Ender's Game

Plot synopsis:
Humanity, having begun to explore the Universe and master interplanetary spaceflight, encounters an alien race dubbed the "buggers". The discovery of a bugger forward base in the asteroid Eros leads to war between the species and the destruction of a bugger colonizing force. The battle to recapture Eros results in the discovery of advanced alien technology, including gravity manipulation. Political conflicts on Earth between three ruling parties, the Hegemon, Polemarch, and Strategos, are put aside in the face of the threat from the buggers. Ostensibly in preparation for the expected third invasion, an International Fleet (I.F.) is established, with headquarters on Eros. Increasingly advanced starships are built and secretly launched to attack the buggers' home worlds. To develop commanders capable of defeating the much larger bugger forces, the I.F. creates a crash training program for children with the best strategic minds, the Battle School.
Protagonist Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is one of the school's trainees. He has a close bond with his sister Valentine; but fears his brother Peter, a highly intelligent sociopath. The I.F. remove Ender's monitoring device, seemingly ending his chances of Battle School, and he gets teased by a fellow student, Stilson. Ender beats up Stilson before the fight is broken up; unknown to Ender, the fight was fatal to Stilson. When explaining his actions to I.F. Colonel Hyrum Graff, Ender states his belief that, by showing superiority now, he has prevented future struggle. Graff, on hearing of this, offers Ender a place in the Battle School, situated in Earth's orbit, where Graff quickly isolates Ender from the other cadets.
The cadets participate in competitive war simulations in zero gravity, where Ender's innovations overwhelm his opponents. Graff promotes Ender to command a new army composed of raw recruits, but Ender's success continues. He forms bonds of friendship, loyalty and trust with several of his current and former squad members. The jealous commander of the army with whom Ender first served, Bonzo Madrid, compels him to fight outside the simulation, and Ender unintentionally kills him, once again seeking to preemptively prevent all future struggles with Bonzo.
On Earth, Peter Wiggin uses a global communication system to post political essays under the pseudonym "Locke", hoping to establish himself as a respected orator and thence as a powerful politician. Valentine, despite not trusting Peter, agrees to publish alongside him as "Demosthenes". Their essays are soon taken seriously by the government. Though Graff is told their true identities, he recommends that it be kept a secret, because their writings are politically useful.
Ender, now ten years old, is promoted to Command School on Eros after a brief respite on Earth. After some preliminary battles in the simulator, he is introduced to a former war hero, Mazer Rackham. From now on, while believing them to be simulations controlled by Mazer, Ender directs real human spacecraft against bugger fleets via an instantaneous communicator. As the skirmishes become harder, he is joined by some of his friends from the Battle School as sub-commanders. Despite this, Ender becomes depressed by the battles, his isolation, and by the way Mazer treats him.
When told that he is facing his final test, Ender finds his fleet far outnumbered by the buggers surrounding their queens' home world. Hoping to earn himself expulsion from the school for his ruthlessness, he sacrifices his entire fleet to launch a Molecular Detachment Device. The Device destroys the planet and the surrounding bugger fleet. Mazer informs Ender that he has been fighting real battles and not simulations, and that Ender has won the war. Ender becomes more depressed on learning this and of the deaths of Stilson and Bonzo.
When he recovers, he learns that, at the end of the bugger war, Earth's powers fought among themselves. He stays on Eros as his friends return home and colonists venture to other worlds, using Eros as a way station. Among the first colonists is Valentine, who apologizes that Ender can never return to Earth, where he would become dangerous as Peter and other politicians sought to exploit him for their own purposes. Instead, Ender joins the colony program to populate one of the buggers' former worlds. There, he discovers the dormant egg of a bugger queen, who reveals that the buggers had initially assumed humans were a non-sentient race, for want of collective consciousness, but realized their mistake too late, and requests that Ender take the egg to a new planet to colonize.
Ender takes the egg and, with information from the Queen, writes The Hive Queen under the alias "Speaker for the Dead". Peter, now the leader of Earth and seventy-seven with a failing heart, recognises Ender as the author of The Hive Queen. He requests Ender to write a book about him, which Ender titles The Hegemon. The combined works create a new type of funeral, in which the Speaker for the Dead tells the whole and unapologetic story of the deceased, adopted by many on Earth and its colonies. In the end, Ender and Valentine board a series of near-lightspeed starships and visit many worlds, looking for a safe place to establish the unborn Hive Queen.

Tags: stupid, anti war, violence, action, satire, revenge

Review:
Also, the kids are just too old - there's an ironic moment in the movie where two officers talk about how conscripting kids under 15 "used to be illegal", yet all the actors playing the kids look 15 or older!Still, it's a fun ride, and if you hadn't read the book these flaws really wouldn't be apparent.
It rushes through certain important points, and leaves out other parts altogether, instead what you get is a flawed but enjoyable movie that ultimately succeeds, because it always keeps its goal in sight.Certain things about this movie such as the justification for child soldiers, Ansible Technology, and the Genius of the main group of Kids will be best understood by the book readers.The film has wonderful visuals with exciting CGI to showcase the important Battle Room.The Acting by Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield is one of the strengths this project has.
They maintain a tense and believable relationship that is very much like the original story.Ultimately the climax of this movie and its main message is what sets it apart from many other Sci-Fi films.
In my view, this is what has been done in adapting Ender's Game, the remnants have been stacked together as a bunch of sound-bites and run at fast forward speed, leaving no time for character progression and the growth of friendships that is the mainstay to the original story.It may be that, like Philip Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy, this was an unmakeable film so we should perhaps thank them for their brave effort that didn't quite make it.In failing, the film is a testament to the writing of Card that he could cram so much story into just 350 paperback pages that it couldn't been captured in 2 hours on the screen.And finally, Ben Kingsley's performance, what a shocker!
When I first heard this film was coming out, I decided to read the two books on which the movie was based (Enders Game & Enders Shadow).
If you like the book, the mutation of fundamental points of the story makes this movie a complete waste of time.
Ender's Game is another one of the best sci-fi novels I've read, and a film for it has been in development for something like ten years.
First, they decided that it would be good if this movie could be more like the Hunger Games or Twilight series, making it into a 50% chick flick, which the original story is definitely NOT.
The Mind Game is also weakly handled, with only a few words of explanation regarding the Formic's influence on Ender through it.At least the special effects were up to current standards, no complaints there, but making this amazing story material into something not much better than Battleship or Pacific Rim, is not something that I would be proud of as a Director.They took a 700 page novel, made a 1hr 45min movie out of it somehow.
This will effectively kill Ender's Game for the rest of time, nobody has ever made a second version of a movie from a novel, which is what this would take to make things right.
The source material's acclaim far exceeds that of recent YA successes like "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games": Orson Scott Card's sci-fi novel won both the prestigious Nebula Award and the Hugo Award in 1985 and 1986 respectively, and is also recommended reading for the US Marine Corps.Attempting to give sufficient credit to such a classic novel is director and writer Gavin Hood, best remembered for the unimpressive "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", which received a lukewarm response from critics and audiences alike.
Employing a combination of relentless physical training, psychological manipulation and social isolation in Battle School, Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) and Major Gwen Anderson (Viola Davis) are looking to sieve out a suitable leader.Ender appears to have the ideal traits, a result of both nature and nurture.
Movie adaptations of books invariably result in the loss of certain elements: While Ender's siblings are keenly-developed and complex characters in the novel, the lack of screen time and development in the movie render them as mere placeholders..
I have read the first two Ender books years ago, so I knew what to expect from the movie.
"Enders Game" is my all time favorite book, but this movie should never have been made and is a waste of money.
Even if we disregard the fact that every year Hollywood hides its lack of new talents with more and more cash in CGI; this movie is still way off the scale!!!Combine a completely infantile plot, with almost Bollywood acting (of which not even Ford or Kingsley are saved), over-exaggerated characters, a poor and repetitive soundtrack, and a total unconvincing script out of pace, and you get "Ender's Game".I would had given this movie a "0", as did the Wall Street Journal and the New York Daily News, but the lowest available is a "1".
The box-office failure of big budget (110m$) book adaptation 'Ender's Game' doesn't bode well for the future of my favorite movie genre.
I have very low expectations, but "Enders Game" surprised even me with its very low production value, lack of ambition, and cheesy wooden dialogue.I've seen reviews which give this movie nominal points based on the special effects and set designs.
This film literally brought the book alive with excellent special effects, and great acting by Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield and Viola Davis!
Yeah, I will buy that for a dollar.Not only is the storyline very hard to buy into or believe for a second, then the entire movie bears no particular contents, and it is a hollow experience that is carried only by the spectacular visual effects and the names of Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley.Let's take a moment and look at the combat training, shall we?
What we get is Harry Potter meets The Hunger Games via Starship Troopers (PG rated.)Harrison Ford sleepwalks through this film, then again he has been sleepwalking in his films since Air Force One. Ben Kingsley turns up as a tattooed Maori with cod Yoda leanings.The film relies on some gifted kid fighters in a training academy using simulation battles in preparation to launch an assault on the planet of the alien invaders.The fact that some of the kids live in a regimented environment where bullying is common place just like the regular army makes you think what sort of kids were being recruited by Harrison Ford and Co. Ender is the only one who shows sign of actually engaging a tactical brain seems to be lost on the other bullies whose response to losing to a better boy is to lash out.
It actually makes the people running the entire academy look like a bunch of incompetents when there is a looming alien threat.There are some good special effects, Asa Butterfield shows spirit as Ender but this is a franchise that is not going very far..
I haven't read it - I'm not into science fiction literature so much - so watching ENDER'S GAME was a whole new experience to me; I had little idea of what to expect.It turns out to be a fairly average movie with both good and bad elements throughout.
The easiest review I've ever written.Simply brilliant.This movie has it all, great story, great characters, great special effects and terrific simulations of zero gravity.There are some individuals griping about how it doesn't do justice to the book, but I strongly disagree with that.
The only way you could even hope of achieving that is with a trilogy of movies that went for 3 hours plus(like Lord Of The Rings for example, even 'The Hobbit' required a trilogy to do the entire story in detail and that's not even half the size of Enders Game.(Let alone the scope, subject matter and thought provoking nature of the story).Instead of winging about what you don't have, just take a look at what you do have.
2. It seriously is a great adaptation and movie production companies are going to be shy of doing other great Science Fiction novels if fans are too critical and judgmental(thankfully Guardians Of The Galaxy did really well but seriously, I would declare Enders Game the better film).
3. I'd love to see a sequel and there has been talk of the next movie to continue Enders Story where Orson Scott Card is actually going to write new material to bridge the gap between the novels and I think most fans of the books would enjoy this because A) They no longer have anything to bitch about as it would all be new material and B) Add to the great story in a way the actual author would like to see happen.Don't listen to the nonsense, watch the movie and enjoy and most of all, buy the Bluray/DVD etc and support this stunning movie so that a sequel will be possible(at the end of the day, it's money that talks).Enders Game is EXCELLENT period, I simply can't fault it and despite what other reviewers may say, you can understand everything Ender is doing as it's implied and told through the action and the eventual unfolding of the movie.
It leaves the characters shallow and undeveloped and in several instances major plot points are simply and irreconcilably contrary to the plot of the novel.If you didn't read the book(s), this movie will lead to significantly more confusion than enjoyment, as huge gaps have been left in: plot; character development; and background/technical information.If you read the book(s) and hated them, you just might like this film (but I doubt it).Mitigating factors: Harrison Ford does give a pretty good performance, and some of the visuals are spectacular..
Now 2 hours of violent eye-rolling, has left me with a headache.The unbelievably shallow characters coupled with the horrendously bad acting, made me resent the kids - from the sickeningly emotional and constantly teary-eyed Ender, to the laughably pathetic bully Gonzo, or whatever his name was.The movie's only impressive feat, is the production crew's ability to refrain from groaning loudly when forced to witness the cast's "performances"!
In the future, Earth was attacked by the alien race Formics and after many casualties, the hero Mazer Rackham destroys the mothership and defeats the aliens.Fifty years later, the outcast boy Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) is recruited by Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) and Major Gwen Anderson (Viola Davis) to be part of a selected team of boys and girls that are being prepared by the International Military for the next invasion of the Formics.
They sprinkle the garbage with some special effects, a little of technobabble, some run-of-the-mill evil alien monsters, add heavy weight actors such as Ford and Kingsley and wrap the final product with a juvenile love story and, bang, we have Ender's Game.This a story that has been told million of times before (the superation, the fish out-of-water, the leader in the making, etc.), in different settings, eras, countries, etc...
As an adaptation, it is mostly abysmal: it hits some of the right marks, but is almost completely lacking in the novel's spirit and depth.Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) is a preternaturally gifted young man who, like the rest of the children in his post-space-war Earth, has been monitored all his life to determine if he is eligible to attend the prestigious Battle School.
His rise through the ranks seems almost too easy, before it dissolves into a final-act twist that seems preposterous in the cinema but was hard-won, inevitable and shatteringly brilliant in the novel.In moving from page to screen, Ender's Game has altered in ways big and small - some of these changes are arguably necessary, like the aging-up of the characters.
Adding Viola Davis to the cast as Major Anderson - a disembodied voice in the novel who's clearly male - adds a welcome (if slightly stereotypical) feminine touch to Battle School.If you've read the book and treasured its words, ideas and characters (whatever you might think of Card's reprehensible politics and beliefs), it's probably a good idea for you to steer clear of Ender's Game.
Orson Scott Card should be ashamed of himself for allowing this abomination to carry the Title Enders Game.While many would (rightfully) argue that the movie could not contain all or most of what was in the book, there is no reason why it could not have been done right in two or three movies instead of ruined in this one movie.The acting was okay, however too much of the story (including the iconic opening) was left out.Many of the key points where just changed and made no sense whatsoever.Anyone that has read this book should be outraged..
Taken from the novel by Orson Scott Card, it purports to tell the story of Ender Wiggin, (Asa Butterfield) a young man who dreams of joining the military and becoming a great Space hero like his former brother.
When I watched the Ender's Game trailer for the 1st time browsing the IMDb and I though: Here's a Sci Fi movie that I will probably see.
The Ender's Game saga!I'm a bit lazy when it comes to reading, so I decided to listen to the audio books instead :) I got lucky, since from the author's point of view this is the ideal medium for enjoying the story.
Making a movie with 3rd person speaking the thought of another one all the time would not work very well for the viewer.2- The kids must be very young about 6 to 12 years old and it's very hard to find outstanding actor at that age that can give the required dramatic performance.3- There should not be a love story and Hollywood tends to take advantage of the teenager feelings to do thatI was skeptical about the movie and unfortunately I was right.
However they were able to do somethings right:Amazing special effects;Amazing final battle;Cut the Locke and Demosthenes characters from the movie, since it was impossible to develop them in a 2 hours movie, along side the main story;Give a plausible explanation about the bugger motive to attack Earth;Create some doubt about the bugger intentions.What's wrong with the movie then?Almost everything happens too fast in the Battle School;-- The training should take years, not days-- Ender's ascension to power is not credible.
If the Bonzo character supposed to be funny, I assure you that none of the Ender's Game books fan laugh when saw him!The movie should have been split into two parts, in order to develop the Ender Wiggin personality and make is ascension on the Battle School credible.
Although naturally gifted in tactical thinking, it is from his siblings that he learns how to sympathize and empathize with his enemy, as well as how to destroy them with ferocity and finality.Colonel Graff ultimately drafts young Ender into Battle School, and a new round of physical and mental abuse begins for the recruit as he learns to navigate the complicated, confusing minefield of power and politics that is innate in the military.Graff is convinced that Ender is the one who can ultimately lead their forces to victory against the Formics, while Major Anderson has her doubts about his readiness.As the impending conflict looms, Ender and his adolescent army are pushed beyond reasonable limits to prepare for war against an enemy they barely understand, and the fate of the world rests in the hands of a child.If I have any real complaints about the way the story unfolds on the screen, it's that the movie seems to have two consecutive endings, and the first one takes a little bit of the oomph out of the second one.
The only movie made after a book that has less in common with what was originally written is probably World War Z, but Ender's Game is not far.
This film guts the most interesting and dramatic parts of both of those stories by trying to tell some abbreviated tale -- resulting in a movie that really doesn't interest me at just about any level (regardless of how much I like the books), even though the production quality was quite good..
A big positive surprise for me was the visual aspect of the movie, I liked it actually so much, it is the main reason, why I keep my rating for the movie so high despite the negatives.The biggest problem of the Ender's Game adaptation is the race against the time.
The Movie Enders Game is only loosely based on the book.
It is the perfect escapism for me.Ender Wiggin is a very smart kid who is believed to be the chosen one to end a war between the human race and aliens that want to wipe us out.The story is quite good, but I just thought that a film about a child being trained in killing aliens could have been a lot better.
I went into this movie with no preconceptions at all.The only thing i'd heard about this film was the title.I'm so glad i didn't read up on it first because i think this would have spoilt it for me.For the best part of the film its shot in space which credit where credits due is filmed fantastically what with the like of Gravity not long coming out and stealing all the limelight for its display of life in space and hands down it certainly deserves its merits.With that aside Enders Game is a marvel in itself.Great direction and production in this leaves you happy that you took the time out to watch this.A good cast of young actors who lead the movie very well and you can easily bond with these characters they portray.Iv'e given this movie only a 7 because with all its positive ingredients and an interesting plot line it still lacks something that i can't put my finger on.With that aside its still a must see for any science fiction fan..
When you go to a movie whose book you have read several times, You expect it to compromise the story a little.