Ender’s Game
Author Orson Scott Card may be a bigoted, paranoid tool, but I’ll be damned if he didn’t write an exciting adventure yarn in his 1984 landmark, Ender’s Game. Now, writer-director Gavin Hood has finally done what others have failed at in bringing it to the big screen, and if there’s any justice, we’ll be treated to more of Card’s stories about the youthful commander, Ender Wiggins, in the future. Of course, that depends on the success of this first movie at the box-office. As for it’s success as a movie, well, that’s what this review is for.
First of all, “Ender’s Game” should get Hood, an Oscar winner for his foreign film, “Tsotsi,” out of the geek doghouse he found himself in with his last blockbuster, 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” If “Ender’s Game” proves anything, it’s that the issues that plagued “Wolverine” have less to do with Hood’s talents as a filmmaker, and more with the meddling of 20th Century Fox to try and pander too hard to fans while losing sight of the story, and letting Hood try and make the movie he wanted. I’m guessing Summit, who produced “Ender’s Game,” allowed him more freedom, because he doesn’t really play around with Card’s story (although, from what I hear from people who have read the book, there are things missing, as there are in all adaptations), and gets to the difficult emotions Ender, who is just a child, has to deal with even as he is thrust into the forefront of a war for humanity’s survival.
It might be just the fact that I saw the film again recently, but the setup for “Ender’s Game” felt very similar to that of the Paul Verhoeven film, “Starship Troopers.” In both cases, we are in a future time where mankind is fighting for it’s life against an alien species– in this case, the ant-like Formecs. After the Formecs took an offensive to Earth, which was fought off after the heroics of a pilot called Mazer Rackham, they retreated to their home world, and for years, Earth was never attacked. But humans continue to prepare, and get ready for an offensive of their own as they take the fight to the Formecs far off planet, using an abandoned Formec base as their command center. In the fighting, they recruit teenagers of remarkable skill and discipline, who are monitored, and then tested through a rigorous boot camp, after which the select few will become leaders of Earth’s counterattack. These recruits include Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), the third of his family to be brought into the training program. Like his older brother (Peter, played by Jimmy Pinchak), who burned out, he has a tendency towards violence, and like his older sister (Valentine, played by Abigail Breslin in one of the film’s best performances), his emotions are unpredictable, but he shows a genius in strategy and preparedness which catches the eye of Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford, again doing gruff, strong supporting work after “42”). Graff takes a chance on him, and young Ender is off to training where he will have to hone his skills, and meet the challenges in his way to take his place as Earth’s greatest hope for victory.
One of the things I really responded to in the film was the way I felt it externalized the tensions going on in Ender’s mind. He’s a brilliant kid, but also incredibly anti-social, which leads to much bullying of him by other kids. Because of how well he’s able to perform in such situations analytically, he comes out ahead each time, but there’s always a tension in him as to whether he’ll go to far. But Graff sees that as a good thing, because he’s sees Ender’s goal: to end any future conflicts before they can start. That’s exactly what Graff is looking for, and he gets it when push comes to shove with Ender. There’s a strong anti-bullying message in the film, and the story, but it shows us Ender on both sides of the equation by the stunning conclusion, which, I’ll be honest, I did not see coming. Fans of the book will, and they can debate how successfully they pulled it off. I had a very immediate reaction to it watching the film in the theatre, and I wasn’t quite sure what to think about the end of the film proper, when they set up Ender’s next adventure in a handful of images and words that makes it difficult not to be on pins and needles, waiting to see what’s next. Hopefully, we’ll be able to see that.
This has been a big year for genre films, and science fiction, in particular. Earlier this year alone brought us “Oblivion,” “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “Pacific Rim,” “Elysium,” and “Gravity,” and regardless of how you feel about any of those films as a whole, they alone would have made this a truly special year for sci-fi fans. “Ender’s Game” reshuffles the deck, and does what “After Earth” (arguably, the weakest sci-fi film of the year) couldn’t in giving us a child protagonist who is forced to grow up too quickly, and rises to the occasion, and to the outsized expectations of a father figure who cares for him, but ultimately has to put the greater good ahead of the child’s well-being, even if it means emotional turmoil. This bond, by Ender and Graff, wouldn’t work quite so well were it not for performances by Butterfield and Ford that sometimes let looks do more communicating than words can do. To quote Ford from another beloved favorite of science fantasy, “She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts, kid.” That’s as apt a way of describing the movie of “Ender’s Game” that I can find, because even though this movie didn’t look like much during the previews and ads I saw before seeing it, there’s so much more than what a couple of minutes, or 30 seconds, can convey that it leaves a viewer in a total state of surprise after viewing it. That comes from Card’s original story, but it’s brought to thrilling life in Hood’s movie, which is one of the most unexpected pleasures I’ve had watching movies this year.
