Review of Ender's Game (2013) by James M — 29 Jul 2014

Ender's Game is a pretty much a cross between Harry Potter & Starship Troopers. Set in a future of intergalactic war, where children are trained at military complexes where it is hoped the saviour of the human race will be discovered.

Under the dictatorial eye of Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) a new talent emerges in Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), who triumphs over bullying and is declared 'the one' by the authoritarian figure, who promotes him to further training where he has to overcome more bullying after being ostracised by his fellow cadets (on more than one occasion).

His final test comes in a simulated battle environment where he must obliterate the enemy out of existence and with this comes a rather obvious 'twist' which is altogether quite unconvincing in the grand scheme of science fiction fantasy.

The general moral of triumph over adversity and standing up against bullies is the underlying subplot of the while film, and it works quite well, but the film as a whole is targeted at a teenage boy demographic and probably won't appeal to anybody outside that circle. The acting from the young cast is decent and Ben Kingsley pops up with a cameo, Harrison Ford is miscast though and Alfre Woodard's character as a cadet psychiatrist is underused. It's also good to see Hailee Steinfeld back on screen following her promising debut in 2010's True Grit.