"Ender's Game" - directed by Gavin Hood
I used to work for Random House in the returns department and I saw a lot of Orson Scott Card's books go out and come back over the years.
They seemed popular and even though I am a reasonably big science fiction fan didn't read any despite the constant opportunity to grab free copies.
They just didn't grab me.
It's kind of the same thing with the movie - I had the chance to see it very cheaply about a week ago but didn't- preferring instead to go to an all you can eat prawn dinner (fifty fifty call as it happens)
There was simply nothing at all that leaped off the screen during the trailers that said 'see me'.
Harrison Ford has not been a draw for me for quite some time and the days of special effects alone being a compelling reason to see a movie are long gone.
But I needed a reason to tear myself away from a three day PlayStation 4 binge and get myself out into the world.
So I turned 'Assassin's Creed IV' off and gave the science fiction flick a shot.
This weekends screenings are previews and the sessions were not very well booked out.
Mine had maybe twenty people in it.
I wonder if the title has any resonance for many people outside of hardcore science fiction fans (or people that used the work for the publisher!)
Based on the poster it looks like a kids movie - "The Last Starfighter" meets "Zathura" perhaps?
I honestly had no idea what I was in for going in.
Beginning with what can only be described as the final scene of "Independence Day" complete with swarming aliens, fighter jets and a Randy Quaid-esque act of sacrifice the movie certainly looks damned good.
(To be fair the book was written in 1985 so assuming this scene is in the novel clearly it didn't lift anything from Roland Emmerich's 1996 movie.)
This scene shows how close the human race came to being wiped out when aliens invade.
Moving to the present (in the movie timeline at least) we meet young Ender Wiggin.
He, along with many others is in a training programme designed to prepare children to fight a war should the aliens return.
So issue number one for me then.
They are training children to defend the world against alien hordes?
It is not adequately explained why this should be the case.
The fighting is effectively Virtual Reality based so the contention is that not only are children better at playing these high tech video games but that they can be trained from early ages to fulfill this one purpose in life.
It is a shaky premise at best but what the hell - I had just finished the great novel "Ready Player One" and that was kind of the same and it was a damned fine tale.
Ender is a 'third' which means that he is the third child in a world where two children is the societal norm.
His sister Valentine (Abigail Breslin) was ejected from the programme for being too empathetic and compassionate and his brother Peter failed for exactly the opposite reason - he is a violent nutjob.
I was a little hazy on the Father figure who seemed to be ashamed when Ender is similarly failed from the programme one minute then fully supportive of him the next.
It is but one example of character mood changes that just doesn't ring true.
We know something that Ender and his family don't though.
He has been failed just to test how he reacts to it.
This has been done by the gruff Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford resisting the urge point angrily by clasping his hands behind his back a lot)
Graff is single minded in his hatred for the alien race - The Formics.
He believes that they must be destroyed before they have the chance to return.
You know... just in case.
He sees some of the same thinking in young Ender who not only defends himself against a bully but does enough damage to the already incapacitated young man to ensure that he will not have to deal with further bullying from him.
The counterpoint to Graff is Major Anderson (a royally underused Viola Davis) who sees Ender as a child first and a warrior second.
Ender is reinstated into the programme and is soon launched up to an orbiting training facility to learn how to fire laser pistols in zero gravity despite the fact that this is not how the real fighting will be done.
Oh well- it makes for some reasonable 'action' scenes.
While all this is going on I am wondering what the adults of earth are up to.
Are there no adult soldiers and fighter pilots?
Thematically the film is interested in the line between defence and agression.
The story and characters are all in service of this but they do suffer as a result.
Ender is bullied by his fellow trainees (launchee's they are called- ugh) and Graff deliberately does and says things to Ender to encourage this.
He is manipulating events in order to make Ender the unfeeling, killing machine that he believes is required.
Sort of like his loony brother Peter then?
I don't know why Peter was ejected when clearly they are trying to make Ender into exactly the same type of thug.
They speak a lot about his tactical mind and we see several scenes in which he wins training contests and personal conflicts by out thinking his opposition.
We get no sense of where it comes from though and Ender is a decidedly uninteresting character.
He makes a few friends including Bean (Aramis Knight) and Petra (Hailee Steinfeld- so good in "True Grit")
What they seem in him I have no idea.
Ender is a cold fish - arrogant and clinical.
He seems to make instant enemies and often just as quickly for no apparent reasons turns many into friends.
I am not seeing a born leader who inspires those around him here.
Asa Butterfield is a talented young actor and he does all that he can but this is a terribly underwritten character and he is on a hiding to nothing.
On a similar note we soon meet Mazer Rackham- a war hero with a facial tattoo (a moko) courtesy of a Maori Father.
Quite why Ben Kinglsey plays him with a poorly realised Aussie accent then is baffling.
Alec Baldwin is one of the few non Aussie / Kiwi actors who knows the difference - maybe they should have got him.
Or maybe even a New Zealander?
Temuera Morrison or even better- Cliff Curtis?
Poor accent aside this character adds absolutely nothing to the plot.
Not a thing.
Like Viola Davis, Hailee Steinfeld and Abigail Breslin poor old Sir Ben's talents are utterly wasted.
The story is fun enough but it is too slight given the pretty heavy subject matter and themes.
I kept wishing that Paul Verhoeven had made this until I realised that he already did.
It was called "Starship Troopers" and it was twenty times more fun than this.
The special effects in "Ender's Game" make those from "Independence Day" and "Starship Troopers" look primitive but they are nonetheless nowhere near as much fun.
There is no heart in this movie and by the time the anti-climactic cheat of an ending hits I had pretty much given up on it.
It's fine as a rental on a quiet Saturday night I suppose but in no way does this film need to be seen on the big screen.
If this is aimed at a younger audience it is far too slowly paced and lacks even a single exciting scene.
For adults this is a dull experience that comes off as an insipid blend of "The Matrix Revolutions", "The Last Starfighter" and "Starship Troopers".
I apologise if that last line makes "Ender's Game" sound worth seeing - it is not.
Weak.
They seemed popular and even though I am a reasonably big science fiction fan didn't read any despite the constant opportunity to grab free copies.
They just didn't grab me.
It's kind of the same thing with the movie - I had the chance to see it very cheaply about a week ago but didn't- preferring instead to go to an all you can eat prawn dinner (fifty fifty call as it happens)
There was simply nothing at all that leaped off the screen during the trailers that said 'see me'.
Harrison Ford has not been a draw for me for quite some time and the days of special effects alone being a compelling reason to see a movie are long gone.
But I needed a reason to tear myself away from a three day PlayStation 4 binge and get myself out into the world.
So I turned 'Assassin's Creed IV' off and gave the science fiction flick a shot.
This weekends screenings are previews and the sessions were not very well booked out.
Mine had maybe twenty people in it.
I wonder if the title has any resonance for many people outside of hardcore science fiction fans (or people that used the work for the publisher!)
Based on the poster it looks like a kids movie - "The Last Starfighter" meets "Zathura" perhaps?
I honestly had no idea what I was in for going in.
 |
| Asa Buttefield ("Hugo"), "Abigail Breslin ("Zombieland"/"Little Miss Sunshine") & Hailee Steinfeld ("True Grit") |
(To be fair the book was written in 1985 so assuming this scene is in the novel clearly it didn't lift anything from Roland Emmerich's 1996 movie.)
This scene shows how close the human race came to being wiped out when aliens invade.
Moving to the present (in the movie timeline at least) we meet young Ender Wiggin.
He, along with many others is in a training programme designed to prepare children to fight a war should the aliens return.
So issue number one for me then.
They are training children to defend the world against alien hordes?
It is not adequately explained why this should be the case.
The fighting is effectively Virtual Reality based so the contention is that not only are children better at playing these high tech video games but that they can be trained from early ages to fulfill this one purpose in life.
It is a shaky premise at best but what the hell - I had just finished the great novel "Ready Player One" and that was kind of the same and it was a damned fine tale.
Ender is a 'third' which means that he is the third child in a world where two children is the societal norm.
His sister Valentine (Abigail Breslin) was ejected from the programme for being too empathetic and compassionate and his brother Peter failed for exactly the opposite reason - he is a violent nutjob.
I was a little hazy on the Father figure who seemed to be ashamed when Ender is similarly failed from the programme one minute then fully supportive of him the next.
It is but one example of character mood changes that just doesn't ring true.
 |
| The effects are technically proficient but don't add much excitement |
He has been failed just to test how he reacts to it.
This has been done by the gruff Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford resisting the urge point angrily by clasping his hands behind his back a lot)
Graff is single minded in his hatred for the alien race - The Formics.
He believes that they must be destroyed before they have the chance to return.
You know... just in case.
He sees some of the same thinking in young Ender who not only defends himself against a bully but does enough damage to the already incapacitated young man to ensure that he will not have to deal with further bullying from him.
The counterpoint to Graff is Major Anderson (a royally underused Viola Davis) who sees Ender as a child first and a warrior second.
Ender is reinstated into the programme and is soon launched up to an orbiting training facility to learn how to fire laser pistols in zero gravity despite the fact that this is not how the real fighting will be done.
Oh well- it makes for some reasonable 'action' scenes.
While all this is going on I am wondering what the adults of earth are up to.
Are there no adult soldiers and fighter pilots?
Thematically the film is interested in the line between defence and agression.
The story and characters are all in service of this but they do suffer as a result.
Ender is bullied by his fellow trainees (launchee's they are called- ugh) and Graff deliberately does and says things to Ender to encourage this.
He is manipulating events in order to make Ender the unfeeling, killing machine that he believes is required.
Sort of like his loony brother Peter then?
I don't know why Peter was ejected when clearly they are trying to make Ender into exactly the same type of thug.
They speak a lot about his tactical mind and we see several scenes in which he wins training contests and personal conflicts by out thinking his opposition.
We get no sense of where it comes from though and Ender is a decidedly uninteresting character.
He makes a few friends including Bean (Aramis Knight) and Petra (Hailee Steinfeld- so good in "True Grit")
What they seem in him I have no idea.
Ender is a cold fish - arrogant and clinical.
He seems to make instant enemies and often just as quickly for no apparent reasons turns many into friends.
I am not seeing a born leader who inspires those around him here.
Asa Butterfield is a talented young actor and he does all that he can but this is a terribly underwritten character and he is on a hiding to nothing.
 |
| Dodgy accents aside the entire cast- young and old- are a talented bunch |
Quite why Ben Kinglsey plays him with a poorly realised Aussie accent then is baffling.
Alec Baldwin is one of the few non Aussie / Kiwi actors who knows the difference - maybe they should have got him.
Or maybe even a New Zealander?
Temuera Morrison or even better- Cliff Curtis?
Poor accent aside this character adds absolutely nothing to the plot.
Not a thing.
Like Viola Davis, Hailee Steinfeld and Abigail Breslin poor old Sir Ben's talents are utterly wasted.
The story is fun enough but it is too slight given the pretty heavy subject matter and themes.
I kept wishing that Paul Verhoeven had made this until I realised that he already did.
It was called "Starship Troopers" and it was twenty times more fun than this.
The special effects in "Ender's Game" make those from "Independence Day" and "Starship Troopers" look primitive but they are nonetheless nowhere near as much fun.
There is no heart in this movie and by the time the anti-climactic cheat of an ending hits I had pretty much given up on it.
It's fine as a rental on a quiet Saturday night I suppose but in no way does this film need to be seen on the big screen.
If this is aimed at a younger audience it is far too slowly paced and lacks even a single exciting scene.
For adults this is a dull experience that comes off as an insipid blend of "The Matrix Revolutions", "The Last Starfighter" and "Starship Troopers".
I apologise if that last line makes "Ender's Game" sound worth seeing - it is not.
Weak.
| Rated | M for infrequent, mild violence |
| Running Time: | 114 mins (1hr, 45mins without end credits) |
| Starring: |
| Asa Butterfield | --- Ender Wiggin |
| Harrison Ford | --- Colonel Graff |
| Hailee Steinfeld | --- Petra Arkanian |
| Abigail Breslin | --- Valentine Wiggin |
| Ben Kingsley | --- Mazer Rackham |
| Viola Davis | --- Major Gwen Anderson |
| Aramis Knight | --- Bean |
| Suraj Partha | --- Alai |
| Moises Arias | --- Bonzo Madrid |
| Nonso Anozie | --- Sergeant Dap |
| Khylin Rhambo | --- Dink Meeker |
| Jimmy 'Jax' Pinchak | --- Peter Wiggin |
| Conor Caroll | --- Bernard |
No comments:
Post a Comment