This article claims Card won't make any more money for the film: Orson Scott Card Won’t Make Squat From ‘Ender’s Game’ Box Office – Boycott the Book Instead Not sure if true. John Scalzi points out that "the story is nicely timed to target die-hard SF fans on the fence about seeing the film," which might lead one to question if the article wasn't a plant to increase revenue, but it ain't implausible.
Thought it was pretty damn good. They acting was solid, nice effects and some good tension. Reminded me somewhat of Hunger Games. i'd definitely watch again.
Watched without reading the book. I probably enjoyed it more than any movie I've watched this year. Maybe it's because I can relate to the kid. Well I'm more like his sister, too much empathy to be the head honcho.
Trolling? Have you read the book? Looks at trailer w/o plot line or back story instantly denies premise??
Saw this last night. 8/10 Very good movie, better than I was expecting from the original previews. Even though it appears the previews gave away the ending, they actually did not. They held back a great deal, and wisely so. Of course there is a massive 'twist' at the end, which I will not spoil, but yes, this movie was definitely worth it. It was surprisingly mature, and dealt with a subject matter which most movies don't dare to tread, so kudos and I hope they make more. Again, I won't spoil things, but there is a question of the morality of conflict. The question is rigged of course (this is Hollywood after all), but still, it turned out to be quite thought-provoking. Made for some good discussions with my own 12-year-old son. Recommended!
one of my favorite books, but only give the film 6/10 It tried to stay too close to the book in all the wrong ways. It glossed over the important character interaction parts of the book that would have worked well on screen, and got bogged down on the complicated tactical stuff that works better explained in a book. They needed to simplify that aspect. Spoiler Ender goes from being assigned an army to fighting one quick battle and that's it? The book spends significant time showing his evolution as a leader and how he builds loyalty and respect among his troops. That's the most important part of the story. that said the production values and world building and acting were all very good
Saw it last night with the wife. Enjoyed it although the third 1/4 kind of dragged. Why didn't they get this thing out in time to sell some Halloween costumes?
Just got done reading the book. Excellent book, and Card doesn't try to hard to make it "IN THE FUTURE" by throwing out a ton of vocabulary that doesn't make sense to the reader without context clues (the slang patois he uses is easily understandable). The characters are all well written, and the ending is a bit of a gut punch although the denoument is a bit long. All in all an excellent, easily read, story. I was interested in the movie, and after reading the book I'm interested to see how the battleroom translates to the big screen. The Giant's Drink game might be a bit too abstract to put on screen without extensive exposition though. The only review I've read of the movie was fairly positive, especially Butterfield and Ford. They said Kingsley was a bit hammy though. The main problem the review had was that Butterfield was so muchbetter than the other kid actors that it made the interactions between Ender and the other students a bit underwhelming. Seeing that Ender was supposed to spend most of the story uncomfortable around the other kids I don't have a huge problem with that though. I'll probably wait until it's on Netflix though.
Saw it yesterday with some work friends, and I thought it was great. I've read the book and really liked it, but I didn't think it would translate very well to a movie because so much of the book is internal dialogue, and you're basically dealing with children, which makes getting decent actors difficult. The story is definitely a little watered down but I think they did nearly as good a job as they could have all things considered. I know there's almost no chance they'll do a sequel, but I'd love to see a "speaker for the dead" movie.
Well the book works to explains some of the reasons why you knock the premise, in quite a nice way to.
Saw it this morning in IMAX (overkill, haha) I thought it was fantastic, and should appeal to a wide audience. The production value was top-notch and they did a great job with the scenes in space. Also, the fight scenes were done very well for a PG-13 movie. A question for those of you who watched the movie but did not read the book Spoiler Did you see the twist coming, or did it hit you like a ton of bricks? Also, how did you feel about the ending (specifically Ender's decision)? Commodore is right in that they left out too many important interactions. Spoiler I liked the inclusion of Alai's moment with Ender, but it served no friggen purpose in the movie! In the book, it was included to contrast the harsh treatment of Ender by his colleagues and a reminder of the cultures and traditions that each of these kids left behind (i.e. the massive political conflict on Earth?!?!). In the movie, it was hollow and came across as a poor attempt at depicting a united Earth against an alien enemy. Even Ender's development as a strategist was glossed over. Spoiler Ultimately Ender came across as having an innate ability to command a battle when the truth leaned more towards his perseverance in achieving the goal, at any cost. Of course the movie explored this aspect as well, but I felt like some audience members may get the impression that he is a genius tactician, and nothing else. A missed opportunity Spoiler I am a huge fan of the revamped Star Trek movies and loved how the first movie succeeded in introducing complex character relationships while also presenting an enjoyable and compelling storyline. The end result was an audience that actually wanted to watch the sequel. When it comes to Ender's Game, the movie did a fantastic job with the cinematics and portrayal of watershed moments. However, the issue about poor character development meant that Bean seemed no more important than Alai, Valentine and Peter were just some polar opposite siblings, and Petra was only Ender's love interest. Unfortunately, I feel like this shortcoming will leave Ender's Game without a sequel and ultimately forgotten. I am not sure about "Speaker for the Dead", but a rated R "Ender's Shadow" geared towards mature audiences would have been spectacular. What I thoroughly enjoyed Spoiler The last quarter of the movie was enthralling as the contrast between the characters who knew about the twist vs. the ones who did not was portrayed very well. I loved how Ender's actor shined brightest when he became enraged once he learned the truth. Considering the time constraints, I have to applaud the director and writer(s) for making an appropriate inclusion of all of Ender's individual experiences (mind game, sibling interaction, rivals, leadership, etc.). I felt like the audience could walk away understanding and respecting Ender's ultimate decision. Ultimately, a spectacular movie. Go watch it! 7/10
He is in it, but every detail about him is wrong. Every scene with him is not correct from the books and his personality/attitude is completely off from the books. It might as well be a different character. Hated the movie. Story felt rushed. 2/10. I imagine if they had tried to fit Game Of Thrones into a movie it would feel something like this.
