'Ender's Game' will truly satisfy every sci-fi fan and will leave them clamoring for more. I know it did for me.

Rating: 8/10 (22 August 2015)

Gavin Hood's adaptation of Orson Scott Card's 'Ender's Game' is everything I wanted it to be and more. I'll admit, judging by the trailers to this film, I didn't quite see how this would work, and I even thought it didn't look the least bit good. But ten minutes into the film, I knew i was dead wrong. And not only wrong, but this might be one of my favorite films of the year, and might be one of the best sci-fi films ever made. I know, that's a strong statement to make, but I stand by it. This visually stunning film, along with its great performances and story have created one hell of a fine film, that I sure hope will make enough money to warrant a sequel. Because after watching this two hour sci-fi opus, I wanted more...immediately.
'Ender's Game' takes place in an unidentified future Earth, where a short while ago, aliens showed up in the sky. Naturally, Earth attacked, and all things went to hell when the aliens swarmed Earth, almost destroying humankind. Luckily for us, a fighter pilot named Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), figured out a way to get the aliens off our planet. But the governments became to scared and started preparing for the aliens to come back and retaliate.
Now some fifty years after the aliens came and went from Earth, we meet Andrew 'Ender' Wiggin', the youngest of three in a world where population control is at an all-time high. However, at Ender's young age of ten, he has a rare gift that has him able to analyze any situation and successfully achieve the best outcome possible. It's like he's the best chess player in the world, but with real life, as we see him defeat his school bully, but then still brutally attacks him while he's on the ground, and then explains that he, "wanted to win the fight, and all fights after that." This is a trait Col. Graff (Harrison Ford) is looking for in his training network.
Come to find out, the government now believes that children have better intuition and make better decisions than adults, and with their video game playing skills, they can fly ships and evade enemies easily. So now there is a giant space station that hovers above Earth where selected kids go to train to be fighters against these aliens. And Col. Graff thinks Ender might be the sole leader to lead the entire army to defeat these aliens. A lot of the film is set in a type of bootcamp in space and is very similar to 'Harry Potter', where kids are in a special school and divided into teams where they are constantly learning and competing against each other. They even have team colors and names. You can't say this stole from 'Harry Potter' though, as 'Ender's Game' was written a couple of decades before the magical world of Harry Potter.
Not only do the higher ups in the army like Ender for his skills, but that he seems to possess certain traits equally that kept his brother Peter (the violent sociopath) and sister Valentine (the caring peaceful girl), played by Abigail Breslin out of this academy. And it's here that we see Ender (Asa Butterfield) struggle with the task he has been given, which is basically to commit genocide on an alien race. But as he says and has a unique gift for, he can always tell and knows what his enemies are thinking and believing, and when he finds this out, hate turns to love. Petra (Hailee Steinfeld), a girl in the academy he meets sticks by his side and helps him along the way.
The epic climax and twist will blow you away, if you already haven't read the books, and the actors pull it off very well. There could have been so many moments in the film where situations could have been handled poorly, but instead were executed by talented people and garnered excellent reactions inside the theater. Harrison Ford has done the best acting job here than he's done in the past several years. He owns this role. Plus it's great to see him in space again. Butterfield does and amazing job of being a constant emotional wreck, but always steps up to the plate when he has to. Viola Davis, Steinfeld, Kingsley, and Breslin all turn in good performances as well.
The special effects are stunning as well here. The picture is on an epic scale and is always beautiful, specifically the space station where the kids train. The music score is also impressive and always adds so much emotion and suspense to each scene. 'Ender's Game' will truly satisfy every sci-fi fan and will leave them clamoring for more. I know it did for me.