By Riley Morrison ’16
THE ROUNDUP 

“Enders Game” 7 out of 10

Starring: Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld

With stunning effects, convincing acting and a decent-enough story line, “Enders Game” exceeded expectations, but didn’t meet hopes.

Based of Orson Scott Card’s novel of the same title, “Enders Game” begins strong with a quick prologue and swiftly launches you into Enders childhood.

Time flys by as Ender is recruited as a student/soldier and enrolls in Battle School where he learns to fight in space and makes a few friends along the way.

This is part of the movie’s problem.  The director needs to get everything from the book into the movie, so he speeds through pieces that need more time and cuts out parts that really should be left in.

Characterization is almost non-existent and by the end of the film, its hard to care about any of the individuals who propel the story.

On the other hand, the actors themselves do an excellent job.

Harrison Ford is brilliant as Colonel Graff; he is able to put just the right amount of mean gruffness and emotion into the character.

Asa Butterfield’s similarly portrays his character well.

He convey’s Enders cold, calculating intelligence from the book, while also putting just enough friendly warmth to make him likable.

“Enders Game” was visually brilliant.

Arguably on the scale of “Gravity,” the space and battle room scenes were visually beautiful and were what made the movie so much fun to watch.

Readers of the book most likely noticed the glaring absence of scenes with Enders sibling’s.

I would argue that these were the natural pieces to cut out, as they would have added to the bulk of the movie and forced the editor to cut something more important.

On the other hand, the battle room scenes were much to short.  The book emphasizes each battle’s effect on Enders growth as a character, yet the movie fails to put enough time into the concept that makes the movie so attractive.

All in all, “Enders Game” is propelled through its visually extraordinary effects but is held back by the characters lack of depth and the speed at which the director moves through the story.