Review of Ender's Game (2013) by Shpostal — 03 Nov 2013

Not being a huge sci-fi fan of books or movies, which is quite contradictory when one considers I love astronomy and the wonders of the universe, although it's a strict layman's understanding, with no real math capabilities to study in depth the cosmos like real astronomers do. I just love to wonder about the infinite space and universe, or universes, and revel in its beauty and mystery. That said, "Ender's Game" is one of the better sci-fi movies I've seen in a while. Not a mind blower, but much better than "Gravity", which isn't saying a whole lot.

I had begun to read this book years ago and lost interest because I found Orson Scott Card's prose boring. The movie is not of that. Capably acted by all the cast, including Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley, while this is not exactly Star Wars material, I found the story line interesting and the special effects were very impressive.

Special effects doth not a great movie make for most of us, but they do spark the imagination when done properly, allowing us to overlook the currently scientifically and physically impossible tasks of traveling at light or warp speed, much less barely tolerate the speed it takes to escape Earth's gravitational pull at over 17,000 mph, which is a snail's pace cosmically speaking.

However, they laughed at Jules Verne, who predicted men on the moon and correctly calculated the speed needed to leave Earth, and H.G. Wells and Ray Bradbury imagined fictional worlds and situations that are closer than ever to realization. I am a firm believer that if we can imagine it, one day we'll do it.

But getting down to brass tacks, "Ender's Game" is a movie that allows a certain amount of humanity in, some good, some terrible. The end is somewhat similar to "District 12", and we are reminded once again of our tendency to attack rather than understand or tolerate. It is that lesson I left the theater with. Fans of the book and genre will be more impressed, but a 7 from myself is quite the compliment.