Ender's Game Review
Written By James Wilt
WARNING: Spoilers Ahead for Ender’s Game
Space! Aliens! Drama! The cinematic adaptation of the critically acclaimed book Ender’s Game has all of that and much, much more. While fans of the book may feel as if there was more to be desired, the casual viewer will be engulfed in sci-fi galore. There is never a dull moment in Ender’s Game, so let’s unpack it all in the Spring Edition of James Reviews Sci-fi!
​
Before we dive into the nuances of the film, let’s start off with a quick summary. In the beginning of the movie, the audience is introduced to the war between the humans and the Formics, an alien species that tried to invade Earth fifty years ago. The invasion failed, but humanity never forgot. Since then, the group known as the International Fleet has been recruiting and training the brightest kids to prepare them to invade the Formics’ planet. After this brief introduction, we are introduced to Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, a twelve-year-old space combat prodigy. Ender had a monitor installed in his neck, a sign that the IF was interested in him, sparking jealousy in several of his classmates and leading them to constantly harass him at school. One day, Ender decides that enough is enough, retaliating and hospitalizing the leader of the bullies. This show of ruthlessness earns him a place in battle school, the precursor to entering the International Fleet.
​
Once Ender arrives at battle school, it is obvious that Ender is much more advanced than the other kids. He has a firm grasp on military strategy and space-fighting tactics. His genius does not go unnoticed, and he quickly rises through the ranks of battle school. Eventually, Ender is given control of his own “army”, a group of other battle school cadets that go up against other “armies” in training exercises. Through his great battle sense and tactical mind, Ender is able to defeat the top three armies at once, which earns him a trip to command school, which is where they train the most gifted kids to command their own fleets against the Formics.
​
Ender spends months without contact with the outside world, preparing to command his own fleet. Once he is ready, he is reintroduced to friends he made at battle school, and together, they complete simulated battles against the Formics. In the final simulation, Ender and his friends destroy the Formics’ homeplanet as well as the rest of the Formics. The generals behind them cheer in excitement as they reveal that they weren’t simulations at all, and that Ender had just wiped out an entire species. Ender is furious about being deceived into committing genocide unknowingly. When everything seems lost, the last formic telepathically reaches out to Ender and tells him the location of the last Formic egg. The movie ends with Ender vowing to protect the egg as well as the fate of the Formic race, whom he now realizes had made a mistake during their initial invasion, not recognizing humans as a sentient race.
​
My first thought after watching the movie is that it left me wanting more. The movie ends on a giant cliffhanger, but unfortunately, fans of the movie may be left dangling from that cliff for quite some time. The movie did not do well enough to deserve a sequel despite good viewer ratings and respectable critical ratings from sites like Rotten Tomatoes. For those of you who need to know how the story continues, the sequel to the novel has been written, though the book’s plot somewhat diverges from the movie.
​
Speaking of not being exactly like the movie, fans of the book may have felt that the movie rushed events of the book to the point that the plot was not very well explained, and I’m inclined to agree. Even though the movie is almost two hours long, the movie cut out around a third of the book to save time and money. The movie hardly covers the concept of armies and platoons rising in ranks, the central premise of battle school. Besides the Formics, no one of importance died in the film, which heavily contrasts what is found in the novel. In the movie, Ender is physically provoked twice, and both times he lands his attackers in the infirmary, but in the book they are not so lucky. Ender kills his school bully as a tactical maneuver so they could never hurt him again. At battle school, he is jumped in the shower and kills his attacker for the same reason. This ruthlessness in dire circumstances is what made Ender such a valuable commander.
​
The main thing that I believe the producers and directors could have spent a bit more time explaining was Ender’s tablet. We as the audience aren’t told why Ender and all the other cadets are given tablets, and we certainly don’t know why Ender is playing a game as a mouse in a fantasy land. Major Anderson briefly glosses over how it’s some type of test to see how he deals with frustration, but it is very unclear who coded it and the significance of it. We see Ender almost immediately solve the puzzle of the poison cup, but in the book it took him months to figure out as well as much more frustration to overcome. After he solves this puzzle, the mouse is transported to a fantasy world that is destroyed before his very eyes. He sees his sister, Valentine, walk towards a castle that is demolished, and Ender’s mouse runs toward the castle to find her. This whole sequence was never fully explained, leaving me wondering how Valentine was brought into the game in the first place. The significance of her presence in the game was lost on me, and I wish the director had explained it more.
​
Despite all of its flaws, Ender’s Game does a good job of showing the different perspectives of war and how it affects those involved. Even though the Formics tried to invade Earth, Ender still showed compassion towards them and felt guilt towards wiping them out, despite being tricked. Even in training, Ender was subjected to extreme psychological discomfort in his training at the hands of the people who were responsible for his wellbeing. It also did a great job of showing that neither side really “won.” Ender, the fearless commander who will have to live with the fact humanity almost wiped out an entire species under his command. The Formics, who had retreated to their own planet for good, nearly wiped from existence for a mistake fifty years prior. War does not have winners, just people who lose less.
All in all, Ender’s game has a lot to offer to the casual viewer but may leave fans of the novel feeling unfulfilled. There is plenty of action and sci-fi violence to entertain all viewers, but character development and plot progression is underwhelming. If you are looking to fill a couple of hours on a lazy Saturday, then this is the movie for you, but I don’t recommend going out of your way to watch this movie.
Final Ranking: 3/5 stars.