Problem Child: Ender's Game
I haven't read the books in probably 20 (?) years so I'm going to approach the movie as though I hadn't read them at all.
Ender is a kid with problems. His brother's psycho and, despite being kicked out of school for it, their mother and father don't seem to notice that he's still beating and terrorizing Ender. Ender is closer to his sister, Valentine, than to anyone else in the family. Despite this emotional coldness, despite kicking the crap out of another kid (psycho brother, remember), Ender is selected to be a member of an elite military corps.
If there's anything missing to screw up an already damaged child, have an authority figure (Harrison Ford in full-on grumpy old man mode) tell him that everyone expects him to be the next Julius Caesar or Napoleon. Good role models, if you really want him to turn out to be a megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur. Now let's seriously stress him out by making him an outcast, depriving him of sleep, and of contact with the only person he is really fond of. Oh, and throw in an attractive girl for no particular reason and a fellow suffering from a serious case of 'short-man's disease' who is jealous of Ender and has the authority to make his life even more miserable.
Not to mention telling him that the fate of the entire planet rests on his doing really, really well in school.
The big problem with Ender's Game isn't the above concoction of psychologically unbelievable happenings. It's that the film-maker (director/writer Gavin Hood) cannot bring himself to trust the audience. He has to tell us, repeatedly, both in a pre-action intertitle and right out in dialogue, that Ender is actually a very loving guy, so much so that he even loves his enemies when he'd kicking the (bleep) out of them. The film doesn't show us that. Ever. We are just supposed to take his word for it.
Asa Butterfield does the best he can with the material. He looks about right for the role and is an excellent object lesson for anyone who thinks a skinny guy can't or won't fight back. Whether he's beating up on someone or manipulating their feelings so they don't beat him up, he's very good. You want to believe in that character and can see him growing up to be a con-man or a preacher, or both like Elmer Gantry. But he is not a military leader. Every time someone said, 'we're making him a commander', I was pulled right out of the picture.
All the young actors were excellent at delineating their character to the limits they were allowed. I would have liked a little more background on some of them, though I understand the movie depends on keeping tight focus on Ender. Hailee Steinfield is wasted as is Abigail Breslin whose role consists largely of looking skyward with soulful eyes. The picture livened up when Ben Kingsley appears, tattoo'd to the max, but his whole part seems to be a set up for the single line 'I am a Speaker for the Dead'. After that, for all the influence he exerts, he might as well have floated out the window.
I don't want to blow the ending for anyone, though probably you are already clued in to the 'big reveal' at the end. Unfortunately, the film-maker also didn't want to blow it, even though it would have made for a stronger viewing experience if he had. There was even a scene where he could have told us, could have ramped up the emotional tension for us, not just for Ender. Viola Davis and Ford have a scene together where their characters could have increased our emotional involvement in the pay-off. If the director/screenwriter had made that choice, to 'give it all away', the climatic sequence at the end would have meant something vitally important to us.
Right now, it's like watching your big brother (hopefully not a psycho) playing the video game he got for Christmas. You might find it interesting, you might enjoy the quality graphics, you might even pick up a few pointers. But you have no emotional stake in that game, or in Ender's Game.
Ender is a kid with problems. His brother's psycho and, despite being kicked out of school for it, their mother and father don't seem to notice that he's still beating and terrorizing Ender. Ender is closer to his sister, Valentine, than to anyone else in the family. Despite this emotional coldness, despite kicking the crap out of another kid (psycho brother, remember), Ender is selected to be a member of an elite military corps.
If there's anything missing to screw up an already damaged child, have an authority figure (Harrison Ford in full-on grumpy old man mode) tell him that everyone expects him to be the next Julius Caesar or Napoleon. Good role models, if you really want him to turn out to be a megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur. Now let's seriously stress him out by making him an outcast, depriving him of sleep, and of contact with the only person he is really fond of. Oh, and throw in an attractive girl for no particular reason and a fellow suffering from a serious case of 'short-man's disease' who is jealous of Ender and has the authority to make his life even more miserable.
Not to mention telling him that the fate of the entire planet rests on his doing really, really well in school.
The big problem with Ender's Game isn't the above concoction of psychologically unbelievable happenings. It's that the film-maker (director/writer Gavin Hood) cannot bring himself to trust the audience. He has to tell us, repeatedly, both in a pre-action intertitle and right out in dialogue, that Ender is actually a very loving guy, so much so that he even loves his enemies when he'd kicking the (bleep) out of them. The film doesn't show us that. Ever. We are just supposed to take his word for it.
Asa Butterfield does the best he can with the material. He looks about right for the role and is an excellent object lesson for anyone who thinks a skinny guy can't or won't fight back. Whether he's beating up on someone or manipulating their feelings so they don't beat him up, he's very good. You want to believe in that character and can see him growing up to be a con-man or a preacher, or both like Elmer Gantry. But he is not a military leader. Every time someone said, 'we're making him a commander', I was pulled right out of the picture.
All the young actors were excellent at delineating their character to the limits they were allowed. I would have liked a little more background on some of them, though I understand the movie depends on keeping tight focus on Ender. Hailee Steinfield is wasted as is Abigail Breslin whose role consists largely of looking skyward with soulful eyes. The picture livened up when Ben Kingsley appears, tattoo'd to the max, but his whole part seems to be a set up for the single line 'I am a Speaker for the Dead'. After that, for all the influence he exerts, he might as well have floated out the window.
I don't want to blow the ending for anyone, though probably you are already clued in to the 'big reveal' at the end. Unfortunately, the film-maker also didn't want to blow it, even though it would have made for a stronger viewing experience if he had. There was even a scene where he could have told us, could have ramped up the emotional tension for us, not just for Ender. Viola Davis and Ford have a scene together where their characters could have increased our emotional involvement in the pay-off. If the director/screenwriter had made that choice, to 'give it all away', the climatic sequence at the end would have meant something vitally important to us.
Right now, it's like watching your big brother (hopefully not a psycho) playing the video game he got for Christmas. You might find it interesting, you might enjoy the quality graphics, you might even pick up a few pointers. But you have no emotional stake in that game, or in Ender's Game.
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