Disastrous

Rating: 2/10 (29 December 2014)

Ender's Game is a poorly executed mess of a film. If you have not read the book beforehand do not bother watching it as I suspect it will make almost no sense. Those who have read the book will find themselves confused at the decision making which went into this movie and will likely regret seeing it as I do.
The entire first 60 minutes of the film feel like a throw away where the director tried to cram in too many scenes but did not bother or did not have the skill to flesh them out properly. They end up being a series of disjointed and unfinished scenes which would be near incomprehensible in context if you had not read the book. Character development is non-existent even for Ender and Peter may as well have been left out of this production for all his brief appearances added.
What were the writers thinking by changing minor details of the story from the book when they add nothing to the film - why is Bean in Ender's launch? Why bring up gender relations at the Battle School (and why change them from the book)? Why on Earth would Bernard be one of Ender's toon leaders? And why leave out the scene where Ender breaks Bernard's arm? None of these changes do anything to help the story work as a film.
Half way through the film upon arrival at Fleet School the story begins to work a bit better and we actually get a bit of the atmosphere of the book and Ender's internal struggles. Unfortunately the only adult actor in this film who seemed to put forth any effort was Kingsley and his character was neutered and completely devoid of any backstory or character development. The omission of all conversation between Ender and Rackham concerning the social structure and communication abilities of the Formics results in a hollow relationship and no connection to the story for the viewer. They don't even bother to explain why or how the ships have arrived at the Formic's homeworld so the deception game between Ender and the commanders during the final battles falls flat. All of this combines so that the climax scene comes and goes with a whimper with little context or meaning. The final scenes of the film where Ender retrieves the Queen larvae should have been cut entirely and the run time used to flesh out the story in the first half of the film as it makes no sense in the context of the film due to the decision to not explain how the Formics work as a society.
Ultimately this film is not worth watching. I struggle to see how this script made it to production with such a massive budget.