OldBoy

Please continue pre-release discussion here.

Movie:
"Ender’s Game" (Starring: Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Sir Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Viola Davis)

Release Date:
11/1/2013

Rating:
PG-13 (for some violence, sci-fi action and thematic material throughout.)

Running Time:
114min. (1h. 54m.)

Budget:
$150 million (estimated)

IMDb Synopsis:


IMDb Info and Rating:
6.9 (1,699 votes as of 10/28/13)

Rotten Tomatoes:
Fresh:17 Rotten:06 (74% as of 10/28/13)

Metacritic:
59 metascore ('Mixed or average reviews' as of 10/28/13)

Trailer:
<object width="720" height="357"><param name="movie" value="http://www.traileraddict.com/emd/78538"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.traileraddict.com/emd/78538" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" width="720" height="357"></embed></object>

Poster Art:


ATTENTION:

dan30oly, Arpeggi (current status: Banned), Spottedfeather & PenguinJoe please do not enter your "traditional" star review in these threads any longer. Whether intentional or not, it is a troll move to always vote 0 or 1.0 stars, whether you've seen the movie or not, and no longer appreciated in these, somewhat, legitimate reviews threads.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION AND UNDERSTANDING IN THIS MATTER**

OldBoy

bump for release.

Supermallet

That poster is atrocious.

Why So Blu?

My friend enjoyed it a lot:

Ender’s Game, the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel by Orson Scott Card, is one of my favorite books of all time. The concept of a film adaptation has always been an intriguing one to me, but something I had long put off as ever actually happening. These feelings came from a younger me, but I eventually realized that it was more or less inevitable and could only hope that it would not be completely screwed up. Having now seen a live-action film based on the novel, I can say that I walked away feeling really positive about it. Knowing that a film would have to drop certain aspects and have a different depiction of certain elements that have been in my mind for years, I was thrilled to see other parts of the film that absolutely thrilled me. It is not without its flaws, but Ender’s Game is a big screen adaptation that I would be happy to salute.

http://whysoblu.com/enders-game-movie-review/

Rob V

The poster almost looks like Mickey Mouse Death Star.

I'm halfway thru the book now and have been struggling to find it interesting. The "practice" between Ender and the other kids just gets so monotonous... I'm back into it but hoping it picks up.

bunkaroo

Something about that kids face and voice make me want to punch him a lot of times. The trailers don't help the movie's cause much either. I'll be interested to see the ratings here.

Kal-El

Reposting from the pre-release discussion thread. I didn't know/see there was a review thread already:

Saw it last night with my wife. Never read the books but it was much better than I was expecting it to be. Some dashes of Starship Troopers and Harry Potter (especially Quidditch) here and there.

Not sure if the production design or the director intended it because Harrison Ford was involved but there were 2 Star Wars references that I caught:

1. The Formic fighters share a similar "shape" with the Millenium Falcon
2. In the opening when they show the maneuver Ender performed to beat the bully in the video game, I could've sworn they lifted it from Empire where the Falcon passes between 2 colliding asteroids and the Tie fighter gets caught instead.

Patman

Okay, so I am a big fan of the Ender/Bean books, so I'm probably a bit biased in wanting to see an "Ender's Game" movie.

So, that is what I did last night. Asa Butterfield's performance is pretty solid, and Harrison Ford's turn as Graff is also fine. There's a lot of territory to cover from the book, so the screenplay did its best to present the situation, the threat and the conclusion of "Ender's Game". What we got was a good effort, though the inter-personal characterizations from the book was a bit lacking, and the plot progression is a little clumsy at times, but I still enjoyed the film overall. I got a big kick out of seeing some of the sequences that I had imagined from the book (over 15 years ago) now on the big screen, and it pushed the story along well.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.

Dr. DVD

Saw it. I finished the book last Sunday and can honestly say they did capture its essence. I was also quite impressed with FX and production design. The actors were solid, and it managed to get some interesting sci-fi stuff into the plot as well. However, had I not just finished reading the book I doubt I would have found myself as vested in the characters. It's a well made movie, but I don't know if I would call it a good adaptation. I give it 3 stars myself.

Solid Snake

Hrmmmmmm.

Dr. DVD

Rorschach?

hanshotfirst1138

Your turn doctor. Tell me: what do YOU see?!

Bandoman

I really liked it. It was faithful to the book, and looked great. It's always difficult to transfer a heavily psychological plot to the big screen, but Butterfield was fine (not great) and Harrison Ford nailed his performance. Ben Kingsley lent weight to the film. The plot did feel a bit rushed. They could have added 30 minutes to film and still kept it moving, but I think they did ok. 4 out of 5 starts for me. I probably added 1/2 star just because the book was such a revelation to me in my formative years.

Why So Blu?

Saw it this afternoon and thought it was entertaining. I can see how the source material appeals to nerds and outcasts and such, because our theater was packed with geeks and kids that were probably bullied at some point. It was odd. I guess this Ender is a hero to the outcast?

I'm glad Gavin Hood got his mojo back after his career was nearly ruined by Wolverine: Origins. I did hate the very last 5 minutes - it was rushed and then Buzzkill.

Harrison Ford was awesome and so was Ben Kingsley.

resinrats

Saw it this afternoon. Meh. Wasn't horrible but I'll probably never want to see it ever again.

So they really needed a bunch of kids to come up with the idea of wiping out the alien's homeworld will win the war?

What was the reason that Ben Kingsley is reported dead? He figured out that kill the queen is the way to go. He still won the war so why fake his death?

Dr. DVD

That's pretty much how the book ends.

Why So Blu?

An extra 5 minute extension to smooth out the ending would have helped. It's awkward. I don't care how the book ends - this is the film and has to have its own beats/narrative. That was my only gripe. I wonder if there will be an extended cut.

Dr. DVD

If there is, I doubt it will add to the ending. Believe me, I was disappointed with the ending when I read the book and was actually surprised that they went as far as they did with that little epilogue (which is all it is ). However, a lot of what is considered "classic" sci-fi has unresolved endings (2001 , for instance), which is why classics are so hard to adapt.

valkyrie

I enjoyed this much more than I expected. It was far better than the trailers let on, IMHO. Great acting by Ford and Butterfield wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. I thought it very well capture the essence of the book, and the visuals and music were stunning. I saw it on a very large screen at a new(er) theater, but wished I would have waited for the IMAX showing. It was a fun ride and a day-1 BD purchase for me.

Why So Blu?

Yes, I forgot to mention that the music score was my favorite part of the film. It's great.

Dr. DVD

I will say that this movie lead me to believe that X-Men:Origins wasn't entirely Gavin Hood's fault. He really seemed to want to do justice to the Ender's Game book, and I could tell he was a fan. I don't know if he was a Wolverine fan or not, but whomever had final say failed miserably.

Why So Blu?

I've been saying that shit for years. I believe The Donners and Avi Arad or whoever was the Marvel liaison screwed it up.

lizard

I went into this movie with some trepidation since it is hard to adapt a book into a movie and a complex double award-winning book is all the more difficult. But I came away quite impressed. Yes, the movie heavily abridges the book, compresses the timeline, and changes it in some respects. That was expected. But the essence is still there and the ending captures the feelings of Ender about what he did. I was pleased that they didn't try to cut out Valentine from the movie; she is an essential anchor to Ender's character. So far as the nuts-and-bolts are concerned, I thought the visuals and effects were terrific and I couldn't have asked for a better rendition of the settings.

It would never happen with such an obscure and not very popular movie, but I'd like to see an extended edition in which some more scenes were added. I was hugely surprised to find that the movie lasted less than two hours because it covered so much ground that I didn't think it could be done in such a short amount of time.

I've read (or listened to audio versions of) a number of Card's Ender books, including Ender's Shadow, which tells the same story from the perspective of Bean. Card has said that Ender's Game was the setup for the book he really wanted to write: Speaker for the Dead. And that is also an impressive book, although not something that would translate well to the screen.

Of the nine movies I've seen thus far this year (I've been taking full advantage of my new senior discount: $5 matinees!) I was most impressed with this one, so I gave it four and a half stars.

dconev

Ender's Game is so-so, and will probably be so-so for just about everyone, whether they've read the book or not.

Brack

I saw it today and quite liked it. Some plot holes aside (they may be in the book for all I know, I intended to read it soon), I thought the story was well done (though fairly predicable), and the acting was pretty good. I know it's comparing apples to oranges, but I thought this had more heart, more interesting action, and a better story than other sci-fi offerings this year, like Pacific Rim.

Asa Butterfield continues to impress, and this is Harrison Ford's best role in years. The other supporting cast were good as well, if somewhat underdeveloped. This is one of the few movies where I wish it would have been filmed in 3D, some of those training shots would've looked nuts, but perhaps some of the holographic 3D shifting Ender does, especially near the end, would've been too distracting in 3D. ''

I give it a solid B+/A-, or whatever a 4 out of 5 would be.