Ender's Game
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Hey Janx, I'd spoiler that shit. There may be people coming here to check reviews who haven't read the book.
Apostolos
Golden Knight of the Realm
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I read the book back when I was a kid and just watched the movie the other night. Given the 2 hour time limit, I think they did a pretty good job. Granted, there were things in the book that stood out to me that I wished were shown in the movie that were not. There were also some nuances that seemed rushed, but again.. I think this is due to the constraints of time put on a movie. A 3 hour movie would have made this a lot better imo.
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Totally agree here. I really liked the film for what it was, but it needed to be longer to resolve pacing issues and give the film more time to properly establish the characters. This was the one major flaw imo. Other than that, it would be minor book reading nit picking that I could easily overlook.
Regime
LOADING, PLEASE WAIT...
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So, a lot of people here saying they liked the movie read the books when they were younger. The movie(haven't seen it) has sparked some interest in the books(haven't read them). Aside from how bigoted Card is, are these books(and I guess by extension, the movie) actually relatable as an adult? I'll admit I have a general disdain for child actors, most of them are beyond horrible.
Worth the effort to read the books or am I going to be reading how Ender stole Gonzo's lunch money? WTF is with the character names, btw? And this is coming from someone who loves the Malazan series.
Worth the effort to read the books or am I going to be reading how Ender stole Gonzo's lunch money? WTF is with the character names, btw? And this is coming from someone who loves the Malazan series.
Cybsled
Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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I read the 1st book about 3 years ago after my ex-GF had recommended it, although even she admitted the later books were hit or miss. The book is a pretty decent I guess...it spends a lot of time at the battleschool and Ender's interaction with the various kids there. I can understand why they cut that down in a movie, considering the post-Battleschool stuff is important.
And ya, the book is much darker in terms of the interaction between Ender and the other kids.
+1 for me also.
I never read the book but had an idea of the story. Enjoyed the film but would have loved another hour of it. A 3 hour epic film would have been fine with me, hopefully a good directors cut will come out as someone else mentioned.
I've found a lot of good films lately would have been better with longer to tell their story.
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So I have a question for those that have read the book and watched the movie:
I read the book a long time ago and lots of it has become pretty hazy in my memory. I don't remember Ender finding an alien queen at the end of the book, did that happen or was that something they added in the movie?
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To answer your question, yes, that was in the book.
But in the book, the alien queen telepathically communicates with Ender giving some back story explanation. This was omitted from the movie, with the only message they kept in the film from the book (though the film had the Queen inferring to Ender her wishes, and not blatantly having a telepathic conversion) was that the Queen wanted Ender to take the egg, which is of an unborn queen.
Cybsled
Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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Like Warrik said, the queen basically telepathically gives Ender infoez (at first Ender thinks they are dreams, but at the end we find out differently). The whole conflict ended up being a result of differences in the two species: The bugs are more collective intelligence and had no true sense of individuality, thus they didn't grasp that the act of killing a bunch of humans on a ship they found was a big deal because their perspective led them to believe the humans were just parts of a whole, rather than the whole themselves individually). This, coupled with the guilt that he basically just committed genocide (without even realizing it until after the fact, since he thought it was just a simulation), makes him more accepting of the fact that he has to safeguard the last queen egg hidden on a colony world the humans eventually setup, since it will help ensure that the bug race aren't totally wiped out.
No, after Graff's trial near the end of the book Graff mentions that the three kills that Ender did came out during the trial, despite efforts to keep him unaware.
Jait
Molten Core Raider
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He always knew, he was in denial.
Came out in his Giant Game dreams aka (Insect telepathy dreams) long before the trial.
The Insect Queen was communicating with Ender all through the book. They were preparing signs and symbols for him on one of their worlds while he was in school because he was so alien to their ways of communcation. She was long dead by the time he was shown where the egg was. They can communicate across space/time.
The Insect Queen was communicating with Ender all through the book. They were preparing signs and symbols for him on one of their worlds while he was in school because he was so alien to their ways of communcation. She was long dead by the time he was shown where the egg was. They can communicate across space/time.
kevincheese
Lord Nagafen Raider
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So I saw this sunday with my girlfriend. Not happy with how it turned out, as a fan of the original book and the Bean series.
The whole thing felt like a trailer for the book. Like they ripped out 90% of the pages and then kept the rest, modified a bit.
Ender's Game could have been done as a miniseries on tv - as a movie there's just not enough time to include the stuff that matters, and unfortunately, they barely even tried.
Bonzo and Ender fight was so, so wasted though. It could have been epic and glorious, but instead it was just "woops you fell".
Girlfriend liked it though, and wants to read the book now, so I guess it wasn't a waste.
The whole thing felt like a trailer for the book. Like they ripped out 90% of the pages and then kept the rest, modified a bit.
Ender's Game could have been done as a miniseries on tv - as a movie there's just not enough time to include the stuff that matters, and unfortunately, they barely even tried.
Bonzo and Ender fight was so, so wasted though. It could have been epic and glorious, but instead it was just "woops you fell".
Girlfriend liked it though, and wants to read the book now, so I guess it wasn't a waste.
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Hollywood logic. Enders Game made money? Quick make a three and a half hour sequel. Result: Ultra long and boring Speaker of the Dead film that flops.
khorum
Murder Apologist
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Halfway through this movie I realized that netflix and binge-viewing has destroyed the 2-hour film format for book adaptations forever.
Anytime you see a book-to-film adaptation, regardless how expertly constructed or executed it may be, you will always think how much better this would be as a 10-episode season on HBO or Nerflix or AMC.
Anytime you see a book-to-film adaptation, regardless how expertly constructed or executed it may be, you will always think how much better this would be as a 10-episode season on HBO or Nerflix or AMC.