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The Stars

Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Abigail Breslin, Viola Davis, Nonso Anozie

The Story

With the Earth ravaged by an alien race apparently determined to destroy humanity, people band together to fight back.

Ender Wiggin (­Butterfield) – a quiet but supremely skilled 12-year-old – is deemed the one who may save humanity. He is taken to an advanced ­military battle school where he meets Petra (Steinfeld) and learns to fight in readiness for the next alien invasion.

The verdict

An action-packed sci-fi adventure, the lusciously produced Ender’s Game is an entertaining fantasy roller-coaster ride. It is driven by a captivating performance from Brit Asa Butterfield as the youngster whose innate military skills may make him mankind’s saviour.

Brimming with spectacular special effects, the film is based on Orson Scott Card’s bestselling 1985 novel, but it has the thrills and spills to appeal to all fantasy fans.

Part coming-of-age tale, part ­military-game playing (there is a Hunger Games feel as the wannabes practise ­strategies in a zero-gravity simulation chamber), it takes the familiar route of a young man trying to please his ­superiors. It then heads to a deadly climax that is never quite what it seems.

Butterfield, star of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, is terrific as the strategist who is distrusted by his classmates but proves his worth in the Battle Room ­simulator.

His tough commander Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) alienates him from his peers to hone his leadership skills.

Late in the film Ben Kingsley pops up as Mazer Rackham, the brilliant general who defeated the alien forces many years before.

He and Graff become convinced Ender can lead the International Fleet into a final battle against the insect-like alien Formic forces.

While this tasty blending of Starship Troopers and The Last Starfighter is a bit too heavy on military strategy and simulations, it is also an action-packed romp full of great special-effects moments.

Ender's Game: 12A, 114mins. Opens Friday