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szdaily -> Movies -> 
Ender’s Game
    2014-01-10  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

    Starring: Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, Abigail Breslin, Ben Kingsley Director: Gavin Hood

    A DARK sci-fi adventure, “Ender’s Game” has plenty of ideas beneath its conventional storyline of a talented prodigy who alone can defeat the forces of evil. Those bolder ambitions aren’t always realized, but it’s a tribute to director Gavin Hood that the film (based on Orson Scott Card’s acclaimed novel) aspires to be a thoughtful, awe-inspiring emotional epic as well as an effects-driven spectacle. The movie’s moral complexity may come across as muddled, but rising star Asa Butterfield and rejuvenated veteran Harrison Ford give this potentially escapist fable significant heft.

    The movie takes place in an unspecified future in which Earth is still recovering from a horrifying attack by the Formics, an alien species that looks like giant insects that killed thousands before being finally defeated and beaten back to their home planet. It’s been years since the aliens unleashed their assault, but Earth’s military leaders, most notably the ever-vigilant Colonel Graff (Ford), have been training gifted young people to become soldiers in preparation for any subsequent attacks.

    Selected to attend the elite Battle School, which is a space station orbiting Earth, is Ender Wiggins (Butterfield), a shy 12-year-old who’s a cunning strategist. This punishing outer space boot camp is designed to weed out those who don’t have the physical, mental or emotional stamina for combat, but the task is even harder for Ender since Graff has made it clear that he’s the most outstanding pupil and expects him to outclass his peers.

    Though the book predates “The Hunger Games” and the “Harry Potter” novels, “Ender’s Game” has the misfortune of coming to the screen after those books, which borrow from Card the notion of a young person who must withstand extreme challenges and compete against others to prove himself worthy. Consequently, this movie adaptation (written and directed by “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” filmmaker Hood) feels somewhat familiar — an impression strengthened by the fact that this is the umpteenth coming-of-age story about a meek, lowly protagonist ordained as “the one” who must uncover untapped depths to fulfill his destiny.

    If “Ender’s Game” isn’t particularly original, Hood at least imbues the story with a grim urgency, which borders on humorless but nonetheless conveys a tautness that’s sufficiently compelling. Card’s book happened years before the 9/11 attacks, but there’s no mistaking the film’s evoking of that day in its depiction of an Earth still reeling from the Formics’ devastating, unexpected assault.

    Glum paranoia hovers over the film, and it’s conveyed nicely in Butterfield, perhaps best known as the star of “Hugo” and “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.” The young actor projects an almost inhuman stillness that suggests Ender’s cold brilliance, which is crucial since that quality is precisely why Graff thinks so highly of him: The boy takes great pride in his talent for analytical decision-making, sometimes at the expense of compassion.

    Speaking of Graff, this gruff commander gives Ford one of his best roles in years. His star power largely diminished, Ford has struggled to find worthwhile parts of late, occasionally sleepwalking through material beneath him. But he latches onto this pitiless military man, bringing real fire to the character. He and Butterfield have a winning rapport: In Graff, Ender sees a disciplinarian father figure, and in Ender the older man sees his last best chance to ensure that Earth will never again be tormented by the ferocious Formics.

    To graduate from Battle School, Ender and his troop (including a no-nonsense cadet played by an underused Hailee Steinfeld) must defeat other troops in a series of competitions, and while there’s a familiarity to this plot construction, Hood and his effects team do a nice job delivering enough of a wow factor. This is most prominent in a zero-gravity pseudo-laser tag game; assisted by composer Steve Jablonsky’s booming, solemn score, Hood gives us a rousing, visually impressive action sequence. The filmmaker tops that later with a startlingly believable attack-simulator exercise as Ender leads his team in an imaginary fight against the Formics, his every movement at the command bridge like a conductor guiding his underlings in a concerto of violence.

    The movie is now being screened in Shenzhen. (SD-Agencies)

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