Ender's Game Review

Ender's Game (2013)
Director: Gavin Hood (X-men Origins: Wolverine).
Actors: Harrison Ford (like you really need credits), Ben Kingsley (Gandhi, Iron Man 3), Asa Butterfield (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Hugo).

Ender's Game makes Gravity look like Sharknado.

My mind is still attempting to process the myriad levels of brilliance contained within the film and that one sentence is what keeps coursing through my grey matter.

I have not read the book. I saw the trailer countless times this summer when viewing other films, but I maintained complete indifference, for I suffer from a condition of the mind that clearly puts forth "children cannot act."

The plan was simply to see Ender's Game out of duty, based on the premise that my designation at Action A Go Go is "Sci-Fi Columnist."

Fortunately, I was given some tickets to an advanced screening of the film, and again, I state: Ender's Game makes Gravity look like Sharknado. I did a review for Gravity that can easily be summed up as "pretty, but lacking substance." However, Ender's Game is a masterpiece that excels on every level of film making.

The Story

Earth faces an alien enemy that almost brought human kind to its knees. The powers that be start drafting and training younger and younger recruits for military service because of their excellent hand/eye coordination and ability to process great amounts of information at faster speeds than adults.

Ender Wiggen (played by Asa Butterfield) is a young man that must endure the brutal training it takes to be successful at war with the aliens.

Alphas

 - The cast is exemplary across the board. Ford shows that he can still give a convincing performance that does not involve resting upon his laurels. Kingsley maintains an intensity only like he can. And my mental affliction about child actors? Blown out of the water. Not only did Asa Butterfield show that his skills go way beyond his years, every other child actor was convincing and remarkable.

Ford, Butterfield and the rest of the cast give outstanding performances.

- Its been a big year for visuals and special effects (Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, Pacific Rim, Gravity). Some were creative and substantive in their use of CGI, others tried to compensate with same for lack of decent writing. But none match the artistic level of Ender's Game. From start to finish, this film is one long, continual ocular bliss fest. If you don't see it in IMAX, you're doing yourself a disservice.

- Editing and pacing were perfect. An exemplary balance of interpersonal moments and intense action. The 114 minutes seemed to be over much too quickly, and at no point did I ever think "Ok...lets move along" or "Whoa...slow it down!"

- As we've come to realize in an age where movie studios are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into special effects, more is needed than shiny things that make people go "ooooooh" and "ahhhhhhh." Ender's Game is loaded with heavy concepts and poses questions regarding ethics that will have people talking for years. Such a blend of sci-fi action and substance is a rarity. And this film has found the perfect balance between movement and thought.

CGI used purposefully, flawlessly and with true artistic inspiration. Not a byte was wasted nor unnecessary.

- Being a die-hard fan of science fiction film and television, I find myself having to maintain suspension of disbelief quite a lot. Added to that is an ability to withstand high levels of cheese in terms of writing or acting. Neither of those skills were required during this film. And that's what Ender's Game is...a film. Not a movie. Not a mere post-summer blockbuster. It's a film. And one that I'm certain will be considered in the same ranks as 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Matrix.

Deltas

This section normally covers things that are deficient in a movie's creation. I have nothing to list here. And I can only say if someone sees the film and finds fault, I pity them.

Action A Go Go or Action A No No?

If you took the distilled essence of all that is pure and good about Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Tron and Firefly, then multiplied it by the power of 23, that would be the level of awesomeness that this film contains.

Ender's Game gets...

 5 out of 5 Arnolds!!!

Pages more could be written analyzing every minute detail of this exceptional film, but this is a spoiler free review and any more details might give things away. However, with its stunning visuals, complex and thought provoking writing, and award-winning acting, I would put forth that not only is this the best science fiction movie of the year, but one of the greatest of all time.

And here's a trailer for just a taste of this true work of cinematic art.

Stephen Sumner is the science fiction columnist for Action A Go Go. His favorite sci-fi series include Firefly, Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek. He can be followed on Twitter at Sumner@vierlights or on the Tumblr machine at NX01Sumner.

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