Where do I start with Ender's Game? It's beautifully shot for one. The art direction and prop guys who worked on this movie should really be proud because they brought much of the book's technology to life convincingly despite the fact the book was written in 1985 and the author had no idea what LCD screens, Ipad's or cellphones would do to the technological landscape. The tech in the movie looks like something that could have naturally progressed from where we are now in 2013 and that is quite an accomplishment. The room where Ender' training takes place is beautiful, I never pictured it as having transparent walls when I was reading the book but the idea sure makes for some beautiful scenery. The acting is solid and the casting was great as well. The main antagonists of the film the Formics are really cool looking to top it all off.
Its not all roses however, despite all the good things about this movie it just was not gripping. While the plot stays mostly the same, important dialogue and character development from the book were cut with impunity. In the book we find out how empathetic and great Ender is through all of his interpersonal relationships with the members of his "Army" in battle school, a training camp for child military recruits in the future war against the alien race known as the Formics. Ender proves he is the next brilliant commander on par with a Ghengis Khan or Napoleon by commanding his fellow recruits in mock space battles in zero gravity. The vast majority of the book details his exploits at the battle school and how he gains the trust of his subordinates through dozens if not hundreds of these battles, the movie shows us 2 of them. The book also makes clear the extreme psychological duress that the commanders of the battle school place Ender under, trying to break his spirit and see if he will ever fail or if he is indeed the best hope for the human race. In the film this is hinted at in some ham fisted exposition instead of shown, and the story suffers for it, instead of seeing a brilliant child transform into an empathetic and yet somehow ruthless leader, we instead see Ender breeze along through the story with only a couple hiccups along the way. On top of cutting out Ender's own character growth many of his squadmates are completely cut from the movie leaving just 4 major ones and a score of unnamed extras. Of the 4 supporting characters in Ender's army that the filmmakers bothered to give names to only 3 have only a handful of meaningful exchanges with Ender and as a result the emotional connection in the viewer never really hits home. I was also a little frustrated with how the film excised some of the hard science fiction, for example the details of faster than light travel and relativity play a major role in the book, but this is just glossed over and unaddressed in the film and it creates some plot holes towards the end as a result.
This movie is a good but not great film, but as a retelling of one of the best science fiction books in print it completely fails, I suggest you rent it when it comes out on video but there is no reason to pay 9.50 to see it on the big screen, in the mean time go to the library and read it instead.
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