Thought Provoking Sci-Fi

Rating: 7/10 (1 November 2013)

I saw "Ender's Game", starring Asa Butterfield-Hugo, The Wolfman-2010; Harrison Ford-Cowboys & Aliens, Force 10 From Navarone; Hailee Steinfeld-Romeo and Juliet-2013, True Grit-2010; Abigail Breslin-The Call, Zombieland and Ben Kingsley-Iron Man 3, Hugo.
This is a movie based on a 1985 book by Orson Scott Card-FYI: There has been talk about people protesting the film because of the personal views of Mr. Card; he is anti-gay. The story takes place years after an alien invasion of the Earth. The aliens-ant like creatures-were eventually defeated by the courage and skill of a single fighter pilot-in the right place at the right time, kind of like Randy Quaid in 'Independence Day'. But, they decided that it would be best if they started preparing for a return engagement; you know how ants always come back. Harrison is in charge of the recruiting and it is decided that the best chance of winning would be to start using younger cadets, since they have the ability to think fast and they have fast reflexes, probably due to all the video games they play. Asa is the top contender and is sent through basic training with other kids his age. Hailee is a fellow cadet, Abigail plays his sister, back on Earth, and Ben plays one of the trainers during the sessions. Ben sports head and facial tattoos that are sort of like a road map to his personal ancestry of his home back in New Zealand. The training sessions resemble video gaming and there is more to the storyline than you would expect, including a discussion of the dilemmas of war and there is a nice little twist at the end. FYI: The US Marine Corps has 'Ender's Game' on their recommended reading list for officers because of the lessons in training methodology, leadership and ethics. It's rated "PG-13" for the action and violence and has a running time of 1 hour & 54 minutes. I enjoyed it and would buy it on Blu-Ray.