Shoulda, coulda, woulda been a great-er movie

Rating: 7/10 (28 December 2013)

I am not sure how I feel about this movie. The story line was great and so chock-full of so much potential for development of the central character. The story line just seemed to move at inconsistent paces for me-turbo speed in some sections and snail slow in what seemed to be irrelevant. I am not sure if it was a direction issue or screen play development issue. I wanted so much to champion Ender as a character and in the end couldn't quite figure out if his character was left decimated by the ultimate consequence of his actions that he was left to ponder and pick up the pieces. Asa Butterfield was such a good actor who could have been directed into a greater role. Harrison Ford's and Viola Davis's role felt one-dimensional and repressed with lines that were too predictable. Some of the scenes felt like it had no context set for viewers who had never read the book. Ben Kingsley's role as the colonel who trail-blazed was reduced to looking like a comical wild-man gone nuts and with maori markings on his face for the hell of it. There is so much I could say- the interactions between the children and the different troops felt too rehearsed and not organic enough. The combat scenes felt more like a video game club taking themselves too seriously. Now I wish I had read the book instead. I just was left wanting more depth, more development of the central characters, more exposition of the background on the alien ant-like creatures who invaded earth (I think?) The backgrounds and backdrops looked cheap in some of the scenes and left needing more. In the end, I walked away wishing for more of this and more of that....sigh!