So I just got ahold of this film last night. I had heard of it before but really knew absolutely nothing about it. I knew it had the legendary Mr. Ford. I knew it was a science fiction picture taking place in the future and in space. With that being said I will get down to it.
Ender's Game is a film about war essentially, but played out like a very cool and realistic video game. It is about a military outfit that recruits children and trains them with a high tech laser tag and high tech virtual reality war simulator, all in order for the said children to learn military strategy. I gotta say I really like the story but that may be because I have a soft spot for sci-fi. I have never read a book by the author before but I would say that I would probably like books as well. The one thing I am sure the book has above this movie is no bad acting. Let's get something straight right now, not all the acting is bad. Harrison Ford does what he usually does, Hailee Steinfeld is great and we all need to look out for her because after seeing her in this and in True Grit a few years ago, she's gonna explode in a wicked way. There are a few more other smaller characters and do a pretty okay job too. Now onto my only actor that can't act his way out of a box. His name is Asa Butterfield. Now if you go to IMDB and look this kid up and go to the forums everyone is all up on this boys nuts. Not that way you freakin perverts, but only in the "this kid is the greatest actor of all time" way. I have seen a few of the movies he has been in and I gotta say that he has never made an impression on me until now. That impression though is a very bad one because he gives us a completely wooden and shitty performance, I was wicked not impressed. I mean really how does a director expect to put a newcomer in the same shot as a legend and hope they can hold their own? Well he doesn't.
Special effects are really cool. They are obviously CGI and green screen type because that is what Hollywood does now no matter what. They can't for the life of them make practical effects like was done back in the day. But in this films defense, they are done very well. I thought that it was going to be one of those films where all the space ships and explosions would look cool but when it came down to actually showing the bad guy they would fall flat. I was wrong because when the alien creatures make their appearance I was pleasantly surprised, as they were good looking bug alien things.
All in All I would have to say that anyone who likes sci-fi or maybe a bootcamp style movie would most likely enjoy this film.
