Ender's Game

Ender's Game, the latest film from director Gavin Hood, a director whose last project was a Stargate SG-1 TV episode back in 2004. He uses many of the tricks from his sci-fi background in Ender's Game, but sadly he's dealt a weak hand with the source material. Ender's Game didn't connect with me on any level except musically, that's not a very good thing and because of that, I give Game a bucket and a half of Killer Korn.











Ender's Game the movie is a weak adaptation of Ender's Game the book written by Ian Scott Card. If you did not read the book, you should skip the movie because the movie makes very little sense and is confusing with all the unanswered questions that will arise if you're a thinking person. If you're a non thinking person and you just accept what you're given on the screen then you may actually enjoy Ender's Game. I pride myself on being a thinker, therefore I found this movie seriously lacking in many areas.

The cast was incredible. Starting with Oscar Award nominee Viola Davis as Major Gwen Anderson, Oscar Award winner Sir Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham, Oscar Award nominee Hailee Steinfeld as Petra Arkanian, Abigail Breslin as Valentine Wiggin, Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff, and Asa Butterfield as Ender Wiggin. I firmly believe that if there were an Oscar handed out for casting a movie, John Papsidera would walk home with the golden statue. Again though, sadly this magnificent cast was put in a movie where the book needed to be read before the movie was seen. Since I have not read the book, much of this movie made absolutely no sense. Gavin Hood tried to make it accessible to those who never read the book, he failed on an epic level.

Visually, Ender's Game is wildly entertaining. It's almost like the makers knew they were coming up short on the storytelling aspect and decided to give the viewer some very nice distracting eye candy to appease us. Battle School has some fantastic moments, it lost me a little when it went into the Harry Potter/Hogwarts realm but it held together due to some great acting by Asa, Hailee, and some overacting by Moises Arias-who I am a big fan of-who plays Bonzo Madrid. Shot by cinematographer Donald McAlpine you're brought into many different worlds with many different looks and feels seamlessly. Musically this movie boasts one of the best scores of the year. Crafted by Steve Joblonsky, the music takes this weak movie to another level. At times it dominates but that's because it has too but overall it's the perfect score to this kind of film. I would suggest you buy the Ender's Game soundtrack and listen to that as you read the book, skip the movie and I'll see you at the theater.