MOVIE PIT: ENDER’S GAME

Hey everyone! Welcome to Movie Pit. Movie Pit is a weekly movie review on TDN. All ratings for Movie Pit are based on the website Rotten Tomatoes, the free movie review website which judges if something is a ripe tomato (Above 60%) or a rotten tomato (Under 60%).

In the near future, a hostile alien race (called the Formics) have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young children to find the future Mazer. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy, but strategically brilliant boy is pulled out of his school to join the elite. Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult war games, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military’s next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he’s trained by Mazer Rackham, himself, to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race. Based on the best-selling, award-winning novel, ENDER’S GAME is an epic adventure which stars Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, with Abigail Breslin and Harrison Ford. — (C) Summit

Ender’s Game is definitely a movie I want to see. This movie is action-packed and full of surprises! However, many critics disagree and this movie had an extreme lack of positive remarks. “By the time the movie finally manages to get interesting, audiences may be too numb and their retinas too fried to win back,” stated by Chris Nashawaty with Entertainment Weekly. Scott Nash from Three Movie Buffs says, plain and simple, “Dreadfully mediocre.” According to Jeffrey M. Anderson from Combustible Celluloid, “The movie Ender’s Game is so-so, and will probably be so-so for just about everyone, whether they’ve read the book or not.” And the negative comments just keep on coming! “Not having read Card’s novel, I couldn’t say whether it was truly “unfilmable,” but what ended up on the screen is indeed “filmable” in that we’ve seen these narrative threads countless times before in science fiction cinema,” said by Matt Brunson on Creative Loafing. Dennis Schwartz from Ozus’ World Movie Reviews said that the movie ”Might have worked as a clever thought-provoking read, on film it’s a drag,” in his review.

The few positive remarks I found, however, are pretty decent. “The futuristic setting of the piece is beautifully realized, but it’s the emotional quotient that dominates and drives the film,” was said by Leonard Maltin on Leonard Maltin’s Picks. Mike McGranaghan from Aisle Seat said, “Smart, engaging, and fun. This is a case where a book has been turned into a film and, by and large, they actually managed to preserve most of what made it special.”

Despite the countless negative reviews by critics, Ender’s Game is still considered a ripe tomato with an overall 62% on Rotten Tomatoes. I’ll definitely be seeing this movie!