Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, a young boy chosen for his unique abilities, is given the opportunity to attend Battle School, a school which prepares and trains children and young adults for another possible alien attack which happened half a century in the past. Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford), believing Ender to be 'the one', puts everything the facility can offer on him, making sure he is truly the right choice.
I'm aware that there is only so much you can do, compressing an entire novel into a two hour movie. My only complaint is that much of that time is spent during action sequences, and not enough in the development of Ender's character. That's at least what I felt. Also, the pacing of the film is, to be frank, way too fast. It feels like their trying to rush through everything in order to just get to the last ten minutes of the film (which really is the most intriguing part of the story).
With visually striking simulated battles, and mind-games testing your wit and will, you would think the director and screenwriter, Gavin Hood, would allow the audience to play along with these games, instead of just letting him take the controls most of the time. The book, written by Orson Scott Card, is rich with deep meanings of life, existence and questions of how/if you can trust anybody more than yourself. Along with insights into what's happening in Ender's psyche through the book.
Admittedly, I had never read the book before until right before seeing the movie. Maybe that is the reason why the movie felt downplayed, for me at least. This is a very good story, and the story is clearly here in the movie. I just wish that there would have been better care taken with the structure of the screenplay, and not this obligation to make it rush by so quickly. As a stand alone story, it's very good. As a stand alone movie, it's decent.
My rating: 2.5 / 4
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