Lainfan

7/10

Spoilers

"In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him." Ender's Game is a movie with many flaws, but many qualities as well. Keep in mind that it is hard to just categorize it as a good or bad movie because of that. No real spoilers ahead. Story: Like someone pointed out here before me, the reason why kids are necessary and why that's humanities only hope is left completely unexplained. The lack of other commanders, besides the one in training school, is pretty odd to say the least as well. In 50 years not 1 trainee from the academy passed the test. So what happened to all those failed kids? Especially the ones that did get to the final test. They know a secret that cannot be known to society (about the hero commander.) There was no real character development in this movie at all except for the main character, and his development was very thin. The 2 friends he made do not have much in common with him, nor do they have any reason to like him. Especially the girl, since she is in a winning team for a while. After Ender's 'problem' with the Salamander leader, he feels bad about it. But as soon this part is over he never seems to look back at it or takes any lesson from it. On the brightside, the massive plottwist in the end was surprising. After watching a movie with a rather unsurprising (but not boring) story development, I did not expect that. They could've singled out the emotional/psychological aspect after this part a bit more to make up for some lacking character development earlier. Visuals: Special Effects were lovely. A real sci-fi feel with great spacey environments that didn't feel unrealistic or cheap. The funniest thing was how they could've had computer games with about the same graphics we have now :P I really loved how they did the battle scenes between plains and fighters, both in air as in space. You really got sucked into the battle field, and lost the feeling you were watching at a screen like happens so often with big battle scenes with lots of SFX. Music: This has to be adressed. I think this was probably the best part about this movie. Steve Jablonksy was the one who composed it. He also composed the music for the game Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, where he surprisingly managed to not dissapoint after stopping Frank Klepacki's monopoly for the franchise. And that's while Klepacki set the stakes very high for him. And in mainstream modern movies he is probably best known for doing some music for the Transformer movies, too bad those movies suck too much. He did an amazing job on the score for Ender's Game. Bombastic, classical and majestic music that made every scene way bigger and impressive. Something you could easily listen to and enjoy without looking to the film, but just play really loud on your speakers. Acting: This is always something that falls a bit short when kids are the main characters in a movie. Remember the golden rule: Never work with children or pets when you are making a movie. Not that it was bad, I was actually positively surprised with the acting job most of the younger characters delivered. The worst acting came from the adults xD But even so, the acting was not something award-worthy. Just don't expect big personal acting extravaganzas and you will be just fine. Enjoyment/Overall: I really had a lot of fun watching this movie, therefore the end(er) ordeal from me falls into the category good movie. It has enough speed, nice visuals, great music and it is just fun to watch.

decatur555

6/10

Gavin Hood gave it a shot, but I feel like he fell short. The movie has its strong points, like a steady pace and impressive visual effects that pull you into the world. But you can tell they had to cut things from the book, which takes away some of the story’s depth. Ender’s story—the child prodigy recruited to fight aliens—is there. You see his training, how they manipulate him, how war affects these kids. The essence of the book is intact, but at times, it feels like something is missing, like it barely scratches the surface. What bothers me the most is that it seems like they made this movie thinking a saga would follow, but that never happened. Ender is well developed, you get inside his head, and the film doesn’t drag. But the ending feels rushed, and some important moments are left hanging. Still, the movie is engaging because it balances action with Ender’s moral dilemmas and the pressure he’s under. Visually, it works but doesn’t amaze. The zero-gravity scenes are well done, and the futuristic world feels believable. But the overuse of digital effects gets tiring. And the world-building falls short compared to the book, which offers much more detail. The cast does a decent job, but they don’t leave a lasting impression. Asa Butterfield plays Ender well, and Harrison Ford gives the tough-guy edge to Colonel Graff, though he comes off a bit stiff at times. Ben Kingsley and Hailee Steinfeld do their part, but nothing remarkable. In the end, Ender’s Game is an entertaining sci-fi film, but it leaves you feeling like it could have been so much more. If you haven’t read the book, it delivers a decent adventure with interesting themes. But if you’re a fan of the novel, you’re left wanting more—like getting just a taste of something and still feeling hungry.

drqshadow

4/10

This long-simmering adaptation of an award winning sci-fi classic stays loyal to its source material, but loses a ton of emotion in the translation. Its version of a future Earth, one generation removed from near-extinction at the hands of an invading alien fleet, isn't a particularly romantic one, but that doesn't mean it has to be this joyless. Everything's so dry and analytical, every plot point over-explained and talked to death, while the book's most exciting chapters are merely skimmed. Where we get them, the special effects come through exceptionally well. The game room, where the planet's unified military force trains its cadets for interstellar combat, doesn't look exactly like I'd imagined, but still makes for a rich scene or two. Space launches have immense power and impact. Zero gravity fight scenes play out in unique ways. There's an awful lot of untapped potential here; ideas and concepts that are properly explored in the novel, merely served as a garnish and tossed aside. And maybe a focus on the human element could have been the right call, given the right cast to really dig in; a good script to touch on the more delicate metaphors; a capable director to pull everything together. Three strikes in that regard. With a stiff, off-putting young Asa Butterfield in the leading role, plus a disengaged Harrison Ford and a barely-there Ben Kingsley as support, nobody seems interested in picking up the ball for a run at the goal line. It's an uncertain film, one that never completely settles on an identity, and it honestly isn't much fun to watch. A missed opportunity.

TheBreezus

9/10

I read the book first before watching the movie and I think that for the most part, this movie represented the book as well as you could within the confines of a two hour movie. Considering there is no other adaption of this source material I think this movie did the book justice. Sure, there were quite a bit of sub story-lines removed but that is understandable when your adapting a book into a movie. I believe that the movie got the major essential portions of the book right, to tell the complete story of the Ender's Game. I think in time people's resistance to the movie will fade and they will realized that the movie did the book justice. I see people are talking about some scenes are rushed which is true, but if we see it from Ender's point of view, he was always isolated from the emotions of others throughout book, and I think the movie represented that well. The visual effects within the movie is simply top notch, which I see most people won't even mention, and it deserves a discussion, because it could have been way worst instead it was done masterfully. In my opinion I enjoyed this movie even after reading the book before watching the movie! I would hope that the team can get back together to bring us the rest of tetralogy. What do you think?

SkinnyFilmBuff

6/10

Re-watched this for the first time since seeing it in theaters 10 years ago. The book is one of my childhood favorites, so I'm in the classic position of wanting the film to be good, but also holding it to perhaps unreasonably high standards. In the end, I think this is a respectable attempt to adapt a book that in many ways is ill-suited for adaptation (and perhaps may have worked better as a series). I say ill-suited because relying on children protagonists to pull off weightier story elements and themes is much easier to do on the page than on the screen. Aging up the children was the bare minimum, but even young teenagers are tough to sell in these roles. That said, the acting was actually not a huge problem for me. My biggest complaint was the pacing, as the story felt incredibly rushed and doesn't earn most of its big moments. It's hard to say for sure, but it does feel like it would have worked better if they had 6-10 episodes to work with. As far as positives go, they certainly didn't skimp on the budget. I was surprised to enjoy the film's depiction of the Mind Game and thought that the hyper condensed version actually worked reasonably well. I enjoyed the battle room design and only wish we could have seen more actual battles. While the command school "simulations" were also clearly high budget, I was less of a fan of the design. I just think they overdid it with the bugger swarms, to the point where it is both unrealistic and too visually muddy to even appreciate what is going on. As with everything else, the ending definitely feels rushed, with Ender's internal emotional conflict relying on some forced dialogue and feeling superficial as a result. I thought the decision to have [spoiler]a live bugger with the hive queen egg[/spoiler] was an understandable addition that worked. It's hard for me to judge the movie in a vacuum and I'd definitely be interested to know what uninitiated audiences thought of it. As for me, it was just okay.