In the wake of Will, Matt and Tom’s duds, it falls to Asa “boy in the Tron spacejamas” Butterfield to deliver 2013’s decent sci-fi flick.

Well, damn.

Gavin Hood’s adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s tract novel potters along surprisingly neatly, remaining interesting and attractive for most of its runtime.

Sure, there are questions as to Scott Card’s Kantian leanings, or why there are only half a dozen senior military officers, or how much Ben Kingsley got paid. But there’s so much personal growth and impending invasion-talk that there’s no time for that, dammit!

Until the final third arrives, when there is.

A little long, a little questionable, a little baffling, a lot of fun.

RATING: 3/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis

DIRECTOR: Gavin Hood

WRITERS: Gavin Hood (screenplay), Orson Scott Card (novel)

SYNOPSIS: Bullied twelve-year-old Ender Wiggin is called upon to save Earth from an imminent alien invasion but must first find a way to co-exist with a number of fellow students.