Ender's Game

What happened?  If you've ever read the book, you'd know that Ender's Game seems very well suited to a cinematic adaptation.  With computers able to render even the wildest of ideas, a modern film of the book should've had no problems.  But it does.  It may actually be a film made entirely of problems.

For those who never read the book, Ender's Game is the story of a boy named Ender who is sent to a military school in space (this movie takes place in the early 22nd century).  The school is supposed to train children to be officers since, in this reality, kids can process large quantities of information better and faster than adults and can therefore create battle strategies on the fly more effectively.  Why do we need battle strategies?  Because we are at war with an alien race called the Formics.  Time is running out until the next big Formic invasion and with Ender appearing to be humanity's greatest hope, Ender must bring together his fellow classmates and complete his training.

Maybe the smallest issue is that the movie takes place over the course of a month.  In the book, it is several years of training.  Having a shorter timeline wasn't chosen as a way of making the story suit a two hour film, it's there in order to provide the film with a "ticking clock" because the script lacks any suspense or drama on its own.  It's a crummy cheat to try to hide larger more fundamental problems the film has.

The biggest problem is the sacrificing of theme and character in favor of generic action sequences.  Ender's Game is a book with ideas that have shown to be quite prescient.  Drone warfare, video games, and wars under false pretenses are all a major part of the book.  This movie could've done what all great science fiction does: it serves as a scathing indictment of the modern world.  Instead, the film is bogged down by dull laser fights and a CG mouse.

This isn't a spoiler because the movie gives away the book's ending right off the bat, but the kids don't know that they their "tests" are actually remote battles with the Formics.  This change from a twist ending in the book is important.  By revealing this early on, the film turns the adults into weak villains and robs Ender of his greatest emotional growth.  In both the book and the film, Ender has unknowingly committed genocide.  But in the book, we're rooting for Ender to ace his test and become a great officer which results in the reader also unknowingly rooting for genocide.  The film not only negates the power of its own finale, it also robs the audience of having a powerful emotional realization.  I wrote to a friend on Facebook:

"I think they were worried that they'd get backlash from asking the audience to realize that they were rooting for something so horrific. It's like the end of Starship Troopers when the audience realizes that they fell for the same war mongering/brainwashing techniques that the Nazis used on the German people. People were so appalled from realizing that they had that in themselves that they projected that disgust on the film. But now Starship Troopers has been steady rising in status and is considered to be a modern masterpiece of satire. Ender's Game could've had that too. It takes courage to make important art. And when Lionsgate (the studio behind the film) had that opportunity, they flinched."

The only good thing that Ender's Game really has going for it is that it will be forgotten about.  It's not a terrible movie but it terribly mediocre.  This is something to watch on cable one day when nothing else is on and you're looking for any excuse not to clean your house.  Go read the book.

4.5 out of 10