Ender's Game
 

The Enemy's Gate is Down!

November 1, 2013

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Arguably the best military science fiction novel ever written. I can't wait!

So the trailer comes out tomorrow.

I'm ready! My understanding is that Orson Scott Card insisted on staying pretty involved in this, so I have high hopes.

I just read the wiki page and one big difference between the movie and the book is that the audience is going to know what's really going on from the beginning instead of finding out at the end when Ender finds out. For those of us who have read the book, that's probably a good thing since we already know it anyway.

I'll have a hard time deciding whether to see this or not. I enjoyed the story when I was younger, but, frankly, I don't want to give Orson Scott Card any of my money at this point. He's certainly welcome to his views on various social issues (homosexuality and gay marriage in particular), I think he has every right to express those views since he's earned himself a platform through his success, and I would never downplay the importance of the novel/series in 20th century Science Fiction, but I think in the end those views will ultimately keep me out of the theater. That may seem odd to some, or silly, but the fact remains that I have a gay sibling and I care much more about her and her partner than I do Card or anything he's written. So that's where my support would lie.

Me and a guy at work where just talking about this very thing today, and how we had heard rumors of a movie but hadn't seen anything come to light.

I read the series when I was maybe 14 or 15. It really solidified my love of Sci Fi books. Absolutely epic and great story.

I just hope its not been bastardized~

I respect whatever choice you end up making. I'd have to swear off nearly all entertainment if I couldn't divorce my attitude toward an artist's politics and their product. Even in this project, I'm sure it's filled with people with whom I disagree.

I tend to agree with OSC on politics (although I do disagree with him to some extent on gay marriage).

I'd see Ender's Game even if I was gay myself though. :)

As you probably know, I'm not a very political guy. I think it's more an question of how overt it is with me. I don't particularly care what people's political views are, in a general sense. I have liberal friends, I have conservative friends, and I don't really give a shit either way. But when someone steps on a soapbox and chooses to make some specific thing a big issue, then, well, it sorta becomes a big issue. And Card has for whatever reason made homosexuality and gay marriage his 'big deal'.

I won't discourage anyone else from going, but I probably won't myself. Unless it gets reviewed really, really well. Quality can trump bullshit. At least I think it says that on the back of my Apathy Party membership card. If they ever got around to making one.

I read this book, but I never quite understood why it was so well regarded. I think there are better scifi books out there.

Give me a movie version of Lucifer's Hammer by Niven and Pournelle, for example. Now that would be a movie.

As long as Ender doesn't know I can find that an acceptable compromise, although a bit expositorily lazy, honestly.

That's my daughter's favorite sci-fi novel.

Whenever it comes to any text there will always be an impossibility of reaching a consensus of what is "good", "great", or "better". One of the reasons why I think Ender's Game was so well received is because it transcends the genre of science fiction. It's not as artfully written as Neuromancer, but I think the themes present within EG allow for a level of discussion and analysis that many pieces of popular fiction don't.

I've actually taught it in an American Lit course in the past.

I always wanted to see an epic movie, or maybe a mini-series of The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub.

Yeah, I don't like that one bit. But as you say, as long as Ender doesn't know. That's all that really matters. Still... I don't like that one bit!

I am looking forward to this film.
I however don't like the idea that the audience is going to know who Mazer Rackham really is and how all humanity is at stake with Enders game.

It is a very, very good book. I'd rather see a version of Starship Troopers that was true to the book though, as opposed to the steaming lump of bullshit that was sprayed onto the big screen like so much explosive bovine diarrhea a few years back.

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That looks really good.

For those who haven't read the book (probably not many), it is available here:

http://archive.org/details/ost-english-endersgame

The site claims it is in the public domain, but I have no idea. No idea on the quality either.

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I ordered the entire series set of books.

I have hopes for this one, but am I the only one who feels like Harrison Ford comes across like he's reading off cue cards?

Agreed. I'm hoping that's just for these "recruitment" videos though. His demeanor should fit exactly the Graff I always imagined when reading this.

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It looks like the audience knows about the twist ahead of time based on the trailer.

I guess it doesn't matter since probably more than half the people that will see this have read it.

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Just got back from seeing this - I enjoyed it. Never read the books, so I had no expectations going in. It was a bit silly, but not overly so. Seems odd that it wasn't released in 3D - definitely would have been a good candidate for it. CGI was fantastic. And Harrison Ford will definitely be up for playing Han Solo again.

My dad is 65 years old and read Ender's Game before it was cool, and apparently he loved the movie.

Can't wait to go see it.

Yeah, I figured it out when the two ships crashed into each other during the second battle simulation.

Just saw it. My friend hadn't read the book and thought it was ok. I had read the book, and I thought the movie butchered it. If you like the movie even a little bit, definitely read the book. It does a much better and more interesting job of explaining Ender's rise through battle school and command school and has much better ending. Plus, the movie leaves out everything Ender's two siblings did.

What is the twist? I have no intention of seeing this.

Kahn...

Sounds interesting. I always just have a hard time being interested in movies where a kid is the hero.

I saw Ender's Game a couple nights ago and enjoyed it. I have read several of the books in the series (Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide) as well.

Obviously they cut out a ton from the book but in each film adaption they have to do that. There is no Val / Peter political thing like in the book. Also the Giant scene is cut a lot.

I think the run time was 114 minutes. It would have been nice if they could have extended the Battle School scenes with him leading Dragon army. Like a Montage of battles, this might have been an extra 15 minutes or so maybe, but it would have illustrated how Harrison Ford's character was screwing with Ender and making him fight 2 battles a day and other extremely hard obstacles and Ender still coming out on top.

Anyway overall I liked it.

aI'm on the fence about seeing it in a theater. I loved the book. I know that the movie can't be the same. But Dune and Starship Troopers left scars, man. Scars.

This.

I'll probably wait until it comes out on DVD and read the book again before I watch it.

I'm so glad I never read Starship Troopers.

Dude....that book is ****ing SOOOOOOOOO much better than the movie. Go read it...

I never read books after I've seen the movie. I tried to read Starship Troopers, Hunt for Red October and a couple of others. I just get bored with it because I already know the outcome.

Only exception to this rule was The Godfather.

Really? Guess I might have to read this then...

Dune never happened. There was no movie named Dune.

Just as there was never a Star Trek V. Why they went from IV to VI I'll never know. Weird, but true.

It didnt suck.... they cut the Val / Peter stuff because alot of it was cold war based and obviously that couldn't go over well. other then that it was just like the book on fast forward

I took my girls to see it the other night. They both liked it. the 9 year old more so then the 7 year old.

I thought it was pretty good. It made you leave the theater thinking... which I always enjoy. Nothing ground breaking, but definitely not a waste of money either.

If you are on the fence, see it in the theater.

Took the family to see it last night... My Wife and Daughter(15) haven't read the book and they loved the movie. I have read the book(s) three times and my Son Dare(12) has been through it twice and we both enjoyed it but weren't overly thrilled... It seemed rushed, IMHO it needed more Battle School in it.


it felt more like a fast cut trailer for the book more than anything....

Not having read the book, I got the feeling it was rushed as well. I wonder if there will be a director's cut that adds some depth to it.

Average as **** despite the gorgeous visuals. Hated that I haven't even read the book and could see the plot twist coming a mile away.

Read some nerds saying the book needed to be two movies and it felt that way.

Yep. Wasn't hard to figure out the big reveal. I did like what happened after the big reveal though.

And, as a whole, I liked the movie. I'd recommend.

It did seem like it would have been better served with two films.
For once I watched a flick with child/teen actors and didn't think their performances detracted from the movie. I thought the actor that played Ender did a good job...

Having not read the book in 20 years, I thought the movie was good but not great. Part of it is probably that the source material was written for adolescents.