Ender's Game (2013)

khorum

khorum

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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.
 
Warrik

Warrik

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khorum_sl said:
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.
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LotR was about as faithful as you can probably get for a book to movie adaptation. But thats a pretty serious commitment from both a studio and an audience.
 
C

Chesire_sl

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Warrik_sl said:
LotR was about as faithful as you can probably get for a book to movie adaptation. But thats a pretty serious commitment from both a studio and an audience.
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LOTR was also around 70 million per hour of film shown in theaters , total estimated cost across all three films.
 
Gnomedolf

Gnomedolf

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I also think the movie should have been longer. Every scene was rushed. Also, I don't think the word buggers was used once.
 
E

Ender4212

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Buggers was never used and it annoyed me how EVERYONE called him Ender. It's been a dozen years since I've read it, but I don't recall his siblings and parents calling him Ender. Overall though, I liked it. Definitely should've been an hour longer though.
 
Void

Void

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Agreed with most of the others here, it was halfway decent, but needed to be longer. Since LotR was mentioned above, we all know it is possible to turn a longer book into a decent movie, but it so rarely happens. This movie didn't suck, and I enjoyed it for the most part, but with another hour of development it could have been much better.
 
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Vardisk_sl

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Warrik_sl said:
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.
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The prequel trilogy that is currently getting written would make a pretty good series of movies if they could make all three. Definitely a much wider appeal than any of the sequels. Though they'd have to retcon one of the mediums quite a bit since the movie changed a lot of the backstory.
 
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The Ancient_sl

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Jait_sl said:
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.
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I don't think that's right. They didn't have communication with Ender until he entered Command School and started using the telepathy type device to communicate with the distant fleet. And then I think the communication was 1-way. They got an impression of Ender and used it to fashion a semblance of the Giant's Game for him to recognize.
 
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ubiquitrips

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I read the book again after seeing the movie. The best thing I can say about the movie is I did enjoy seeing certain things like the battle room outside of my head and on the big screen. Overall it just went too quickly and it was too...happy?

The book was rather dark and Ender was much more alone / separated from everyone rather than getting all buddy buddy real quick.

While I didn't enjoy the Locke and Demonstheses(?) portions of the book when I was younger, I can actually understand what they are doing now and it was alright. I think that the movie could have benefited from the Earth / Political side of things through Peter / Valentine.

The other thing that I did not appreciate was that there didn't seem to be a big reveal at the end with the battles not being a simulation. The book was not obvious (to me anyway) when I originally read it. I had a buddy that hadn't read the book and he was like "yeah, I knew that wasn't a simulation".
 
D

darkko_sl

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Did anyone else notice the piece of food on Harrison Fords face when Bonzo is getting surgery? Kinda distracting once you notice it lol.
 
Warrik

Warrik

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Ubiquitrips_sl said:
While I didn't enjoy the Locke and Demonstheses(?) portions of the book when I was younger, I can actually understand what they are doing now and it was alright. I think that the movie could have benefited from the Earth / Political side of things through Peter / Valentine.
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That was part of the book I never truly latched on to, and I can totally see how it was an easy decision to skip that sub plot entirely for the film, which was a good decision. That being said, I agree that seeing the battle school on the screen was great. They did a fantastic job materializing it.
 
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Antarius

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My girlfriend enjoyed the "twist" in the movie, having not read the books. She kind of had a feeling she said, but still liked the way they did the "reveal". I enjoyed the movie a lot.

Just finished reading Speaker today for the 2nd time (the first time about 15 years ago) I think I enjoyed it more as a 30 year old than I did as a teenager.
 
iannis

iannis

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I'd be worried about the teenager that actually enjoyed Speaker for the Dead.

I like the book, it might be the best of the entire series, as it deals with some actual science fiction themes and the ethical and moral complications surrounding them -- and while it takes a biased view (how could it not, being a novel), I think the bias is self-aware and not unfair. But it's such a slow, heavy read when you come out of Enders Game. The series starts to go off the rails after Speaker -- but that's just how Card series are.

No real fear of a hollywood sequel to Enders Game. You could make the Speaker movie, and it would probably be a good movie -- but who would pay to see it? Buncha Portugese biologists yelling at each other for being assholes with a white dude going, "woah -- woah" is 3/4 of the book.
 
Lanx

Lanx

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never read book "heard" about it, is it something wife and i can enjoy more cuz of the fact we didn't read it?
 
Warrik

Warrik

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lanx_sl said:
never read book "heard" about it, is it something wife and i can enjoy more cuz of the fact we didn't read it?
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Maybe, but to be honest, I think even for a non book reader you will find the pacing a bit too quick and sense the rushed feeling.
 
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Astral Projection_sl

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Read book a loonnng time ago. Movie was great but I agree it felt short. Definitely could have added extra 20-30 mins but I suppose it is better to err on the short side.

Edit: They did a Half in the Bag on it. Think they may have been a bit too harsh on it, but yeah, Harrison Ford needs to quit acting:

 
Gilgamel

Gilgamel

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Movie was shit compared to the book. They took a great thematic story and turned it into shitty sci-fi schlock. It's like I Am Legend all over again.
 
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