Underrated Epic Sci-Fi Mind Blower!

Rating: 10/10 (13 November 2013)

It's a shame that Orson Scott Card (OSC) is homophobic as per his religion (LDS) because if not for that this movie would be getting all the praise it deserves. I cannot condone his immoral attitude towards gays, but I also cannot let his personal flaws influence my love of this fantastic movie. Clearly, no expense was spared in bringing his vision to fruition, and I applaud his patience in finding the right team to do so 28 years after being written.
Don't be surprised that Cirque du Soleil was responsible for the flawless depiction of weightlessness in the battle training room. The choreography and filming of those war games was no less than exquisite as were the actual battles that followed.
My daughter Ashlay (who read the books) and I both saw it at IMAX and then later in a regular theater. As usual, the IMAX experience was well worth the extra money. I do recommend bringing an OSC reader with you to better understand the minutia of the plot.
The acting was much better than I expected going in. That kid Butterfield (Ender) had me convinced he was the best choice for that very demanding role. If not for OSC's political problems I'd expect the kid to get an Academy Award Nomination at the least, and who knows, maybe he will anyways? Harrison Ford was flawless, I don't get the critics who said otherwise. The girl from True Grit was perfect for her role as his best friend. The other kids were excellent and Kingsly was amazing as always as the legendary Mazer Rackham.
**Spoilers** As an admitted movie snob I'm always looking for flaws in the plot, the acting, the science, everything, even the costumes and the music. Example: I think the main reason Star Wars episodes I, II, & III sucked compared to IV, V, & VI was because they were shot in DV and they used too much CGI instead of models & puppets. In Ender's Game (EG) the CGI and cinematography was par excellence! One brilliant thing was the use of cartoony CGI characters for the game he discovered in which parts of it later turned out to be an alien queen "thinking to him". It was even more enjoyable aesthetically than just about any CGI cartoon I've ever seen including Shrek, The Incredibles, or Toy Story which all scored a 10/10 by me. Cartoon Valentine was even prettier than she is in real life which in itself is a feat.
I asked my daughter why there was no "ping" (delay between command and execution) during the battle sequences. She replied that this is explained by OSC's invention of "ansible" which is a machine capable of instantaneous or "superluminal" communication. I thought for sure I had discovered scientific implausibility. They do actually mention it even if they don't fully explain it. I also suspected a flaw in that there is a complete lack of diplomacy towards the aliens which is also Ender's big complaint in the end. That is explained away with the fact that this species is on the one hand extremely sophisticated and yet tragically simplistic in nature much like the ants that it very intentionally resembles. It may possibly be the greatest tragedy that the queens are incredibly intelligent and yet have no easy way of communicating with a species as overtly communicative as we humans who also turn out to be overtly destructive. Ender is sobbing when he realizes that they've tricked him into annihilating an entire race at the same moment that he falls in love with them. In his own infamous and prophetic words: "In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him." Although I wasn't able to empathize with the aliens, Ender's reaction to the event rang as true as the epic tragedy that it was. Clearly OSC wanted to convey that Ender's greatest virtue is his ability to empathize despite every effort by his teachers to make him behave otherwise. While Mazer Rackham only wished to speak for the dead of his own race, Ender is clearly more interested in speaking for the victims of what he believed "need not have happened" including the billions if not trillions of alien creatures he wiped out and one thousand or so humans that died in the final battle. As a devoted vegan myself, I do empathize more with animals than I ever did before, and yet I didn't feel a thing when the aliens were wiped out, but Ender sure did, which exposes possibly the most important flaw in human society at large: "In their behavior toward creatures, all men are Nazis. Human beings see oppression vividly when they're the victims. Otherwise they victimize blindly and without a thought." - Isaac Singer.
In this movie, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) is successfully portrayed as an epic hero with the best qualities of Gandhi, Darth Vader, Einstein, and Abraham Lincoln combined. He is an immeasurably gifted genius like Einstein with the empathy and compassion of a Gandhi or a Lincoln but also the ability to fearlessly and skillfully lead a vast army and kill his enemy in the manner of Darth Vader. One of the other tragedies is that he does so at the tender age of only 14.
I haven't seen a sci-fi movie this good since Avatar and before that I have to go all the way back to the original Star Wars. I rank this movie in the top 5 of all time sci-fi at position #3 ahead of Aliens and The Terminator. I can't wait for the next 4 movies to come out, and judging by OSC's patience, I don't expect that to happen soon.