Emotional story? Bah! We have cool effects!

Rating: 4/10 (2 February 2014)

Who needs an interesting story when you have cool spaceships!!!
I think that was the mantra that Gavin Hood and the production of "Ender's Game" had when they made the film. While basically a big budget popcorn action sci-fi film, "Ender's Game" (the novel) has always had a reputation of not only being written by a complete lunatic who thinks 9/11 was a good thing for the country and that homosexuals are really, REALLY bad but has offered up interesting ideas about war, genocide and desensitizing children to the horrors of violence and battles. The film doesn't offer any of these ideas up or they just cover them and push them aside in order to celebrate how good they made the special effects look.
The film has tremendous performances but the story lacks any real spark and is almost completely devoid of any drama, tension or thrills thanks to director Gavin Hood being more worried about you seeing that the special effects look really, REALLY good and thinks actually seeing reactions from his actors when reaction shots are kinda important for the scene are just optional. This ended up just making the film boring and forgettable for me.
"Ender's Game" could have been a great or even just a decent sci-fi tale but with an overall sense that CG was better than character, spirit or emotion, the film just feels pointless.
Hi! My name is Rev. Ron and I love movies! So much so that I write a blog where I review whatever film I am currently watching (Old or new!). You can read a more in-depth review of this film (and others) at revronmovies.blogspot.com.