Sci-fi wars don’t always end with glorious heroic deeds. A breathtaking action thriller proves that with its shocking twist.
We have already published this article as a VOD tip in a similar form on 2 December 2021.
Many sci-fi fare feature intergalactic wars as a stage for courage and glory. In Dune, a spoiled nobleman’s son becomes a proud warrior. Luke Skywalker matures into a lightsaber virtuoso in various duels and the heroes of many Star Wars series do the same. Ender’s Game on Netflix, however, turns such hero myths into a trap for the viewer: Here, thrillingly beautiful battles are followed by a revealing, cruel twist.
Enders Game intoxicates with stylish sci-fi battles
But first, director Gavin Hood’s (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) blockbuster gives itself over entirely to the spectacle of sci-fi warfare: After a devastating alien attack on Earth, the remaining world military prepares for another attack with an unusual training programme: rigorous drill and non-stop training simulations are to find the new leading admiral of the Earth fleet among recruit:ing children.
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Ender (Asa Butterfield) turns out to be the most gifted of them all. His superior, Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford), then sends him through increasingly challenging simulations designed to test his tactical and strategic skills. And so the teenager gets closer and closer to his first real battle against the aliens.
The staging of the simulations is incredibly gripping and visually impressive: At breakneck speed, the film delivers astounding twists and turns and thoroughly styled sci-fi skirmishes that, with their futuristic armour and neon light aesthetics, are reminiscent of films like Tron: Legacy. But in the end, this is also a perfidious trick.
The beautiful sci-fi battles are followed by a brutal twist
Because the fast pace, the classy look and the staging of Ender’s brilliant conceits always leave me as a viewer craving for more of the same: The fact that here a child is being raised by cold-blooded adults for war service fades into the background.
Ender and Colonel Graff
Even if Graff’s ideology and Ender’s innocence are briefly questioned every now and then: The fun of the increasingly wacky sci-fi shootouts prevails.
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It won’t be given away here either, because it’s essential to the film’s impact. The twist comments on the action scenes of the film in a way that one or two fans might feel betrayed by: What he has feasted on for 114 minutes suddenly becomes an abomination.
Others will think the sci-fi thriller is mendacious. Personally, I enjoy the twist: sci-fi battles still appeal to me as much as to many others. But glossy, supposedly fictional surfaces often have a devastating effect on critical thinking. And it’s good when fiction occasionally makes us realise that.
