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Ender's Game: Reviews Are Out!

Aikouka

Aikouka

Lifer
I saw that IGN posted their review for Ender's Game earlier today, and it looks like a few others have come out as well. It's currently sitting at a 60% on Rotten Tomatoes.

IGN's review seemed pretty hopeful as they gave it a 7/10 where the complaints were some of the child actors weren't great (big surprise there 😛), and how the movie lost some of the intricacy of the book (another big surprise 😛).

I'll still probably see it since I really like the book.
 
I was hoping for rave reviews, but I'll settle for "good". I don't read the reviews themselves, just look at the general score since some reviews tend to give away too much detail (read Ender's Game and all the books in the series, so spoilers I don't mind, but I still like to be surprised by the translation of book to movie).

Been waiting for this movie since I heard it was in the works. Looking forward to it.
 
Printer Bandit said:
what the hell is ender's game and why am i only hearing about it now?
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This is what happened with The Counsellor for me. I looked up and a new Ridley Scott film with every actor in Hollywood was opening this weekend. How did that happen?

KT
 
It'll turn rotten in a week or two. The tomatoes rating always starts at it's highest, then goes down from there. It happens this way because they screen movies for critics that are perceived to give favorable ratings to these kinds of films first to generate the most buzz for opening weekend, then it tapers off.
 
I am intrigued by it. I hope for good story but would be willing to accept less if it has cool space battles (which it looks like it does). IMO epic space battles are sorely lacking in Hollywood
 
Exterous said:
I am intrigued by it. I hope for good story but would be willing to accept less if it has cool space battles (which it looks like it does). IMO epic space battles are sorely lacking in Hollywood
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If you're looking for a lot of space battles with ships and stuff, you'll probably be a little disappointed.

To be clear, I don't think I would classify anything that I'm about to talk about as a spoiler. It's just the background/explanation of some of the places in the book. Anyway, the school that the kids are sent to is split into two separate divisions: battle school and command school, and each school has its own unique "event." Battle school pretty much has laser tag in zero gravity, and command school has a space battle simulator. Although, the space battle simulator is more command oriented, so it's sort of like the Star Trek simulations (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobayashi_Maru).

So, the reason why you may be disappointed is that command school is probably only half of the movie, and the space battles are part of a game. Now, I think they made the game look a heck of a lot cooler looking than it sounds in the book. In the book, I recall it looking like Space Invaders. 😛
 
Exterous said:
I am intrigued by it. I hope for good story but would be willing to accept less if it has cool space battles (which it looks like it does). IMO epic space battles are sorely lacking in Hollywood
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I think you will be sorely disappointed.
 
I'm be honest: 60% on RT is 55% higher than I expected. I was already going to see it, but the fact that is might not be awful, means I might enjoy it.
 
Orson Card always talked about how he held out selling the movie rights until they agreed with his vision of the movie, I guess he got tired of waiting or they offered more money than he could turn down because the preview looks like crap.
Very disappointed.
 
Druidx said:
Orson Card always talked about how he held out selling the movie rights until they agreed with his vision of the movie, I guess he got tired of waiting or they offered more money than he could turn down because the preview looks like crap.
Very disappointed.
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There have been talks of a movie for quite awhile and if I remember right a lot of studios weren't open to the idea because of the violence. I only remember 2 people dying, but I guess the idea of children killing is a bit hard for Hollywood. I remember Fight Club being criticized for being excessively violent as well. I guess the message was the violent part... I am just disappointed Tyler wasn't met making a sun dial out of his penis like in the book. =(
 
The studios wanted to change the age and give Ender a girlfriend, those were to two major sticking points. The only real violence from the 1st book is a fight scene where he kills a bully.
 
smackababy said:
There have been talks of a movie for quite awhile and if I remember right a lot of studios weren't open to the idea because of the violence. I only remember 2 people dying, but I guess the idea of children killing is a bit hard for Hollywood.
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Does the bully from the beginning die? I know Ender seriously injured him and I think he ends up in a coma, but I don't remember if he ends up dying. I know that Ender kills Bonzo during the bathroom brawl.
 
I have a hard time believing the reviews anymore. Reviewers must be getting paid to give a nod to expensive movies. World War Z got a decent review, about the same as Enders game, but was horrible and not even based on the book.
 
Aikouka said:
If you're looking for a lot of space battles with ships and stuff, you'll probably be a little disappointed.
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The trailer seems to show a LOT of space battle. That worries me because IIRC, the were none in the book? I read it more than 20 years ago, so don't remember the details.

I'm expecting that, like many big budget movies nowadays, the gee-whiz action will be emphasized at the expense of plot and character development.
 
Mermaidman said:
The trailer seems to show a LOT of space battle. That worries me because IIRC, the were none in the book? I read it more than 20 years ago, so don't remember the details.

I'm expecting that, like many big budget movies nowadays, the gee-whiz action will be emphasized at the expense of plot and character development.
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The command portion of Ender's Game takes up about 1/4th to 1/3rd of the book, if I remember correctly, but the focus is more on Ender and his team rather than the battles. With a movie it's possible and preferable to stretch those out I suppose for the sake of some action in a sci-fi movie. Character development is important, but that balance needs to be there for a movie. Hopefully there is more a focus on the Battle School portion than the trailer would indicate.

The enemy's gate is down. Your ass is Dragon. 😀
 
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