflix, too.