Ender's Game

Title: Ender's Game (12)

Year: 2013

Running Time: 114 minutes

Director: Gavin Hood

Cast: Harrison Ford (Colonel Graff), Asa Butterfield (Ender Wiggin), Hailee Steinfeld (Petra Arkanian)

Notes: Won one award.

Rating: 8

Thoughts:   Ender is one of many young people recruited by the International Military to fight the Formics, an alien race that nearly destroyed mankind once before.

The young lead is excellent as we go with him through the challenges of training. He allows us to empathise with him easily and is a softer contrast to the tough Colonel played by Ford.

The sets all look suitably futuristic and provide a good back drop. Most of the lesser cast then add their contribution too and the whole thing has pace.

Sometimes there is a little too much of that pace, with the plot hard to follow on its diversions. Fortunately there is a central pathway story for it all and the diversions do eventually all come back together, and a lot of them don't especially matter.

That does mean we miss a lot of the back story parts, often the case with an adaptation, and perhaps that pushes this more towards being an action film. But it is a good one none the less, and the ending has a good twist that is delivered well.