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“Ender’s Game,” the popular book by Orson Scott Card, has finally been made into a movie. And it is beautiful.
Ender (Asa Butterfield) is a small kid who is part of a government program that has been developed to counter the threat of the Formics, an alien race that attacked Earth 50 years ago. Ender seems an unlikely candidate for savior of the world, but somehow he is advanced to battle school from the Earth school that he’s been attending. Ender passes quickly through school; his brilliance shows in the strategies he comes up with and in the way he maneuvers simulations that have hindered or outwitted other students.
Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) sees the potential in Ender and devotes special attention to the boy. Graff molds him into someone he believes can save the Earth from invaders — who no doubt will attack Earth again. And with the help of his friends, Ender might just succeed.
“Ender’s Game” has been long-awaited by lovers of the book. Although it doesn’t represent every aspect of the book perfectly, it does a fantastic job of taking what is important and converting it into a format that works well on the screen.
Nitpickers will complain about small details that have been changed or neglected completely, but those aspects do not affect the overall plot structure of the film. It’s possible that “Ender’s Game” should have been split into more than one movie, like all the popular book-to-movie series are doing, but that would have taken away from the viewing experience.
Harrison Ford has made a name for himself with hit movies such as “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones” and “42,” and “Ender’s Game” measures up. The acting by Ford and other cast members was not only satisfying but believable. Where some would overuse the drama of the role to gain a name for themselves, the cast of “Ender’s Game” works cohesively and doesn’t act as if one part is better than any other.
The score for the film is beautiful; it fits the mood well and doesn’t overwhelm — only really making itself known when the moment calls for it. The scenery, whether computer-generated or hand-built, was realistic and believable with the events of the film.
For the gamers out there, the graphics during the game scenes might be a little too current to be believable; after all, some of the games in our day have similar graphics, and this movie is supposed to occur well into the future. Still, the director changed it up enough that it was obvious it was supposed to be a game and not the actual happenings of the film.
There are few negetaive things to say about “Ender’s Game.” It captured the spirit of the book and was entertaining and beautiful.
