ENDER'S GAME - Trailer Announcement & Preview

[John Kotches]

If you take the movie as a separate entity from the book, it was good in and of itself. Not great, I'd give it somewhere between a 6 and 7 out of 10.



They condensed the story line and they didn't have enough time to build any tension between the characters other than Bonso which makes it a bit hard to get much of the subtleties. I will say that it was a visually stunning presentation and the SFX house is to be commended.

I'm fine with the condensing that was done, but it was tough to believe that so little time was needed to go from point A to point B.

Jay:

The Running time is under 2 hours, playing to the average American's chronic short attention span.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

If you take the movie as a separate entity from the book, it was good in and of itself. Not great, I'd give it somewhere between a 6 and 7 out of 10.



They condensed the story line and they didn't have enough time to build any tension between the characters other than Bonso which makes it a bit hard to get much of the subtleties. I will say that it was a visually stunning presentation and the SFX house is to be commended.

I'm fine with the condensing that was done, but it was tough to believe that so little time was needed to go from point A to point B.

Jay:

The Running time is under 2 hours, playing to the average American's chronic short attention span.

I applaud them for keeping the film at the 2hr mark; I tire of 2h30min and longer films. I agree 6-7/10. And also agree that their short time span stretches credulity and diminishes from the story.

 

[John Kotches]

Mike:

An extra 10-15 minutes might have helped with some of the weaknesses that we have both touched on and still barely have exceeded 2 hours.

Beautiful rendering of the action.

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[rockymtnhigh]

Mike:

An extra 10-15 minutes might have helped with some of the weaknesses that we have both touched on and still barely have exceeded 2 hours.

Beautiful rendering of the action.

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Agreed.

It felt forced. And while I'll never visualize the battle room as they did, it was fun to be "in the Ender's Game world."

 

[John Kotches]

Yeah, that wasn't what I had pictured either but it was amazing in so many ways.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Yeah, that wasn't what I had pictured either but it was amazing in so many ways.

It eliminated the ability to have 9 battle rooms, but that was hard to visualize anyways.

I didn't expect them hitting the stars and getting slammed the way they did.

 

[Foxbat]

The reviewer in our newspaper didn't like it; gave it 1.5 stars out of 4. Leo LePorte on TWiT has been warning people off of the movie, saying, "read the book," so the surprise has more impact and is better experieinced than the movie trailers would let on.

I myself never heard of the book until the movie was made. The critic in the paper said one problem was "Ender's Game" (the book) predates the Harry Potter series, but HP made it to the big screen first. Too many similarities in plot and chracter development made this movie seem like it was trying to cash in on the adolesent saves the day/the country/the world/humanity theme.

I haven't seen "Gravity" yet so I doubt I'll catch this. "Thor: The Dark World" on the other hand...

 

[rockymtnhigh]

The reviewer in our newspaper didn't like it; gave it 1.5 stars out of 4. Leo LePorte on TWiT has been warning people off of the movie, saying, "read the book," so the surprise has more impact and is better experieinced than the movie trailers would let on.

I myself never heard of the book until the movie was made. The critic in the paper said one problem was "Ender's Game" (the book) predates the Harry Potter series, but HP made it to the big screen first. Too many similarities in plot and chracter development made this movie seem like it was trying to cash in on the adolesent saves the day/the country/the world/humanity theme.

I haven't seen "Gravity" yet so I doubt I'll catch this. "Thor: The Dark World" on the other hand...

Roland - Read the book. It is a good one. Then you can watch the film when it comes out on the pay channels or blu-ray.

 

[mike123abc]

The book is a quick read.

I thought the movie adaptation was about as good as can be expected when you have two hours to reenact what happens in a book. I do not think a 3 movie 9 hour Hobbit treatment would have been tolerated for this movie...

 

[rockymtnhigh]

The book is a quick read.

I thought the movie adaptation was about as good as can be expected when you have two hours to reenact what happens in a book. I do not think a 3 movie 9 hour Hobbit treatment would have been tolerated for this movie...

I won't tolerate it for the Hobbit either. Seriously, I'm done going to the theater for that franchise. Maybe I'll see the whole thing when it comes out. Maybe.

BUT I think they could have done a better job, as John suggests, with even just 10 or 15 more minutes.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I just thought about a major plot fail in the movie.

Spoiler

The buggers get into the mind game. Plant the idea. Ok. Fine, I can live with that. Easier than invading his dreams. Yet, they leave the cocoon on Eros, where command school is. That place was abandoned by the buggers AFTER the 2nd war. There is no way they'd know Ender would be the leader, or be able to plant the idea there and leave the cocoon, years and years BEFORE Ender was even born.

This is an example where if they send Ender off at the end to a colony it would have made sense, but lack of character development made that too seem unlikely.

Ok, I know, I have too much time on my hands... the reality was I just finished listening to Ender's Game Alive, which while faithful to the book, drew from the mind game "infiltration" from the movie, and it made me realize what the movie did was irrational.

 

[Foxbat]

Roland - Read the book. It is a good one. Then you can watch the film when it comes out on the pay channels or blu-ray.

$4 on Amazon for the Kindle edition, you talked me onto it.

 

[navychop]

I saw it last night on IMAX. I enjoyed the movie. Not great, but I didn't regret the time or money. The nature of the final game was to me, pretty obvious early on. But the whiney part and the last little bit- well, phooey.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I saw it last night on IMAX. I enjoyed the movie. Not great, but I didn't regret the time or money. The nature of the final game was to me, pretty obvious early on. But the whiney part and the last little bit- well, phooey.

They screwed up the last part big time. See my spoiler. Completely irrational.

 

[mike123abc]

I did not like the last few minutes of the movie. Well the last couple minutes were OK with him in the spaceship, but the part before that was not handled well.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I did not like the last few minutes of the movie. Well the last couple minutes were OK with him in the spaceship, but the part before that was not handled well.

Indeed. It made little sense; sure in the book he finds the buggers, but only after he and Valentine are on the first colony planet. Years later.

 

[John Kotches]

Its the only way they could wrap it up "logically" with the existing characters.



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[rockymtnhigh]

Yes perhaps, but given how much else they opted to change, this ending just does not work in the film. The infiltration of the mind game could work, but not the timing they use of the placement of the bugger, oh excuse me, formic, cocoon. But such is life. Of course, many would wonder why the original book ended the way it did - the climax of the story would have had the biggest PUNCH after the use of the little doctor and the winning of the war. Yet, we know that was not his purpose. He wanted to setup Speaker for the Dead.

 

[mike123abc]

Yes perhaps, but given how much else they opted to change, this ending just does not work in the film. The infiltration of the mind game could work, but not the timing they use of the placement of the bugger, oh excuse me, formic, cocoon. But such is life. Of course, many would wonder why the original book ended the way it did - the climax of the story would have had the biggest PUNCH after the use of the little doctor and the winning of the war. Yet, we know that was not his purpose. He wanted to setup Speaker for the Dead.

Unless they are planning a Speaker for the Dead movie, they actually could have left the whole cocoon plot out of the movie.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Unless they are planning a Speaker for the Dead movie, they actually could have left the whole cocoon plot out of the movie.

Agreed. It wasn't necessary. And a Speaker for the Dead movie would not work real well, it is not an action film. And what are they going to have ewok-like piggies?