LEAD
CAST: Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, Abigail
Breslin, Ben Kingsley DIRECTOR: Gavin Hood SCREENWRITER:
Gavin Hood PRODUCER: Roberto
Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Gigi Pritzker, Linda McDonough, Robert Chartoff, Lynn
Hendee, Orson Scott Card, Ed Ulbrich EDITOR: Zach Staenberg MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Steve Jablonsky GENRE: Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy CINEMATOGRAPHER: Donald McAlpine
DISTRIBUTOR: Summit Entertainment, Lionsgate LOCATION: USA RUNNING TIME: 114 minutes
Technical assessment: 4
Moral assessment: 2.5
CINEMA rating: V 14
In the not-so-distant future, a
mysterious alien race attacks the
Earth. But the legendary heroism of International Fleet Commander Mazer Rackham (Ben
Kingsley) saves the human race from
total damnation. Decades
after, in preparation for the next alien invasion,
Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training
exceptionally talented children to discover another Mazer. One candidate is Ender
Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy, but strategically brilliant boy. He is pulled out of his school to join the
elite group. Arriving at the
Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters complicated war games. Thus, Ender makes his mark and
earns respect of his peers. He is soon
ordained by Graff as the military's next great hope
so he is promoted to Command School. Once there, he's trained by Mazer Rackham himself, to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic
battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.
Based on the award-winning novel,
Ender’s
Game, the movie captures the book’s
essential themes and the arresting visuals and graphics give life to the
author’s imagined Earth’s future. However, the controversial story remains at
the surface level and never really gets to the point of real interest for the
viewers. The repeated slow motions of some scenes bore the audience especially
the young who are apparently the movie’s target audience. The acting and
characterization is shallow as well with one-dimensional portrayals. But then,
the visual effects, and the intricate production elements and above par
production values make Ender’s Game a
sci-fi spectacle worthy of audience’s time. It is still a far decent adaptation
of an otherwise implausible story to visualize, making the movie adaptation an
achievement in itself.
A movie depicting and tackling
children being trained for battle is already morally problematic. No matter how
pure Ender’s character is, the movie’s theme in its entirety is disturbing.
Although highlighting Ender’s qualities of respectfulness, assertiveness,
courage, would somehow send message of heroism and ideal youth of the future,
still, there is no denying that the film exposes the young to the harsh and
violent world. The film further desensitizes violence through the use of
computer games as milieu of war. But then, the absence of blood does not equate
to absence of violence. The children are still exposed to the realities of war
no matter who the enemy is and what the weapons are. The youth of today may
pick-up the discipline and determination demonstrated in the film as they
undergo military training. Leadership, teamwork and camaraderie are some of the
commendable themes in the film. Ender’s position on knowing and understanding
the enemy, and in the process, loving them is also commendable and is very much
aligned to Christ’s teaching of loving one’s enemy. For Ender, it is not about
just winning the war, but the manner of winning it that matters the most.
Meaning, what would the human race really gain from fighting enemies whom they
do not really know in the first place? For in all these chaos, peace should
reign and it will not be attained for as long as humans remain to be in the
defensive mode of the battle. Given the controversial and conflicting themes
and violent visuals, CINEMA deems the movie as fit only for viewers ages 14 and
up.
