Ender's Game

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Ender's Game

PG-13

Released Nov 1, 2013

1h 54m

Sci-Fi

Adventure

Action

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

63%

Tomatometer

225 Reviews

65%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

When hostile aliens called the Formics attack Earth, only the legendary heroics of Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley) manage to attain a victory. To prepare for the next attack, Col. Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and his cohorts initiate a military program to find the next Mazer. Recruit Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) exhibits an unusual gift for the training, easily mastering all of the challenges thrown at him. Mazer Rackham, himself, takes Ender as a protege to prepare him for the oncoming war.

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Critics Consensus

If it isn't quite as thought-provoking as the book, Ender's Game still manages to offer a commendable number of well-acted, solidly written sci-fi thrills.

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Larushka Ivan-Zadeh

metro.co.uk

Starship Troopers, Alien, Tron and Star Trek also make up the movie's DNA but the story - a provocative study about the morality of warfare and conflicts of leadership - injects something powerful and new into the familiar 'chosen one' plot trajectory.

Rated: 4/5

Sep 6, 2017

Full Review

Geoffrey Macnab

Independent (UK)

The battle scenes are spectacular but lifeless and hard to engage with. We're watching a cascade of computer-game imagery.

Rated: 2/5

Feb 21, 2014

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David Stratton

At the Movies (Australia)

It was a bit like standing in a room where someone is playing a video game on a screen and you're not actually taking part in it but you have to watch interminably this game being played and it's just really a bit boring.

Rated: 2.5/5

Feb 18, 2014

Full Review

JD Duran

InSession Film

Ender’s Game is a fun, dramatic look that is different and unique for most sci-fi movies. While it follows the basic trope of alien invasion, it quickly turns into a moral dilemma that involves some heavy and complex themes.

Rated: B+

Aug 15, 2024

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Not having read Card’s novel, I couldn’t say whether it was truly “unfilmable,” but what ends up on the screen is indeed “filmable” in that we’ve seen these narrative threads countless times before in science fiction cinema.

Rated: 2/4

Sep 8, 2023

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

A joyless video game experience, complete with levels of increasing difficulty and a main character who never really faces a true conflict.

Rated: 2/4

Aug 22, 2022

Full Review

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Jay W

I can understand why this movie only received lukewarm reviews from critics and audience. In 2013, the young adult dystopian novel adaptations were over saturating the market. After the popularity of "Hunger Games", movies like "Divergent", "Maze Runner", "Mortal Instruments" and "Host" made audiences think that "Ender's Game" was just jumping on the hype train. But this movie goes above and beyond its contemporaries, in quality acting, characters, storytelling and presentation. In so many of these "chosen ones" storylines, the main "chosen" character is the dullest character of the bunch. They are typically just blank slates meant to be the audience surrogate character. That is not the case for Ender Wiggins. Ender is a master strategist. Throughout the story you see him applying game theory to his various interactions and it is fascinating. The acting from all those involved is absolutely on point, not a bad performance in the cast. The music and action choreography are also very well done. Those who had read the book, have informed me that the book is still the better version of the story. And when the movie comes to the ending, that does become clear. The books and series do flesh out the story a lot more and elaborate on some plot details that the film omits. Overall, I thought this movie was very clever, interesting and unique. I can understand why it wasn't a crowd pleaser, but this was one audience member that really enjoyed the game.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/21/24

Full Review

Geke g

Loved it. Recommended

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/18/24

Full Review

Munkhchimeg T

The battles are very dramatic. But liked.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/18/24

Full Review

Bahad j

The idea behind this movie moved me a lot, but it was a movie with really satisfying expectations

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/18/24

Full Review

Mr M

I thought this movie was very good the ending is quite surprising and a small bit anticlimactic.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/14/24

Full Review

Avery A

I do love the movie, but the book is definitely better

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/11/24

Full Review

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Gavin Hood

Director

Harrison Ford

Col. Hyrum Graff

Asa Butterfield

Ender Wiggin

Hailee Steinfeld

Petra Arkanian

Abigail Breslin

Valentine Wiggin

Ben Kingsley

Mazer Rackham

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Ender's Game: Official Clip - Mazer Rackham's Story

2:51

Ender's Game: Official Clip - The Mind Game

2:45

Ender's Game: Official Clip - Battle Simulations

2:55

Ender's Game: Official Clip - The Hive Queen

3:01

Ender's Game: Official Clip - Game Over

3:00

Ender's Game: Official Clip - Ender Battles Two Armies

3:00

Ender's Game: Official Clip - I Quit

3:00

Ender's Game: Official Clip - The Battle Room

2:59

Ender's Game: Official Clip - What Do You Mean We Won?

3:00

Ender's Game: Official Clip - The Final Battle

3:00

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Synopsis

When hostile aliens called the Formics attack Earth, only the legendary heroics of Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley) manage to attain a victory. To prepare for the next attack, Col. Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and his cohorts initiate a military program to find the next Mazer. Recruit Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) exhibits an unusual gift for the training, easily mastering all of the challenges thrown at him. Mazer Rackham, himself, takes Ender as a protege to prepare him for the oncoming war.

Director: Gavin Hood
Producer: Gigi Pritzker, Linda McDonough, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Robert Chartoff, Lynn Hendee, Orson Scott Card, Ed Ulbrich
Screenwriter: Gavin Hood
Distributor: Summit Entertainment
Production Co: Digital Domain, Odd Lot Entertainment, Summit Entertainment, Taleswapper, Chartoff Productions, K/O Paper Products
Rating: PG-13 (Some Violence|Sci-Fi Action|Thematic Material)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Adventure, Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 1, 2013, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 19, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $61.7M
Runtime: 1h 54m
Sound Mix: Datasat, Dolby Digital

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