“If there’s a chance that because of you the Formics might leave us alone, then I have to ask for you to come with me,” says Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) to Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) as he tries to recruit the odd, quiet but brilliant young man in battle school in the sci-fi film Ender’s Game.
 
70 years ago Earth was attacked and ravaged by an alien race called the Formics who almost destroyed humanity. The world was saved by a great space commander named Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley) who was able to find a weakness during a climatic battle.
 
Saying goodbye to his sister Valentine (Abigail Breslin) and the rest of his family, Ender leaves home to train and learn in an advanced space station in orbit around the Earth. Trained in all different kinds of combat and getting promoted faster than any other cadet, Ender is on the fast track to becoming the most empathetic killer the world has ever seen.
 
Visually breathtaking with impressive special effects and two strong performances, Ender’s Game is one of the better science fiction adventure films to come along in years. Harrison Ford delivers his second best performance of the year as Colonel Graff, a man determined to save mankind no matter how large the sacrifice or how devastating the outcome for those who must fight the upcoming war. He handles the balance of his characters admiration for Ender along with his fear of losing his prized pupil to stress and loneliness perfectly. Newcomer Asa Butterfield gives a stand-out performance as Ender, the quiet, sensitive yet extremely competitive and at times deadly young man whhose, perhaps, one salvation is the love he feels for him family, especially his sister Valentine. Ford and Butterfield have solid chemistry together in the film and the best acted scenes are between these two actors.
 
The special effects in Ender’s Game are truly marvelous, with the young cadets battling in the space station in zero gravity trying to get promoted to space commander and lead the best soldiers to battle the aliens everyone is convinced are coming back to invade Earth and annihilate the human race.
 
It’s unfortunate that the very talented young actress Abigail Breslin is pretty much wasted in the film as Valentine, Ender’s loving and overly-compassionate sister. She’s only given two scenes with Butterfield and both feel extremely forced and fake.
 
Another weakness is with the script which hints at and reveals too much of an unknown truth the audience is sure to figure out way too early in the film, thus removing one of the surprises near the end of the movie.
 
Still, with extraordinary special effects and Ford’s and Butterfield’s performances, Ender’s Game is a sci-fi adventure that should be seen up on the big screen to truly appreciate its movie magic.
 
GRADE: B-
 
Ender’s Game is rated PG-13 for some violence, sci-fi action and thematic material.

– By Kevin Finnerty

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