Ender's Game

ACTION, ADVENTURE

Theoretical Warfare

7.75 out of 10 | Movie or DVD

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Rated: PG-13  Thematic material, some violence and sci-fi action
Release Date: November 1, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 54 minutes

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Director: Gavin Hood
Writers: Gavin Hood, based on the novel by Orson Scott Card
Cast: Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Aramis Knight, Moises Arias

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SYNOPSIS: The International Military seek out a leader who can save the human race from an alien attack. Ender Wiggin, a brilliant young mind, is recruited and trained to lead his fellow soldiers into a battle that will determine the future of Earth.

REVIEW: Gavin Hood, director of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, returns to the big screen after a short stint working for the small screen. Adapting the work of Orson Scott Card, Hood brings Ender Wiggins to screen at the perfect time.

50 years after an alien invasion by the Formic, Earth's military dedicates itself to enhancing its strategic preparedness to combat future extra-terrestrial threats. The International Military focuses on recruiting brilliant young boys and girls to train in the arts of war. Third child Ender Wiggins (Asa Butterfield, Hugo) follows in the footsteps of his older sister Valentine (Abigail Breslin, The Call) and his older brother Peter (Jimmy Pinchak, Let Me In). Competing to get into Battle School, Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford, 42) takes interest in Ender and pushes the young boy as far past his limits as he can. When Ender excels at all his schoolwork and tactical training, Graff promotes Ender to the orbiting space station for Battle School. Disliked, mistrusted or envied by the other 'Launchees', Ender must do everything he can to win over his fellow cadets. Rising up the ranks, Ender eventually finds himself face-to-face with endless simulation battles between the International Military and the planetary defenses of the Formic homeworld. Will Ender and his misfit squadron beat the Formic in a final simulation in order to graduate? And will they eventually be ready to face the true threat?

Based on the worldwide sci-fi bestseller novel 'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card, this adaptation remains as faithful as possible to the original story. Reading the novel as an adult, I have a greater appreciation for the story Card was telling. Not just a story of kids battling each other for supremacy in a academic school system – a la the Harry Potter franchise. Sure, the fate of the world between wizards and Muggles was threatened by Voldemort, but Ender's included the added components of having to save an entire planet from annihilation.

A sci-fi classic by Orson Scott card, 'Ender's Game' is the most accessible of the Enders stories for reading. As a series goes on, it gets more philosophical and deep. Cards later works, including 'Speaker for the Dead', 'Xenocide', and 'Children of the Mind', start to rival Frank Herbert's 'Dune' in terms of religion, philosophy, and exploration of xenomorphic entities. At the center of all the stories in the series, Ender struggles with is own nature, the solitary life he is forced to lead, and the choices he must make.

Ender's Game boasts a fine cast including Harrison Ford as Graff, Viola Davis (The Help) as Major Gwen Anderson, and Ben Kingsley (Iron Man 3) as Mazor Rackham. On the younger side Abigail Breslin plays Valentine, Moises Arias (The Kings of Summer) plays Bonzo Madrid, and Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) plays Petra. But the jewel of the crown in casting is that of Ender, played by Asa Butterfield. He is not the normal the muscular and chiseled adolescent protagonist. His portrayal is wide-eyed with innocence, all the while struggling with his dual nature of violence and empathy.

On the strategic and tactical side Ender's Game uses wonderful CGI and wire work to bring to life scenes most integral to the story. From the zero gravity Arena at Battle School, to the mountain lake and skiff on Earth, to the captured forward Formic outpost that the International Military uses as a base of operations to plan assaults on the Formic homeworld. Ender's Game is a mirror of the book. The final simulated battle between the International Military and the Formic armada is rendered in beautiful detail with military precision. It is a sight to be seen, especially in IMAX.

Fans of Orson Scott Card's original and revised work should be thrilled at the adaptation to the silver screen. Now is the time when movie magic FX can tell this tale in grand style. For those who have not read the book, they will find enjoyment in every surprising twist or turn. Ender's Game is a superb sci-fi daylight, grounded in the mind of a young man on the precipice of greatness.

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Hugo (3D)

A World of Wonder

Director: Martin Scorsese

Writers: Brian Selznick, John Logan
Cast: Sir Ben Kingley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory

SYNOPSIS: A young orphaned boy living in the Paris train station looks to keep the memory of his father alive by fixing a mechanical automaton, but finds more adventure than he bargains for.

REVIEW: Martin Scorsese, the director of Taxi Driver and The Gangs of New York, returns to the directing reigns in the period piece Hugo, set in Paris in the 1930. Based on the Brian Selznick book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" and the adapted screenplay by John Logan (The Last Samurai, Rango), Hugo is larger than the gears that keep the Paris train Station clocks running.

Young orphaned Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) steals bread, milk and gears to survive and try to keep the memory of his father (Jude Law, Sherlock Holmes) alive. The son of a clock maker and a museum curator, Hugo helped his dad try to repair a mechanical automaton left abandoned at the museum. A fiery accident leaves Hugo an orphan in the care of his uncle (Ray Winstone) forced to help the old drunkard keep the Paris train station clock in accurate working order. Once his uncle disappears, Hugo keeps the clocks in working order, left to stealing to survive and to continue repairs on the automaton. All the while, Hugo keeps tabs on what the patrons and shop owners in the station are up to, ever watchful to avoid the orphan-catching station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat) and his faithful guard dog Maximilian. Enter toyshop owner Georges Méliès (Sir Ben Kingsley, Shutter Island) who catches Hugo stealing from his shop and takes from Hugo a notebook that belongs to Hugo's father, but holds some strange emotional familiarity to Mister Melies. When Hugo pleads for Mister Méliès' goddaughter Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz, Let Me In) to keep the notebook from being destroyed, the two soon strike up a friendship that leads to adventure and unraveling mysteries.

The acting is filled with emotion and brilliance. Sir Ben Kingsley is both hopeful and hopeless, his eyes giving away his hidden grief and determination to forget the pains of the past. Sacha Baron Cohen sheds his past with a role that is comical, whimsical, and broken-hearted. The young leads, Asa Butterfield and Chloë Grace Moretz, both show that they are currently and will continue to grow into a fine actor and actress. Asa's bright blue eyes and emotional expressions are perfectly balanced with Chloë's confidence and crooked smiles. If ever a better pair was prepared for adventure, I cannot come up with quick names to offer. Helen McCrory (The Queen), as George’s wife, stands by her man for what he has lost while relishing once she and they once had.

Beautifully captured, Scorsese grounds the film in a surreal and artistic backdrop. Almost like a painting at times, Hugo's cinematography is a feast to the eyes. When the camera flies through the station, whether the caverns of the train platforms, the cavernous beauty of the sculpted central station, the steamy corridors of the forgotten passages behind the station walls, or the tick-tock symphony of the whirling gears of the clock towers houses, Scorsese provides a character that is both stationary and filled with life. Even the seemingly insignificant comings and goings of rail riders adds to the richness of the story.

Although a large part of the story, Hugo is more than just the quest to of a young boy bring a complex mechanical toy to life. The film recurs themes of romance. Throughout the film characters try to connect with others from across the large central train station. With Hugo and Isabelle’s adventure to unravel the mystery they find themselves in, they come across beautiful romantic notions about the advent of film from the early days of motion pictures, ticking lights and motion on a screen that captured the imagination and allowed dream of places never been.

Scorsese becomes somewhat self-indulgent in the history and genesis of film, but he has a right to do so. Only a person with a passion for what film began as and what films should continue to be need apply for the job. Scorsese creates a wonderful and nearly magical 3D experience, pushing steam from pipes, the illumination from movie projecters, and the snout of a curious Doberman right in front of our faces. Hugo is filled with sights and sounds that secretly and unknowingly put a smile on the face and a spark in the heart. True cinematic fans will appreciate what Hugo offers in all its forms.

WORTH: Matinee and DVD