"Ender's Game" Movie Review

             Many people decide to read a book right before they go see the adaptation of it in a film, but just because they are about to see the movie. With Ender’s Game, I did not do that, because it would only cause me to criticize the film more for being less like the book which could cause me to enjoy it less which could make paying to go see this movie seem unnecessary and that it I should not have gone. That why I did not read the book… and that I am too lazy to read the book.           
           In this review, I will not use my separate sections, because I have many things to say about the film as a whole, so I will have an acting section, and then go straight into the rest of the film. Asa Butterfield, along with Ben Kingsley and Harrison Ford, did really, really well. Hailee Steinfeld as did very well, but do did not have as much screen time as expected. Abigail Breslin and Viola Davis also did well as their characters. The acting was surprising really good in this movie, and even supporting roles were good.

            Now it is time to get down to business. I will start in a chronological order. The film’s first thirty minutes were not very good. This is because we have many flaws with the script and the plot (story). Within these thirty minutes there are three or four instances of bullying. The first one was clichéd and silly, but the rest were unneeded and forced. The writing for these bullies was not very good and we had instances in which we know someone would do something else and what they are doing is the illogical thing to do. We know that due to how someone is treated this way, they will not be treated another way by nearly the same peers. It set itself out to be a film that kids enjoy and parents do not. It is slightly okay to have one of those if it not rated PG-13. But since this one is, the first thirty minutes of this movie are “not okay”. It has unrealistic elements (for what it was) and script was not held tightly.

            In the next fifteen to thirty minutes, though, it became much better. Once the major plot actually starts in the first thirty minutes of the film, it started to get better. But when it the forty-five minute mark, it really started improving. We got better dialogue (which I did not mention was bad in the first thirty minutes) and the plot started to hold itself together. Even in the first thirty minutes, the film was enjoyable, but here it had a significantly fewer amount of flaws with the script. In the first thirty minutes, it does have a small number of bland or boring moments, which it also has in the next thirty minutes, but in these thirty minutes we get more character development and more of a story. We did have a few instances of bullying in this thirty minutes, it is better written and there is less of it. Also, when the film hit around the fifty or fifty-five minute mark, I started thinking of it as a good movie. I do have another flaw with the first entire hour of it, there. There were about two scenes in which in the beginning I predicted how the scene would conclude and predicted correctly. But I still did enjoy the second half hour much more than the first.

            This is an overall statement of the movie, but right here I will state that the film was surprisingly very unpredictable. It set out to make itself seem like it was very clichéd and predictable, but it took a completely different direction. There were two times in the film in which I thought that I had everything figured out, but then it very quickly switched gears on me and took a huge turn into a different direction. Many major events of the movie really surprised me, and even though I predictable one plot event, it was a huge deal, do to how it drove me away from my prediction: About ten minutes before this major event, I thought “What if they do this” and that thought was correct. Though, in the ten minutes before the event transpired, my head was nearly cleared of the idea. So, I did take off a bit from the movie, but not an enormous amount. Also, the conclusion of the film is fantastic. It is an overpowering and painstakingly excellent way for a final scene to transpire. It connects to previous scenes of the film so well that you have no idea what is going on when you what is happening earlier in the film, but when the end comes, it all makes sense. The conclusion surprised me when I had no idea what was coming and that there would even be a conclusion like this. I would have never guessed it.

            Now that I am back to the chronology of the film, I will talk about the next thirty minutes of it. While it continues improving for the next fifteen minutes, there comes a very surprising and intense scene, but it causes the plot to bend out of place for five to ten minutes, and it brings the film down. But when the story comes back together, Ben Kingsley comes in to save the day and the next fifteen minutes of the movie get better and better. As the movie continues to improve upon itself, it brings out an underlying theme. I will not say the theme, but look for it in the movie. Anyway, this thirty minutes continued the story, even though it did get away from the central plot too much, and led up to the end of the film.

            From the one hour and thirty minute mark of the film to the end, it gets better and better. We get cool action sequences and this section contains the amazing ended. I really, really enjoyed this twenty minutes of the film. It contained intense scenes and made us somewhat care about the characters, which is also a flaw that we did not care about the characters in the first thirty minutes to hour of the film. I actually turned out to really enjoy this film, thanks to this twenty minute section of it.

            Now that I have finished reviewing the movie in a chronological order, I will talk about different pieces of it. Right now, I will get to the effects. This film looks great. Director Gavin Hood and cinematographer Donald McAlpine really made the futuristic element of the look of this movie pop out at you. This film also had excellent effects. You can barely tell that CGI and green screen are being used in this film. Everything looks almost real.

            I will now talk about the directing and writing of the film. Gavin Hood not only directed it, but he also wrote the screenplay, which is a problem. First, I will talk about his directing. I already talked about the look of the movie, but I will mention the shots. He has good shots in the movie, but also has too many cuts in a few scenes in the movie. There was one in which four people were talking, and he kept switching between their heads. Most of the flaws with his shots were in close-ups of people’s heads. But overall, he did an alright job with the shots and did a very good job directing in general. Though, I did have many flaws with the writing and I think if the same person who directed the movie did not write it, it would not have as many flaws. I think that Hood was trying to take on a different vision and was not able to handle it. He also had to add several “filler” lines of dialogue to keep the audience from reaching boredom. So, I do not think Gavin Hood should have written the screenplay, because he is a better director than writer.

            That is all that I have to say about the film, and I will not have an overall section, so I will just go ahead and rate it, but I will say that this is a very good movie.

            On my rating system, I rate the movie “Worth Seeing At The Theater”.
            On the grading rating system, I give the film a B+.
            And on the out-of-10 rating system, I give Ender’s Game an 8.2/10.