Review of Ender's Game (2013) by Ben R — 18 Jan 2015

This could've been worse. I went into the movie with my expectations low, hoping that at least the movie would have some cool visuals and nice sci-fi thrills, even if it doesn't deliver on the psychological front like the novel did. That's pretty much what I got.

I'm a big fan of film adaptations usually, and I'm not of the camp that the book is always better than the book. Most books can be turned into good movies if put in the right hands, and I'm sure Ender's Game could make a good movie if it was approached very strategically by an excellent filmmaker. But this one was pretty...average. The movie did provide some nice visuals and stuff, but it failed to overcome the adaptation issues, a little bland and mostly too rushed. Part of the book's effect comes from the slow burn of Ender's evolving psychological state and his growing strength, but everything seems so immediate in the movie in a way that doesn't suit it, feeling rushed instead of ballsy with its pace. Again, this isn't really something that can be easily overcome, but an amazing filmmaker would be able to figure out a way.

The good thing is, even if Ender's Game is treasured mostly for its thematic material and dark psychological exploration, it also has quite a few genius plot ideas built in. Movie adaptations can easily fail at capturing that psychological bit, but it's hard to fail at pulling off the big story elements of Ender's Game. As an example, the final act of the movie was pretty good, with the final twist (that Ender has been fighting real armies, not simulations) being portrayed really well. Of course, it doesn't have the same emotional punch as the book, but it still carries some weight. Also, the sequences with the video game were nice, recapturing some of that essential oddness and thematic depth that the book did.

Those scenes aside, most of the movie didn't pull off the emotions very well. Why change Ender's killing of Bonzo and Stilson to wounding (unless I missed a later revelation), and why make his wounding of Bonzo look so accidental? Part of the point of Ender's military prowess is that he does whatever it takes, but it's not as easy to buy that when his kicking Bonzo looks entirely self-defensive and accidental. The actors are okay, but Asa Butterfield didn't do quite as well as I thought he would, and Bean wasn't portrayed as the mysterious prodigy he was in the books.

There were a lot of great visuals, though. All of Battle School was presented really nicely, which surprised me because I figured however Battle School would look, it wouldn't be close to my imagination. I liked the simple design and yellow helmets, though, and the zero-gravity battle rooms were really well-designed. Same goes for the chaotic but still exciting final battle set, with the swarms of Formic ships.

Overall, the movie provides some intriguing plot twists taken right from the book, but accomplishes little by itself, aside from some nice action scenes and set pieces. Some filmmaker might be capable enough to make a story as dark and twisted as Ender's Game into a devastating film, but it wasn't these ones.