I do like Sci-Fi movies that test the boundaries of our morality by imagining extreme future scenarios. Ender's Game is certainly one of those - it imagines a world when we deliberately turn children into soldiers to fight an enemy which threatens our very existence.
Unfortunately, it treats this grave subject with kid gloves.
The children who are sent to fight the alien Formics are treated to a series of war 'games', simulations that progressively get more and more complex. The problem is that these games are always one step removed from the actual enemy.
So all we really see is a group of school kids with all their usual petty disagreements, who just happen to play video games. It never really feels like training child soldiers is a particularly unusual or worrisome endeavour.
The movie is somewhat rescued by the excellent Asa Butterfield, who plays Ender, the child commander of Earth's forces. He is a genuinely complex and interesting character, and Butterfield is the only actor in this movie of real talent (even Harrison Ford was mediocre in comparison).
I did enjoy watching Ender's Game but I am struggling to rate it as any more than just average.
Unfortunately, it treats this grave subject with kid gloves.
The children who are sent to fight the alien Formics are treated to a series of war 'games', simulations that progressively get more and more complex. The problem is that these games are always one step removed from the actual enemy.
So all we really see is a group of school kids with all their usual petty disagreements, who just happen to play video games. It never really feels like training child soldiers is a particularly unusual or worrisome endeavour.
The movie is somewhat rescued by the excellent Asa Butterfield, who plays Ender, the child commander of Earth's forces. He is a genuinely complex and interesting character, and Butterfield is the only actor in this movie of real talent (even Harrison Ford was mediocre in comparison).
I did enjoy watching Ender's Game but I am struggling to rate it as any more than just average.