a visually rich film

Rating: Null/10 (17 June 2014)

*Spoiler/plot- Ender's Game, 2013. In Earth's future, bug-like aliens attacked the planet. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander Colonel Mazer Rackham; the Earth would have been lost. To preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Hyrum Graff with his International Military find the only the best young minds to save the Earth. Ender Wiggin, a quiet, sensitive but strategically brilliant young child, is recruited to join the International Military elite. Arriving at it's 'Battle School', Ender quickly and easily begins to master increasingly difficult challenges and simulations of space battle, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his child peers. Ender is soon selected by Colonel Graff as the military's next great hope, resulting in his promotion to 'Command School'. Once there, he's trained by legendary Mazer Rackham himself to lead his fellow space battle soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.
*Special Stars- Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfield, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Nonso Anozie.
*Theme- Children's instincts are often better than adults.
*Trivia/location/goofs- Color. Though only briefly visible on camera, the name tags on all the character's uniforms have the corresponding braille characters on them. Portions of the film were shot at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, where the massive external tanks for the space shuttle program were constructed. The alien 'Formics' have the features and behaviors of ants. Also relatedly, the compound Formic Acid is found in the venom of ants. The facial markings on the Queen at the film end when she shows Ender the egg cocoon are very similar to the traditional facial tattoos of the New Zealand Maori warrior/instructor Colenel Mazer Rackham.
*Emotion- THis is a visually rich film with expensive production values on the screen. But, unfortunately the politically progressive theme gets in the way of the 'suspending of belief' to enjoy this story. The plot is an old worn-out plot of grow-ups lying to children to get these children to compromise the ethics and basic goodness. The ending of the story has been done to death in other films and has become trite. A disappointing shame.
*Based on- The popular book.