Ender's Game Trailer (2013)

Trailer for Ender's Game.

In the near future, a hostile alien race called the Formics have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young minds to find the future Mazer.

Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy but strategically brilliant boy, is recruited to join the elite. Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult challenges and simulations, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military’s next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he’s trained by Mazer Rackham himself to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.

Ender's Game is based on the 1985 science fiction novel by the same name by Orson Scott Card. Card would also act as a producer of the film, which would lead to many to call for a boycott of the movie because of Card's negative views on homosexuality , even before the film was released.

During a scene at the beginning of the movie, Ender is piloting a ship in a game. The ship resembles the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo's ship from the Star Wars films. This is a nod to Harrison Ford, who played Han Solo and appears in the film as Mazer Rackham.

Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfield, and many of the other actors that portrayed Battle School students went to Space Camp prior to filming so they would be able to train for the zero gravity sequences in the film.

The opening to the  Ender's Game trailer seems more like a scene from Independence Day than anything else. Aliens and humans facing off in the skies, ships exploding, a military officer providing narration and exposition to the whole scene. It sets up the past war between humans an aliens invaders that seems to be the impetus for the whole film.

It's all pretty standard science fiction movie fare from here on out, with various montages of space, more space ships battles, and explosions as a pulse pounding song plays in background while the action builds. Aside from the Battle Room sequences, which look like they could be a lot of fun, Ender's Game, if the trailer is to be believed, doesn't appear to be too much different from the vast majority of the science fiction films out there. Having great actors like Butterfield, Viola Davis, and Ben Kingsley onboard bodes well for the movie, though none of their performances shine through in this trailer.

Though it still has the potential to be a worthwhile film that may appeal to general audiences, the Ender's Game trailer doesn't look like it comes from a film that will satisfy those hardcore fans of the book who have been waiting for a film adaptation for decades.