Takes 4 stars for the special effects, the script was a disgrace

Rating: 4/10 (9 November 2013)

Having read the books, I knew this was always going to be a difficult adaptation. I'm not particularly picky with adaptations, I have liked plenty of them, but this is maybe the 1st adaptation I really disliked.
Such a long story, with all the character development present in the books, required 3 hours as a minimum, maybe even 2 separate movies or even a 10 hour TV series.
After watching this, the feeling I get is that I have just watch a trailer for a movie or a history documentary resuming years of training/war in a small documentary. Entire battles are crammed up in a few seconds, there are only 2 battle room battles in the entire movie, each lasting a minute or less!!! With the exception of a couple of scenes there is very little dialog that help you with characterization.
The battle room looks great and the academy too. Other then that you're better off reading the books then maybe watch the movie, just to see a nice interpretation of the battle room.