Big Picture Big Sound

"Game" of Groans

"Ender's Game" has the distinction of being one of the most beloved novels of the Science Fiction genre. In spite of author Orson Scott Card's unpopular politics, the story of Ender and his role as would-be savior of humankind is nuanced and deep, layering morality and ethics over an almost palpable desperation. It's hard to turn any piece of fiction with such a large following into a film that its core fanbase is crazy about mostly because it's so hard to compete with imagination. So how does "Ender" measure up?

Taken alone, as a film with no connection to anything at all, "Ender's Game" is pretty much what you'd expect. Fifty years ago, an alien race called Formics made an unsuccessful attempt at an invasion, and we're getting ready for a rematch. Because of their malleable minds and fearlessness, our greatest hope is an army of children, trained for command from infancy. Andrew "Ender" Wiggin ("Hugo"'s Asa Butterfield) is a young boy who has literally been born for this, and as he passes the last test on Earth and is accepted into Battle School, it seems he's destined for greatness. Ender's not the biggest kid, nor the toughest, but he's got promise: his creativity, ingenuity and ability to think on his feet keep him one step ahead of pretty much everyone... including his beast of a brother Peter and sensitive sister Valentine (Abigail Breslin) - neither of whom measured up themselves.

So Ender goes off to school, where he's bullied by students and teachers alike, isolated and pushed to his limits time and again. Everything at Battle School revolves around a zero-g game which pits one child-army against another - and Ender outclasses everyone basically from the start. He's graduated from his launch class to an army early (only to be despised by his commander); then he's graduated to commander of his own army even faster. Every input into Ender's life is specially crafted to push him further and Colonel Graff (played by Harrison Ford) is the puppetmaster behind it all.

Of course, even though Ender is constantly being manipulated, he doesn't have to like it. Graff's colleague Major Anderson (Viola Davis) points out early: he has a "complicated relationship with authority." Put simply, he periodically chooses to rebel in ways they don't expect, which makes him hard to control.

For those who love the book, there's a lot of frustration here. In a nutshell, it feels like someone filmed the story, then played it with their finger on the fast forward button - letting off almost exclusively at dramatic moments and action scenes - and printed the result. All mention of the fact that Asa Butterfield is far too old for the role aside, the most poignant and human parts of Ender's internal struggles are either glossed over or Hollywoodified. Ender gets in a few scuffles as he rockets to the top and while the actual fisticuffs are important, more important is the empathy he always feels for his opponent and reluctance to engage at all - but this is barely alluded to. Instead, it's too much about the fighting and his seeming inability to lose. Writer-director Gavin Hood (who also did "X-Men Origins: Wolverine") isn't all that concerned with Ender's vulnerability, even though that's where he's at his most interesting. Even Ender's complicated relationship with Peter is barely touched, which makes it hard to imagine following "Ender" up with "Speaker for the Dead" - strange when the long series of books would seem to invite a franchise.

Ultimately, Ender burns out and it takes Valentine to talk him into giving it another go. He's taken back to space, though not back to Battle School. Instead, he goes to a new school in an abandoned Formic colony, to learn to be a commander from the hero of the last invasion: Mazer Rakham, played very capably by Ben Kingsley. Rakham is Ender's enemy and teacher, and Ender - with his friends from Battle School serving beneath him - blossoms under his tutelage. But as the pace of his learning accelerates, Ender starts to wonder about the former inhabitants of this strange place. It all comes to a head during the final exam, which doesn't go the way anyone expects.

It's incredibly refreshing that filmmakers seem to have finally bucked the trend of making tedious, three-hour movies, but if you can't tell a story in two hours, then don't try to tell the story in two hours. So much of "Ender" is rushed, it makes you wonder how what they left lying abandoned on the cutting room floor. Will a Director's Cut make this better or was it all just dumbed down for an unsophisticated audience? From a many-layered novel comes a spectacle that's more likely to make you dizzy than it is to make you think.

As with any well-loved book-turned-movie it's difficult to separate the end product from the source material. Those who are unfamiliar with the story will likely be entertained: the movie is fairly well-paced, the actors do what they can and the direction isn't terrible, as much as the script disappoints. If you have read the book, don't read it again before seeing this - best not to have it too fresh in your mind. Sad to say: this film will be salt in an open wound.