Ender’s Game (2013) Directed by Gavin Hood. Starring: Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld. IMDB says: “The International Military seek out a leader who can save the human race from an alien attack. Ender Wiggin, a brilliant young mind, is recruited and trained to lead his fellow soldiers into a battle that will determine the future of Earth.”
Opening Side Note: With little prior knowledge of the source material, I went into Ender’s Game with small expectations. The trailer and cast details for the film looked promising but I know better than to get my hopes up over big budget book series adaptations. I brought my life-buddy Jason with me to the screening because unlike myself, he was very well acquainted with the Ender books, having read almost ever entry in the series.
As with most ambitious science fiction endeavors, Ender’s Game starts off with a lot of information all at once. It’s the future and the planet is in a second stage of recovery after nearly losing a devastating war against an acutely understood alien species. One of the global government’s biggest lines of defense against a second attack is a program that shapes young kids into experienced soldiers. Title character Ender is introduced as a brilliant student and smart tactical thinker who is quickly selected for the next stage of the solider program. The Battle School as it’s called is a training academy for the young achievers where they learn all about the history and strategies necessary to perfect the art of war. The children compete in various games designed to help them prepare for battle.
The thing I loved the most about this particular young adult adaptation was it’s rich exploration of it’s thematic elements. It doesn’t just ride off an interesting premise for two hours but instead combs through various ideas about what makes humans complex and how we deal with our own paths of morality in contrast to the ones imposed by others. I felt like there was even more room to grow with those concepts and Jason assured me that the books certainly do that. Overall, the biggest flaws with the film will be the lack of depth to readers but it might not seem like much of an error for people in my shoes.
As with most series adaptations, the complaint seems to ring true that the movie had to omit many of the intriguing parts of the book. But after discussing all the specifics in detail, it was fairly easy to see why all of those changes where made before the transformation to film. The adapting process was a successful endeavor for the most part. It stands that watching the movie before reading the book would be an asset here.
Aside from the above the mark story, the movie also achieves high scores in almost every other component of filmmaking. The cast of near-total Academy Award nominees does not disappoint and the ever important Asa Butterfield tackles Ender with a strong emotional sensibility that is rare for any actor – let alone one as young. I found myself really taking note of the film’s direction as well. Director Gavin Hood has a solid eye behind the camera, utilizing some lovely rule of thirds style shots effectively. Overall, the catalog of flaws in the film remains slim while a host of poitive attributes work together to make something great.
In closing, I wanted to touch on an interesting comparison I find myself coming back to.
The film plays in a similar vein as the recent book to screen success The Hunger Games – showing a vision of a troubled future and how essential the young people of the times are. A lot of emphasis is placed on dealing with very adult problems at a time when most of us viewers were struggling with much simpler growing pains. While, The Hunger Games tackles government corruption and unjust social classes, Ender’s Game narrows in on complex themes of the nature and necessity of both war and violence. Both movies are solid flicks but slightly falter from the same issue every other book adaptation does. It might be lucky for me that I hadn’t read the source material for this story because I absolutely loved it. Maybe I’ll pick up a copy of the book now…
