Final Sci Fi Log: The Ender's Game Movie

For this log, I’ll be discussing the movie Ender’s Game. Ender’s Game is a 2013 American science fiction action film based on the novel of the same name by author Orson Scott Card. The film stars Asa Butterfield as Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, an extremely gifted child who is sent to an advanced military school in space to prepare for a future alien invasion and is destined to save the Earth. The cast includes Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, Abigail Breslin, and Ben Kingsley.

In the future, a hostile alien race (called the Buggers) have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander, Mazer Rackham (played by Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Graff (played by Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young children in the Battle School to find the future savior. Ender Wiggin (played by Asa Butterfield), is a small and shy but strategically brilliant boy. He is enrolled into Battle School, and is believed to be the next Mazer Rackham.

Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters difficult war games, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military’s next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he is trained by Mazer Rackham himself, to lead his army into an epic battle that will determine the future of the human race.

The movie, for me, wasn’t all that good. It falls into the category of movies that were based off of books, but were really rushed and told ONLY the important parts of the story. Movies similar to this are The Spiderwick Chronicles and Eragon. Many things from the book weren’t as I expected them to be in the movie, like Mazer Rackham. In the movie, he has tattoos and looks like a kind of ancient monk. That was really unexpected. Aside from that, the movie did a decent job of telling the story. However, if you’re going to watch the movie, make sure you read the book first.