Review: Ender’s Game

Ender’s Game is the latest blockbuster in the lucrative trend of adapting popular novels for the cinema. Following in the footsteps of other hugely successful and crowd-pleasing sagas such as The Hunger Games, Harry Potter and Twilight, Ender has a lot to live up to, especially if the inevitable sequels will have any chance of being green lit. It’s clear from the opening that a lot of money and faith was poured into this flick; the CGI is great and the scale is huge but, if you look beyond the tricks, does the film stand up by itself? For the most part, unfortunately not.

The general premise is that the Earth has been invaded by an insect-like alien race and, to prevent this disaster occurring again, the world’s smartest children are taken in and trained to be military leaders. The film’s protagonist, Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), is the smartest and most capable of these children and thus has the faith of Colonel Graff, a father-substitute acted by a familiarly moody Harrison Ford, placed upon him. The acting, especially from the younger members of the cast, is solid throughout the film. Butterworth shines even next to Oscar-nominated Hailee Steinfeld, who plays a potential love-interest also enrolled in the academy. Butterworth’s performance demonstrates vast range, as Ender needs to show ambition, guilt, pride, and intelligence without arrogance. It’s a good thing that Butterworth is so capable, because the entire saga rests on his shoulders; with a poor performance, this would have been unwatchable, and he proves to be the film’s most redeeming feature.