(This review may contain spoilers).
As with The Book Thief, I haven’t actually read the book that this film is based on, so again, I can’t speak for the accuracy of the movie.
I did find this movie to be really entertaining to watch. The main character, Ender, almost goes through an evolution. In my opinion, he’s grown up by the end of this film.
There are quite a few good things about this film. For instance, I really liked Ender’s relationship with Valentine. I would have liked to see more of that. The hints given weren’t really enough to get a proper feel for the relationship. And I would have liked to see more of the relationship Ender had with his brother, too. I didn’t think enough detail was given… at least for my liking.
I particularly liked the zero gravity game. There had to be a lot of tactics involved and the formations used were interesting, as was the accepted cost of losing several people in order to win. (On a side note, I play Fire Emblem quite a lot – and I absolutely hate losing any of the units. I’d be awful in a strategy game like that).
Ender’s tactics are good, but it’s not really clear on how much more intelligent he is than the others. Presumably, once they get into the next academy, the students show quite high aptitudes – and that’s something I would have liked to see more of.
I didn’t think enough details were given about the alien race. I would have liked to see a bit more of them.
I felt that the actors did a really good job with the characters. Again, I can’t say whether they were realistic to the book characters, but the way they acted made sense with their job/what had happened.
I found the mind game to be particularly creepy. I’m not sure I’d want to play one, but then again, my mind’s a pretty scary place at times anyway.
This film was entertaining and touched on deeper meanings and consequences to actions. It’s not perfect, but I think it’s worth seeing if you’re interested in this kind of genre.
Ink of Blood 