Ender's Game

1 October 2018

Ender’s Game 2013

• Director: Gavin Hood
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Viola Davis, Ben Kingsley, Nonso Anozie, Aramis Knight, Moises Arias
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Asa Butterfield – The Space Between Us, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Hugo, Merlin, Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Son of Rambow
• Harrison Ford – Blade Runner 2049, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Fugitive, Working Girl, The Mosquito Coast, Witness, Blade Runner etc
• Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
• Abigail Breslin – August Osage County, Little Miss Sunshine
• Viola Davis – Beautiful Creatures, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Antwone Fisher, Far from Heaven, Kate & Leopold
• Ben Kingsley – Learning to Drive, Hugo, Shutter Island, House of Sand and Fog, Twelfth Night, Death and the Maiden, Schindler’s List, Dave, Gandhi, Antony and Cleopatra
• Nonso Anonzie – Cinderella, Brighton Rock, Happy-Go-Lucky, Atonement
• Why? Sci fi
• Seen: 28 September 2018      

       Aliens called Formics attacked the Earth twenty-five years ago and millions were killed. A hero saved the world and the Formics retreated. Now genius kids are being trained to save the world when the aliens come back. Ender Wiggin (Butterfield) is one of the geniuses. He’s recruited by Colonel Graff (Ford) and Major Anderson (Davis) who believe he’s the new hero. Off he goes to the outer space military academy.

       Hogwarts in outer space. Quiddich in zero gravity.

       But it’s not really Hogwarts, it’s really just the same old same old blind obedience military school story with a rebel hero. But Butterfield is good, as are the other kids, and it’s pure sci fi which is a plus.

       And then it gets interesting. Training children to become ruthless soldiers? A war to end all wars? Invasion to protect one’s own territory? Oh yes, there are moral dilemmas.

       Ben Kingsley as a Maori warrior speaking New Zealand English, sounding like ‘The Flight of the Conchord’, is also a plus.

       It didn’t start out so promising, but it’s a film that grows.

3 ½ * of 5