Ender's Game
2013
**½
Director: Gavin Hood
Cast: Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, Abigail Breslin, Ben Kingsley, Moisés Anas, Aramis Knight
Orson Scott Card's 1985 novel has taken its time to be adapted to the screen, but ironically its premise will probably go down better with the current crop of kids. In Card's futuristic Harry Potter in space scenario, the entire future of humanity has turned into a cosmic computer game. 50 years after Formics killed millions on Earth, the International Fleet prepares for a counter-attack by enlisting specially gifted children in its Battle School. The 12-year-old Ender Wiggin, the most brilliant cadet, attempts to cling to his true self during the grueling training programme. Gavin Hood's science fiction movie is reasonably entertaining but its story cries out for something more tangible. As it stands now, the characters and events feel abstract and only virtually real. And what do the repeated zero gravity exercises have to do with saving the planet? The powerful twist ending just about validates these long scenes. Asa Butterfield, who felt so natural in Hugo, is a wooden Ender.
