I loved the novel, and I used to read it on my way to work many years ago. I know the project has been in development hell, but it's finally getting to the big screen.
Anyway, the LA Times thinks it will open well, but Bloomberg thinks it will not. Let's see how this goes.
Thanks for posting that, wheat. That actually put a couple things I had been worried about to rest (as he said, the book takes place almost entirely in his head). Hard to not talk about Card these days without talking about his politics, but he actually handled that pretty well. I don't agree with him, but I sort of respect the way he responded to that. Interesting bit talking about his religion and being an outsider; that really comes across in Ender's Game and the sequels. There's a certain irony there.
Anyway, great cast (Butterfield was fantastic in Hugo) and we'll see if Hood as a director can be someone other than "the guy who frelled up Deadpool". But I'm not going to get my hopes up too much, and just expect a fun sci-fi action film. That way I'll be surprised if it's actually Ender's Game!
Cast looks good, except for the kid. I don't know why, but I cringe every time he speaks.
Hard to fail with Kingsly and Ford though
I'm not very excited about it, looks a bit "let's put in explosions and over the top CGI to appeal to audiences that can't go 5 minutes without action and mind numbing visuals", but it doesn't look like the worst blockbuster in recent years.
I finally wrote a script that worked for people who had never read the book, and it was a buddy-movie approach—bringing the character of Bean, Ender’s friend and sidekick, to the front and making him a foil, somebody Ender can talk to as an equal. That was proof of concept.
After a while, action and CG overloads become mind numbingly annoying and take me out of the movie. Sometimes visuals so artificial and over the top reach the point of absurdity, and ruin the whole experience. I mean, Transformers? Aside from the poor writing, obvious and gratuitous product placement, and shoddy acting/pacing, the large quantity of let's~have~random~crazy~crap~flying~at~you~every~second~and~you~don't~have~a~damn~clue~what's~going~on~because~the~screen~is~constantly~filled~with~cartoonish~and~over-the-top~explosions~and~robots~flying~100mph style CGI really took me out of it.
I mean...
Really. Really.
Look at that. LOOK AT THAT. That is ridiculous looking. I don't know how I can take a movie seriously when this:
After a while, action and CG overloads become mind numbingly
annoying and take me out of the movie. Sometimes visuals so artificial and over the top reach the point
of absurdity, and ruin the whole experience.
Really. Really.
Look at that. LOOK AT THAT. That is ridiculous looking. I don't know how I can take a movie seriously...
Reviewing the film without having seen it? Really? Really?
As I said, I'm prepared to be disappointed, but I'll go in with an open mind. The few things I've envisioned
in my head while reading the book somewhat line up the trailer and few stills I've seen.
Reviewing the film without having seen it? Really? Really?
As I said, I'm prepared to be disappointed, but I'll go in with an open mind. The few things I've envisioned
in my head while reading the book somewhat line up the trailer and few stills I've seen.
I'll watch the film with an open mind, but the trailer alone bothers me. Do I hate CG? No. CG is great. Do I hate when CG is overused and so much of the image is artificial and the images are moving so fast you can't tell what's going on? Yes.
I saw the movie, Thursday night. I'm not familiar with the book and based on the trailers, I went in with expectations of the move being not great, but "really good." I guess my expectations were a bit high. I thought the movie was pretty good. I did not have to see this in a theater, as it would make for a fine rental.
50 years prior, an alien race attacked earth, killing 10s of millions. Though we got our asses kicked, the alien fleet was defeated INDEPENDENCE DAY style. Take out the mother ship and the rest fall. And, shades of STARSHIP TROOPERS, these are giant insects, but they fly ships!
Cut to present day, where Ender Wiggins is in training....... Um, that's about it! This movie is mostly confined to two training facilities. Granted, I was entertained watching little kids floating around and playing video games, but there's not much more than that. A sweeping, epic adventure this is not.
I don't want to sound like I'm bagging on the movie, because I did enjoy it. Just don't expect too much.
Also, there is a quote at the beginning of the movie (which is also repeated, later):
“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 Wiggin
Too bad the movie shows very little about understanding the enemy. What a missed opportunity! There's not enough reason to "like" the enemy, let alone "love."
Anyway, it was good to see Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsly playing a couple of decent roles. Everyone else was pretty good, as well. Imagine if STARSHIP TROOPERS stayed in boot camp for 90% of the movie. ENDER'S GAME was like that, for me.
EDIT:
I was looking at user reviews on IMDB. Man, did this review headline make me laugh out loud:
Which is a good thing. How much a viewer likes a movie usually depends on expectations being exceeded. As I said, I checked out the IMDB responses and people seemed to really like it. I did like it, but I seem to be on the lower end of positive responses.
Check it out. A lot of the book's readers seemed to like it, despite the book being more internalized (in the character's head). After reading some things, this movie is supposed to be part of a trilogy (if it performs well). I didn't know that, going in. I'm not sure if the movie covered one book (of a series) or just part of the book, but it's pretty clear that there is a lot more to tell.
After reading some things, this movie is supposed to be part of a trilogy (if it performs well).
I didn't know that, going in. I'm not sure if the movie covered one book (of a series) or just part of the book, but it's pretty
clear that there is a lot more to tell.
The universe surrounding Ender is rather complex. In a direct line, the books about Ender - after Ender's Game - are
Ender in Exile, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide and Children of the Mind.
Then there's the Shadow series which are mostly about Bean and the other Battle School graduates, as well as Ender's
brother Peter; Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets and Shadow of the Giant.
There are more books planned in both series, supposedly focusing on the children of Ender and Bean, as well as prequels
about the Bugger or Formic wars.
The "Ender's Game" film used stuff from Ender's Shadow, which is about Bean, as Ender needs a confidante of some
sort to externalize things that are all internalized in the books.
From what I understand, if they do sequels they'll follow the Shadow series. Which is funny, because Ender's Game became a novel (it was a short story) mostly to develop the character Card wanted for Speaker of the Dead. (Exile was published much later) Great stuff, and Children of the Mind is one of my favorite books. I'd highly recommend reading all of them.
Oh, and a recent book, not in the same series, The Lost Gate, was fantastic. Sort of Gaiman-style urban fantasy, so if you like that, I'd recommend. Books. They're good.
I saw it last night (without having read the book) and thought it was okay. I enjoyed the first two thirds of the movie. The end didn't work so great for me because
I feel like there really wasn't much of a third act. It's like SURPRISE, what you thought was the natural end to the 2nd act was actually the climactic finale, you just didn't know it was the climactic finale and were therefore robbed of experiencing the stakes being raised.
And then, furthermore, what comes at the very end of the movie just didn't hold any emotional weight with me, for the same reasons that Scoopic mentioned.
