Cast: Asa Butterfield (star of Oscar-winning movie, Hugo) plays Ender. He's not particularly engaging in this but I think a lot of that has to do with the dialogue which is not the best. His sister is played by Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin. His, female best friend/maybe love interest (it's hard to entirely tell) is played by Oscar nominee Hailee Steinfeld. The overbearing Colonel is played by Oscar nominee and living legend, Harrison Ford. His other overbearing Colonel is played by Gandhi himself, Oscar Winner Ben Kingsley. Then there's Oscar nominee Viola Davis playing another one of his senior officers. That's a surprising amount of proven acting talent for what's basically "space Harry Potter" (I don't care which book came first). Even the kids in this are proven commodities.
Plot: I've never read the book. Let me make that clear. I had no preconceptions about this. Nothing to compare it to favorably or unfavorably. I knew it something about space and a kid who had to save the world or something. That probably worked in my favor. Most of the movie follows through Ender's training, from Earth to the space station where they learn strategy through playing Space-Quidditch, and finally on to the front lines of the war with some alien race who tried to colonize Earth 50 years before. The action sequences are gripping. That was the biggest surprise. The climactic battle even had me breathless for a bit and they do a wonderful job of making it seem big. The more dramatic moments are more of a mixed bag. Some are a little contrived (most notably a scene with Ender and his sister on a boat that was reminiscent to the ridiculous scene staging of Attack of the Clones). Others work fine, such as nearly any scene with Ford and Butterfield. The adaptation is far from perfect as there were many times where I simply didn't know the context of anything the characters were saying or what was happening. Specifically, I have no idea what Ender's discovery about his dream at the end is all about. That was clunky.
Elephant in the Room: It's about little kids saving the world. I hate movies in which a little kid saves the world completely due to contrivance. This movie is exactly that. I'm sure the book does a much better job of explaining why an entire military is placing all of their hopes and trust into a bunch of kids who aren't old enough to vote (Under current voting laws. I have no idea how it works in Ender's future). That sounds absurd to me. All I can say is that I didn't care as much as I normally do with this movie. It worked better than it normally does. I'm not sure why.
To Sum Things Up:
I enjoyed this. There's a lot of reason for me not to but none of them worked. It is exactly the movie that you think it is, with a couple action sequences that are better than I expected. I can't suggest anyone go out of their way to see it, but anyone who does should be pleased with the result.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment