Ender's Game Review

Hello Dreamers,

I'm actually about 6 movie reviews behind now (Ender's Game, Catching Fire, all 3 Spider-Man movies, and His Last Vow (Sherlock)), so I'm trying to catch up. Sorry for the short absense...

Anyway, I just saw Ender's Game a few nights ago, and...well, this is the review for it.

 

Synopsis:

Essentially this is one of those futuristic stories where the Earth now has space ships and super high technology etc. It had a little bit of a Star Trek feel to it (actually they even use simulations to train their students too). The entire story is based off of something that happened in the past. The Earth was attacked by these alien creature type things called Formics, and was saved by a single courageous pilot who killed the alien mothership. Just in case you hadn't guessed, it's about a boy named Ender. Ender is in a program which they've created to choose who will go to battle school and someday (hopefully) they'll fight against the aliens to prevent another attack. Obviously Ender ends up getting chosen and is sent to battle school. The movie is basically about his progression through battle school and the war against the aliens. That's the general idea... Of course it's more complicated than that, but hey this is a synopsis right? I'm not supposed to spoil everything.

 

 Acting:

Okay, don't get me wrong, I love Asa Butterfield. I've loved him in everything I've ever seen him in. Don't have a problem with Harrison Ford either. Hey, I grew up with Star Wars what can I say? I thought Moises Arias (Bonzo) was pretty good as well. However, (and I hate to say this...) I felt the rest of the acting was a bit off the mark. I don't know. It might've just been me and I've only seen the movie once (I'm famous for being harsher the first time I watch a film), but I just wasn't feeling these actors. I don't know exactly what it was, but it was almost like the characters were all too similar to Ender. I'm not sure...Any thoughts?

Quality:
*sighs* I hate to give this a bad review because I know that T.D. loved it so much... so sorry about that, T.D. Hope you forgive me. ;-)
A little bit more than a third of the way through Ender's Game, I just got bored. Which doesn't happen very often. I mean I watch Jane Austen period dramas... I don't know. I felt like the time he spent in battles with the other teams was kinda stretched out too much. It just got kinda dull and it didn't really seem to matter if he won or not because Colonel Graff was already convinced that Ender was the one he was waiting for. Now, I'm sure if I read the books, it would've been different. I probably wouldn't have gotten bored. However, coming from the perspective of having not read the books...That's what happened...

Content Advisory:
The good thing, is that this movie was pretty much completely clean! The only thing I think was something someone says about what he'll do (the punishment) if he finds a girl or a boy in the wrong shower room. It was a little bit shocking, but I think it was over kids head for the most part... (Not that a little kid should be watching a PG-13 movie anyway...)
But I can give it a stamp of approval for that at least!

The Short Rant...Discussion...Thing....Part:
Okay, so Ender's Game did make me think. It took till like the last half hour, but it did make me think. And I'll be quite frank, the big twist near the end totally surprised me, I did not see that coming. That was deep! I mean holy cow! I was actually kinda shocked. It was so....just wow. That totally got me.

It brought up some fairly relevant social issues too. Is it right to use violence to prevent something bad from happening? Ender obviously decides that it's not. And I would say it's not too. But then I relate with what Colonel Graff is saying too because we deal with stuff like that today. For instance, is it okay to use violence ot get information about a possible terrorist attack that will kill thousands of people? I don't pretend to have the answers, it's just something to think about.

Also that bit where Ender says "In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him." was totally Sherlock and Moriarty. That line makes you think too. Because at first it doesn't make sense...But if you think about it for a moment, it starts to make a lot of sense...At least to me.

Overall, I think that it was alright. I still think that it was a bit drawn out and a tad dull at times. I'm not sure if what I was saying about the acting was accurate or if it was just me (very possible...). I'm giving it 3 fandom points. I was somewhat entertained, but it just missed the mark a bit I think.

~ Aloisa Quintal
"No. The way you win matters."