Film review Enders Game

                    Back to The Future                           

Film: Enders Game

Cast: Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford

Directed by: Gavin Hood

Duration: 1 hrs 54 mins

Rating: * * 1 / 2

Based on the 80’s book by Orson Scott Card, Enders Game is directed by Gavin Hood (Oscar winner Tsotsi, X Men Origins) and the writer is also credited as one of the producers. This science fiction story is quite popular and for years an adaptation was in the pipeline. 

Like most sci-fi stories, this one is set in a distant future when planet earth was attacked by aliens. Thanks to the bravery of many, especially a fighter pilot, humans managed to drive the aliens away but they still live in the fear that they might return someday.                                                                                                  

 So to prepare for the next war, young children are being trained on simulators and computer games. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield of Hugo fame) a young boy seems to have the potential becoming the next commander and it is up to Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford), the tough military guy to mould him.

In the initial parts, the characters are established, the society looks far different from as we know it today. But in the latter, it looks like a computer game since the cadets have to prepare and train. It is only in the finale that it raises issues about morality and seen in certain contexts, it has relevance.

The film doesn’t have too many high points – as it usually happens with book adaptations, there are episodes that maybe relevant in the book but don’t necessarily translate well on the big screen.

Enders Game is an ambitious project in terms of CGI, thankfully they didn’t make it in 3D. The two main protagonists, the colonel and the young boy also strike a chord, one because of the way they have been written and two because of the actors. Harrison Ford gets considerable screen time as compared to Ben Kingsley who plays a cameo. As the young kid, Asa Butterfield is quite impressive. Whether there will be a sequel to Enders is not clear at the stage but this effort meanwhile is passable.

(Published in The Navhind Times on 3rd Nov 2013)
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