WHO’S IN IT?
Asa Butterfield (Hugo), Harrison Ford (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Ben Kingsley (Gandhi), Viola Davis (The Help), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), Aramis Knight (The Dark Knight Rises), Moises Arias (Despicable Me 2), Jimmy Pinchak (Let Me In), Brandon Soo Hoo (Tropic Thunder), Nonso Anozie (Atonement), Dee Bradley Baker (American Dad)
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Gavin Hood (Tsotsi), director, writer; Orson Scott Card (film debut), Robert Chartoff (Rocky), Lynn Hendee (The Tempest), Alex Kurtzman (Now You See Me), Linda McDonaugh (Rabbit Hole), Roberto Orci (Star Trek Into Darkness), Gigi Pritzker (Drive) and Ed Ulbrich (film debut), producers; Steve Jablonsky (Transformers), composer; Donald McAlpine (Moulin Rouge), cinematographer; Lee Smith (The Dark Knight) and Zach Staenberg (The Matrix), editors
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
After an alien race known as the Formics attacks Earth, the International Fleet begins preparing for the next inevitable invasion by recruiting young children and teaching them how to fight, all the while hoping a candidate will emerge as a new leader and war hero. They happen to find one such child, the shy but strategic Ender (Butterfield), and he is soon plucked from obscurity into deep training as overseen by mentor Colonel Graff (Ford)…
WHY SHOULD YOU BE EXCITED?
Considering its popularity upon its publication in the mid-eighties, it’s fascinating that it’s taken this long for Ender’s Game to actually become movie material. It seems, however, that waiting nearly thirty years for the film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s sci-fi novel has been the best path possible to the big screen.
Strapped with a large blockbuster budget – though $110 million may not be gangbusters it’s still large – it has access to some of the finest CG artistry in Hollywoodland to make Scott Card’s visions a distinct reality. But while the author has a producer credit here, this adaptation is more through the eyes of writer-director Gavin Hood. The Oscar-winning South African filmmaker, for his 2005 film Tsotsi, has dabbled in big-budgeted studio flicks with the despised X-Men Origins: Wolverine but he has hopefully learned from his mistakes and taken grasp of the source material with enough confidence to make it work for audiences.
Its budget has also made it possible for actors both new and old to share the screen. Representing some of today’s finest young actors are Oscar nominees Hailee Steinfeld and Abigail Breslin, and Hugo’s Asa Butterfield as Ender himself. All three, and many other youngsters cast in smaller roles, will have to share their acting chops with some real legends including Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis and, in his first true sci-fi role since Return of the Jedi, Harrison Ford. Hood definitely has a lot of attraction from some of the industry’s most respected actors, even if he did make that damn Wolverine movie, and they should all deliver because of it.
However, the adaptation of Ender’s Game has caused a bit of a wave recently – not for the film itself, but rather for the reputation of Orson Scott Card. The author has been highly vocal of his disapproval for the gay community in the past, which has caused various media groups like GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) to urge people to boycott the movie due to his unnervingly-public homophobia. Now, while the idea of someone being against the idea of homosexuality in this day and age is beyond ludicrous, one person’s viewpoints should not have an effect on a movie they just happened to help make. It should still be seen by anyone who wants to see the film, and though Ender’s Game may come from the mind-set of a man with questionable morals it still remains one of the year’s most anticipated sci-fi blockbusters for many good reasons.
