As one of the last big-budget action films in a year filled with blockbuster hits, “Ender’s Game” is one grim piece of sci-fi.
Set in a dystopian future after a devastating invasion by an alien species called the Formics, “Ender’s Game” tells the story of Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a child prodigy who is part of an elite adolescent army trained by the military to fight off future alien invasions.
In the movie — and original book — Earth’s military has resorted to pre-pubescent kids to do the dirty work because of their highly malleable minds, which can execute battle strategy with almost intuitive deadliness. Ender is the child superstar who impresses the blunt Col. Graff (Harrison Ford) with his knack for sociopathic violence and unnerving intelligence.
“Ender’s Game” is a big movie with big ideas, and sometimes it feels like it’s trying to pack in too much into one movie — even though it becomes clear after the surprising plot twist at the end that Summit Entertainment wants to make this another sequel to follow up the “Twilight” series.
Throughout its gloomy ride of colorful action, the movie poses some heavy questions for the audience to ponder: In a situation of inevitable conflict with a malicious enemy, how far can you go to ensure your own survival? Col. Graff’s demoralizing statement “When the war is over, we can debate the morality of what we do” rings even more sincere in the context of the movie, where the fate of the planet is in the hands of a bunch of kids who are good at video game simulations.
So, in the universe of “Ender’s Game,” children are idolized as superheroes and, at the same time, exploited as a military asset that can be crafted to do what authorities tell them to. Throughout the movie, Ender struggles with his position of being the ruthless annihilator that Col. Graff wants him to be. Ender sees a residue of tenderness in himself that Col. Graff tries to eliminate, certain that Ender is “The One” (“The Matrix,” much?) who can save Earth from its impending doom.
Much of the movie’s battle sequences and training sequences beautifully illustrate the massiveness of scale and the chaotic destruction that results as Ender takes helm as mission commander. The battle simulations from Ender’s point of view are simply breathtaking: The visuals are crisp and refined to display the unfamiliar battlefields of the future.
While “Ender’s Game” fails to hit all the notes, it certainly brings a new dish to the table, with its philosophical layer for the audience to chew on. Let’s just hope the sequel lives up to the heavy questions this franchise-starter asks the audience and does not spawn another “Twilight”-like series that plummets in quality as it goes on.
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