“The way we win matters.”

Justin’s rating: At least they still have iPads in the future

Justin’s review: If you’re a scifi book nerd, there are certain titles and series that are downright rites of passage. Among these is Ender’s Game, a 1985 military scifi novel that focused not on grizzled spaceship captains or hyper-competent Amazonian warriors but on children trained to fight the greatest threat our planet’s ever seen.

The long-awaited film adaptation rolled out in 2013 and did decently, probably thanks to the star power of Harrison Ford and Sir Ben Kingsley anchoring the posters. However, this is really the tale of Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a pint-sized genius (and borderline Mary Sue) whose tenacity in battle is only matched by his empathy and humility.

Ender is among a group of elite children who are attending a battle school, competing and training to be the upcoming military generals of humanity’s space fleet. It’s a bit of a coming-of-age story coupled with a futuristic boot camp — but this one more for brains than physical prowess.

As Ender strives to prove himself through the training sims and make friends among his cutthroat classmates, his superiors — mainly Colonel Graff (Ford) and Major Anderson (Viola Davis) — push his psychological limits and try to mold him into the species-saving hero they need him to be.

Their main field of simulated battle is a gigantic zero G training room where the students learn spatial strategy, work in teams, and basically play the coolest game of laser tag ever. Eventually, Ender is put in charge of Dragon Army, a group of misfits that he trains up to fight smartly and unconventionally.

I’ve always had a soft spot for movies and especially novels where protagonists navigate the relationships, classes, and special challenges of a military training facility. A hero who’s got the brains, the personality, the relationship skills, and especially the will to make it through the gauntlet is a compelling journey to me. Predictable, but it’s how that character gets there that can be very nuanced.

And this journey is all about what Ender is willing to do to win, what he’s willing to trade of his compassion and care, and how he might be playing the game differently than everyone expects. Forget the CGI and space battles of Ender’s Game — the real core here is the character’s empathy and how it might be a greater strength than Graff or others guess.

Ender’s Game didn’t perform as expected at the box office, and maybe that’s because audiences expected just the space battles and some Starship Troopers-like arc. It’s far more of a character study of a kid — well-acted, I might add — put into a crucible of wartime training to see what might happen.

From my memory, it’s fairly faithful to the book and realizes the zero G sequences quite well. There’s great music and eye candy, and Asa Butterfield totally lands the character of Ender. This film is not my new favorite space opera or anything, but it’s more cerebral and interesting than most teenage dystopian trash that came out that decade — and that makes it worth seeing. Maybe a few times.

Intermission!

• Not many movies would start with a title screen quote from the main hero
• “Just remember what I do to people who try to hurt me.”
• Jet fighters vs spaceships is pretty cool if not wholly original
• “Even if I have a legitimate ques–” “SHUT IT WIGGIN!”
• You’re upset he killed a video game character? Have you never played a video game before? Or seen one?
• Hallway baseball
• A special note of praise for the soundtrack, which is stirring enough that I want to buy it at some point
• “I quit. What are you going to do?”