Daily Archives: November 19, 2013

I went into this movie with little to no expectations.  I am a big Harrison Ford fan so I figured this would be a good movie.  I mean seriously, Harrison Ford, Aliens, space ships and awesome technology…my kind of movie.  I wasn’t disappointed.

I did know that the movie was based on a book, however I never read the book.  Therefore I have no idea if it was true to the book, better, worse or anything related.  To me it is a movie that is it.

So the basic premise of the movie is that 70 years ago an Alien race called the Formecs invaded Earth killing millions of people.  Since that time, earth has been preparing for another invasion and have been recruiting the smartest kids on the planet to fight them.  They are trained very young to be soldiers and commanders of other children.  Sounds morbid, but it is actually quite intriguing.  These children fight using computers that control the ships and fleets that make up the battle group.  To them it is like playing a video game.  Ender (our hero) turns out to be the most gifted of these children and is fated to be the one that will save Earth from the Alien invasion.

I expected the movie to be like Star Wars (can’t help it with Harrison Ford) or any other science fiction/fantasy type movie that deals with good vs evil with lots of cool gadgets and space scenes.  However much of the movie deals with Ender’s emotional progression while dealing with different obstacles as he journeys through the ranks of battle school, command school etc.  He is a brilliant child who turns out to be  a tactical genius, thus he is the one fated to save the world.  Ender faces many emotional battles in the movie, bullying, empathy, friendship, anger issues and others.  There is a moral dilemma that ensues when the commanding officer (Harrison) battles against the psychologist in how to deal with Ender.  Her view of Ender being a child first against Harrison’s view of Ender being a soldier first.  Two sides of the same coin fight about what is morally right.  Does the end justify the means?  This is very apparent in the end, but I won’t spoil it here I will let you decide on your own.

The special effects were absolutely breathtaking.  Any fan of sci fi would not be disappointed with this movie.  I loved every space ship, gadget and cool toy that they threw at us.  The training simulator was the best.  I would so love to be inside a zero gravity chamber playing laser tag.  AWESOME. The ship itself is a work of genius.  It is breathtaking, giving even the Enterprise a run for its money. (That is saying a lot given I am a die hard Star Trek fan)

The end left me kind of dumb struck.  Don’t get me wrong it was a wonderful display of special effects and the battle was fantastic, but like I said this movie is more about the moral issues associated.  I don’t want to spoil it but I was like OMG they didn’t!

Well that is all I will say on this without spoilers so I will leave it at that.  Let me know what you thought of the movie.   If you read the book, was it better/worse?  What did you think of the moral dilemma?