Story, Spectacle and ‘Ender’s Game’
November 5, 2013
from OMNI Reboot
It’s the year 2086, and an alien race called the Formics has just attacked Earth, looking for a new planet to colonize. The invasion is repelled, just barely, when Earth’s most brilliant military commander intuits a way to defeat the swarming alien motherships during an epic battle in the skies.
The bad news? Ten of millions died in the initial assault. The worse news? The Formics are planning a second invasion, with an armada 100 times bigger than the first. In response, a worryingly militarized human society conscripts children to train as lethal drone pilots.
That’s the set-up for the refreshingly smart and visually dazzling science fiction adventure Ender’s Game, based on the famous military sci-fi novel by Orson Scott Card. Like the book, the film starts out in established hard sci-fi territory, then digs deeper into cultural critique and moral dilemma.
Glenn McDonald 