Movie Review: Ender’s Game

I tried my best to limit the spoilers in this review. This should be a relatively spoil-free review.

This review isn’t about the differences between the book and the movie. It’s about the movie. I haven't even read the book yet. I’m judging this movie on its story, structure, characters and acting. It’s a big movie, what the studios call a “tentpole”, so it goes without saying that the special effects were amazing. You don’t release a movie like this with crappy special effects. I’ve heard a lot of people complain that the movie strayed considerably from the book. I’m not surprised by that. Ever since Hitchcock began adapting books (hardly any of his movies were original works), the book adaptation biz has been tricky. Screenwriting is not like book writing. In order to tell a visual story in 2 hours, you need to structure the narrative differently than a 352 page book (thanks to Amazon for the page count).

I also read an amateur review call this movie “soulless” and flat. I don’t agree with this at all. First, this is a sci-fi film. It can look cold and heartless at first to someone not used to the genre. Second, the two main characters in this movie, Ender and Graff, struggle with a concept that has so much soul that it could almost be an R&B album: 

How far will you go to protect the ones you love? Is it worth giving up your very humanity?

I made a concerted effort to stay away from spoilers before watching this film. The most I heard about it was that it had a twist ending (apparently, the novel does). That said, I saw the twists (two of them) coming. Fortunately, I saw the twist, but the characters did not. Ender and the other teenage geniuses had no way of seeing the truth behind the games they were playing. They were blinded by the nature of their training. This allowed for the buildup of tension as the adults hinted to the audience what was really going on while the kids were clueless. I didn’t mind the predictability all that much because of this. As long as their ignorance is not just due to stupidity, I’m happy to give up the surprise. I’m sure the filmmakers were aware that the majority of their audience would be in on it, thanks to the book. Judging by the reaction (or more precisely, the lack of reaction) when the big twist was revealed, most of the audience during my viewing saw it coming as well.

The story was structured in a literal buildup of complexity. It starts with the kids playing video games on an iPad type tablet, then it builds to them playing a team laser-tag type game in weightless space. Ultimately, that turned into playing more games with simulated starships. In a similar way, Ender’s character is pushed in more complex ways. At each stage, Ender finds a way to succeed until he finds himself becoming the monster he has tried so hard not to be. That is when his mettle is truly tested and he has to decide what is more important, his humanity, or the lives of all humanity.

The characters were all well thought out. The two main characters, the child genius, Ender, and the military commander, Graff, played well off each other. If Ender was pushed to become better at each stage of his training, Graff went through a mirrored arc. First, Graff insists that “the morality of what we do here" will have to wait until the war is over. He tries to separate himself from what he is doing to the kids he is training. But as Ender comes closer and closer to what Graff wants him to be, you can tell he is beginning to care for the boy more than the soldier.

Each side character had a role specific to Ender. His sister, Valentine was his anchor to Earth and his analog to humanity as a whole. When he considers the threat to Earth, he always thinks about his sister first. His brother was the example of the monster he feared to be (and I applaud the filmmakers for expressing this in a 2 minute scene and tiny bits of dialogue scattered through the film). His various teammates were indicators of his advancement as a leader. And, of course, Petra was the love interest, a Hollywood construction used pretty much only to make borderline sociopath Ender more relatable. I hope the book version of her was more robust.

There were a few antagonists for Ender along the way, the bully in his first school, his commander, Bonzo, in the second school, etc. But the main antagonist was Graff. Graff was the representation of the human government/military. He was the one who was responsible for making Ender what he was. And when the truth comes out, he is the one who the audience will ultimately blame. He’s not a bad guy. He’s not a villain. There are no villains in this movie, except for maybe Bonzo. Even the mysterious aliens, the Formics, are not really villains. They are just a vague threat in the background and the catalyst for the action in the movie.

The acting by the principle actors is phenomenal. Asa Butterfield (Ender) is convincing as a borderline sociopath who hates what he sees himself becoming. Harrison Ford is Graff. Graff is complicated. He is responsible for saving the world, yet he must use children to do it. There are moments where Harrison’s face becomes this complex sea of conflict that expresses the war going on in Graff’s soul.

Some of the minor actors show up to play as well. One of the standouts is Moises Arias, who plays Bonzo, the only really nasty character in the movie. He plays the role with such delicious hate and antagonism. I also liked Abigail Breslin as Ender’s sister. There was good chemistry between Asa and Abigail. They were convincing together.

The performance that fell flatest for me was Ben Kingsley, who played a character directly associated with one of the twists in the film. He didn’t show up until the final third of the movie, but even then, his character was uninteresting and seemed to only be there to reveal the key exposition in the film that answered most of the questions that the first third of the film asked. I’m sure he was more important in the book (I hope). I feel sad for the once-great Kingsley. After his horrible treatment at the hands of the people behind Iron Man 3, he is put in another role in which he has no chance to showcase his talents. Hailee Steinfeld, as Petra, was one of the other iffy performances for me. She was cute and adorable and everything else a “teenage love interest” is supposed to be, but she delivered her lines off a teleprompter, it seemed. There was a little chemistry between her and Asa, but her acting ability needs work.

Overall, the story was well told. The theme was apparent and well expressed. Structurally, it hit the beats it needed to. I got sucked into the story by the end of the first act. The main characters had well thought-out arcs. I was all ready to give this movie a great score (4 out of 5).

But then, the “resolution” came along. You know those extra five minutes that most movies use to wrap up the story? This movie took the story one step further in a development that felt like it was tacked on. Even the foreshadowing of the final event felt like it had been shot in post-production and dropped into the final cut later. Suddenly, we have the start of a new story. An artificial promise of a sequel. Characters began to act out of character (I’m looking at you, Petra). And just like that, I remembered I was watching a movie. And just like that, I lowered my opinion of the whole thing. Endings are like that. They can make or break a movie.

Yes, I know Ender’s Game is just the first of a 5 part series in the books, but I hate it when a movie sets up a sequel so ham-handedly. There was nothing subtle about it. I wish I could express it better without spoiling the end, but I can’t.

Bottom Line

  Story: 

I liked how the story flowed and how it increased the complexity and tension as it moved along. I got sucked in early on and didn't get pulled out until the last five minutes. It was a bit predictable, but for me this movie was more about the characters than about the plot.

  Characters: 

Ender was forced to dig deeper within himself at each stage of his training in order to advance. At the same time he was obviously being pushed to become something he is not. Through watching and guiding Ender, Graff becomes a more compassionate human being.

  Execution: 

The story was somewhat predictable, even for someone who hadn’t read the books. There were clichéd tropes like the hard-ass drill instructor (Dap) and the territorial rival (Bonzo) as well as the "team of misfits defeating the undefeated team in the final, championship game". But these all were secondary to the overall plot. 

The movie shines when it is Ender vs. Graff – a complex relationship almost akin to father/son. These two actors played off each other well and their confrontation at the climax of the film had an emotional pull that I haven’t seen in a sci-fi film in a long time. 

That should have been the end of it, though. 99% of the movie was about Ender/Graff. But the side plot at the end extended the movie where it didn’t need to go. We could have waited until the sequel to see that. Cutting the last five minutes and all the foreshadowing of it would not have hurt this movie at all.

Final Score: 3.5 out of 5