Enlightened and well-wrought science-fiction movie, based on the prescient 1985 book of the same name, about a 12-year-old (Asa Butterfield) chosen to lead Earth’s military forces against an alien race that 50 years earlier tried to colonize the planet, resulting in the deaths of millions. Mentored by a bellicose colonel (Harrison Ford) and the hero of the first invasion (Ben Kingsley), the boy possesses both compassion and strong tactical skills. Director and screenwriter Gavin Hood highlights a salubrious message about the moral pitfalls of war and deploys elegant special effects to dramatize the virtual nature of how it is conducted in the near future.
Watch out for: Scenes of fighting and bullying behavior among teenagers, several classroom slurs, some scary imagery, some mild innuendo, and one use of crass language.
Rated: A-II, adults and adolescents; MPAA: PG-13, parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
