"I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

A place to discuss official news from the production of the Ender's Game film, due in theaters November 2013
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Dr. Mobius » Mon Nov 04, 2013 2:55 pm

Steve, I think you're looking at this from the wrong perspective. Non-gamers always think gamers are overreacting when they throw tantrums because to the non-gamer it's "just a game." But when you've invested hundreds or thousands of hours into something over several months or years, the product becomes greater than the sum of its parts. A rather apt analogy I can think of for you would be your reaction to a certain model you created in your spare time not being used or even formally acknowledged by a certain film. Seriously, man, what's the big deal? It's just a drawing and some equations. ;)
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Boothby » Mon Nov 04, 2013 3:04 pm

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.... :mrgreen:

But, except for WANTING them to have gamer attitude, did you really get the sense that they had gamer attitude during all those (not) "mock" battles?
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Dr. Mobius » Mon Nov 04, 2013 3:53 pm

I think the stakes are even higher for Ender and the jeesh, not because they know it's real (they don't), but because the command school simulations and the battle school battles that came before are the equivalent of major university exams that determine whether they pass or fail.
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby EAGLE » Mon Nov 04, 2013 6:38 pm

This sequence, when the two transport ships collide:

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Was it just me, or did some of you guys feel that the jeesh all reacted as if they knew they had just killed people?

Has anyone here ever reacted like this when crashing a car into a hooker in GTA? Has anyone who ever played Halo ever been so upset when wrecking a ship?


And at the end, when the ONE SHIP with the Little Doctor on it starts to burn up before firing its BFG....how would GAMERS have really handled that scene?

"Ooh, man! Look at that! That is so cool!"

"Ender, you're letting the dreadnought get totally fried!"

"Who the f**** cares! Whoa! Look at the way they show the planet blowing up! Cool!"

etc., etc.

The kids all reacted somewhere halfway between the two worlds. More emotional and caring than gamers. Not quite what we'd want to see from people sending thousands of soldiers to their deaths.


If Gavin Hood ever had the opportunity to show these kids as brainwashed "children soldiers", that was the moment. Again--he failed.

If Ender had said, after the Ansible connection had been restored, "Wait....that's not a sim. THAT'S NOT A SIM!"

I SOO want to re-make this movie!
Yes their reactions (NOT ENDERS PEOPLE) did seem like they knew something...but so many more things are wrong with the movie...I'll be posting tomorrow my whole why I want it done better
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby KennEnder » Tue Nov 05, 2013 2:20 pm

all other things aside:

I want to find a keyboard like they have on their desks!
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Boothby » Tue Nov 05, 2013 3:13 pm

I looked for it on-line. No write-ups yet.

So, here's mine:

It works with touch-screens. and floats 5 circles, each one with 5 or more possible "branches". You flick the circle in the direction of the letter you want typed, and it registers the letter. The circle then lazily returns to its starting position, so you can catch it mid-stream if you want.

I imagine double-taps and long presses call up alternate characters (numbers?), punctuation, spaces, line returns, etc.

Pretty neat!!
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby KennEnder » Tue Nov 05, 2013 4:02 pm

yes, that's pretty much what I made out too.. and yes, I also looked! The closest I found was some app for phones called "Slice Keyboard." Nothing really like it, but still quite different than standard.


I think SOMEONE will make it before long!
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby drobbins » Tue Nov 05, 2013 10:41 pm

One thing that really bothered me, was the car ride with Graff and Val to the lake.

I didn't get the sense that Val had any incentive to help Graff convince Ender to go back to continue his training. Maybe it was just me or I missed a key piece of their conversation.

In the book Graff knows Val is Demosthenes and uses that as leverage to get her to help out. Also, Val, realizing that the Formic War is about to be over, and the turmoil that will happen afterwards, convinces herself that pushing Ender to finish is the right thing to do.

In the movie you don't have that Locke and Demosthenes plot line, so what's her motivation? Yes, I understand humanity is under "threat" by the Formics, but they hadn't attacked in decades and the way Abigail Breslin played Val, I got the sense that all she wanted was Ender back home, everyone else be damned. (Again maybe it's just me)

So her quick conversion to help Graff seemed a little baffling to me.

In my mind a better way for that scene to play out would have had Graff telling Val that she needs to convince Ender to move forward because humans have sent a fleet to attack the Formic home worlds and they are arriving soon. Ender is the only one who can ensure victory, and if they lose, the Formics will be sure to retaliate on Earth. Of course that's secret information, so Graff would also inform her that if she breathed a word of that to Ender or anyone else, her family would have hell to pay. However, Val would quickly realize that Graff is not in a position to twist her arm in that manner because they both understand that she is the only one Ender will listen too at this moment of time. Graff's authority is useless because he can't control Ender's obstinate will or his love for Val and the influence she has over him. For man as controlling as Graff, it pisses him off to no end and in the movie you can see that in his face when Ender and Val hug.

So Val, knowing her importance could bravely put Graff in his place and extract a price for her endorsement. That price would be that she gets to travel to be with Ender wherever he is after the war is complete because she wants to help put Ender back together emotionally. In this case it would be on the planet where Command School is located. When Ender wakes from his sleep after the last battle and starts looking for the Hive Queen, Val could accompany him, or at least meet up with him after he finds the new Queen and ride off into the cosmos together, setting up Speaker for the Dead.

Yeah, yeah, I know I'm trying too hard to match the book series..

Still, I have to view the movie again to see if i still feel the same or missed something in that scene I described above. I'm glad they included it from the book, it just didn't feel right to me in the screenplay.

Just my two cents.

-Darian

ps - I feel like I have been throwing commas everywhere. Grammar police forgive me.

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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Boothby » Tue Nov 05, 2013 11:11 pm

Darian,

HOWEVER that sequence might have played out, it was a dropped opportunity by Gavin Hood.

At a minimum, another minute or two of conversation between Val and Graff would have "allowed for" a continuing conversation in the car that we (the audience) DON'T get to see, when we cut from their conversation to the car pulling onto the beach. So, for two more minutes of screen time (at most), you get to legitimately pretend that you've had the WHOLE conversation between Graff and Val (or WHATEVER an particular fan wants to imagine they're talking about).

This is just another example of Hood botching up time transitions in the film.
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Boothby » Tue Nov 05, 2013 11:15 pm

Kenn,

That's a pretty close "hit"!! How EVER did you find it?!?
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby KennEnder » Wed Nov 06, 2013 10:34 am

Kenn,
That's a pretty close "hit"!! How EVER did you find it?!?
haha. well, throwing all kinds of keywords at google, like "circle" and "keyboard" and then searching images until I saw something interesting. I can't remember the exact combo that yielded this one, but I do find it now with those two as keywords.

Even so, I am not a huge fan of that keyboard (at first glance anyway) because it seems to always require having one finger pressed on the screen to get your other options. I'm also torn by the fact that it keeps the QWERTY key layout - that's great for those who are entrenched in this standard keyboards, but really quite cumbersome for typing fast, imo. I guess I'll have to design my own, more "intuitive" version!
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Epi » Thu Nov 07, 2013 12:07 am

Well it's been years and years since I've posted on this forum. Found this place originally back in 2001 (?) and glad to see that there are still some familiar names on this forum (and on this thread!). Looks like you guys have kept at it all these years =)

I've been eagerly awaiting the release of this movie for the last 12 years. Was a bit shocked that this $110 million movie WASN'T in 3D even if it was absolutely perfectly suited for 3D.

As for the movie...

It was great to see one of my favourite books finally made live-action, but I felt that the trade-offs that had to made to film this were too great to bear. It's funny how a book like Ender's Game has so much plot in so little space that unlike the first Harry Potter where the entire plot was completely captured by the movie, barely 1/3 of the book made it into the Ender's Game movie.

I am glad that the movie captured some of the best scenes in the book, kept the crucial Bonzo and Stilson scenes, and mentioned some of the most memorable lines in the book. True the command school battle room was a bit hokey and totally not practical, but for the purposes of a movie it had to be pretty and it was pretty. The battle school was exactly how I pictured it (the inside anyway), and the battle room and the suits were really well done (even if the windows outside were kind of unexpected and distracting). The lake scene was exactly as I pictured it in my mind. I was very happy the mind game was included, even if we didn't see Ender endlessly playing it and getting stuck in it. I don't think the technology to animate the mind game would have existed until very recently without looking really dumb so it's good it was there. My heart skipped a beat when Alai finally said Salaam, I was so happy.

But in the end, the movie managed to completely ignore and even ruin some of the most crucial aspects of Ender's Game. Aspects which I realized were missed when I started to read professional film-critic reviews of the movie, considering a lot of critics thought that this was a great movie about the morality of war (which is good it came through), but also thought that Ender was a fascist dictator in the making -- something that I NEVER thought once reading the book.

I was highly disappointed in the ridiculously compressed time scale in the movie. From the movie, it almost seemed that from getting into battle school, to leaving for command school only about a month had passed. As if Ender learned everything he needed to learn to command the fleets that he does at the end in no time at all. There was absolutely no despair at the endless battle room fights. No learning about how Ender built his jeesh. No emotional impact when that last battle happened and there were no stars at all. Without seeing how Ender actually struggled and then conquered the entire battle school hierarchy, we are left hearing Graff telling the audience how awesome he is, but we are never exactly SHOWN why. Sure there was the one end battle, and one 'John Woo/Chow Yun Fat' dual wield moment, but that's it. For most of the movie Ender is a little annoying prick, and that's it.

As for the command school part, I'm not sure if it is because I already knew the ending, but it felt like the movie went out of it's way to make it obvious that their battles were actually REAL and thus the true emotional impact of realizing that Ender and the entire jeesh was tricked all long was lost. We also once again lost a great exposition of Ender's genius because he holds back using the Little Doctor and we don't get to see him systematically beating the Formics.

Secondly, I felt since a lot of character development was rushed we didn't get to really feel the bonds of the jeesh all that well. Watching the movie, it just felt like "oh well they just let Ender work with the launchie group he started with 1 month ago". Which by the end of the movie begged the question, of all the people in the world, why did they entrust all of humanity to the newest kids in battle school who'd only been there for 1 month?! I really didn't like that all of Ender's jeesh and ultimately his FRIENDS were not adequately given time to be his friends and have that explained. Ender was a great commander because people loved him and believed in him and he gave them his trust as well. This really was never shown as the movie Ender was a micromanager.

The absolute most important thing that I felt was ruined though was the complete loss of the idea that the ENTIRE battle school was made of the best and brightest children on the entire planet. All of the kids in battle school seemed like regular kids. It could have just been any regular middle school, put into space, with regular middle school bullying. And the armies are the substitute for the football team. We lost all sense of the endless classes on strategy and advanced subjects. We had a very poor sense that every single person in battle school probably would have been the #1 smartest kid most people would ever know on Earth, and that really were so competitive that they didn't need to be TOLD they had to compete because super smart and competitive people NATURALLY compete!

I agree with everyone that the lake scene was weird (movie Valentine really wanted Ender to stay, so why did she send him away even if she had no idea the end of the war was near or how important Ender REALLY was to the war effort as for all she knew, he'd graduate and be some low-level commander who wouldn't make any difference anyway...).

I agree about the absolute loss of importance of 'the enemy's gate is down' line that everyone mentions as well.

One thing I am not annoyed at, is the loss of the entire Peter and Valentine show. It was a side story anyway, and not important unless they plan to make a Shadows sequel.

In the end, I think this movie could have been really great. There was an all-star cast, a huge budget, awesome production values and beautiful production design, exciting and well executed battles, amazing inclusion of kid on kid violence, but it was just missing *something*. Maybe a few more battle room battles and a few more command school battles to really show Ender's genius. A slightly better 'you got fooled' ending for emotional epicness. And finally a bit more character development and it would have been great even with all the limitations of a movie. If only...

Overall this was not the movie I had been waiting all these years for, but fortunately the movie is there... in my head. I think in the end that's all that matters.

I'd give the movie 7/10 on it's own merits.
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Ela » Sun Nov 10, 2013 10:02 am

You were here in 2001? Different username? I don't "recognize" you. :P
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Epi » Mon Nov 11, 2013 12:13 am

Same username... as you can see I 'joined' this current board a few hours before you did when the old one crashed...

Only had a few hundred posts though, not a few thousand!
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Petra456 » Mon Nov 11, 2013 11:03 am

I have to remind myself there are other parts of the board. I was starting to wonder why no one was really talking about the movie.

Anyways, I saw the movie on Saturday and I’ve decided I’m happy. I went in with really low expectations and actually left pumped up! I think the moment it really hit me that I was watching Ender's Game was when Bean first introduced himself (I have no clue why this triggered it, but I couldn't stop smiling the rest of the movie). It does have its problems (so much anger whenever they hinted at an Ender/Petra couple), but it also could have been WAY worse. Most of the group I went with had read the book, so it was really nice to be able to talk about the differances and what we did wish was included.
My friends and I never reacted that way (at least I don't THINK we did) when playing Dungeons and Dragons in college....but that was over 100 years ago.
This whole conversation brought back some rather embarrassing memories of meltdowns I’ve had over Final Fantasy, Halo, WOW, and countless other games.
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby elfprince13 » Mon Nov 11, 2013 11:54 am

I have to remind myself there are other parts of the board. I was starting to wonder why no one was really talking about the movie.
I'm consistently perplexed by you sillies who don't press either "View New Posts" or "View Unread Posts" on the front page, instead of manually hunting through forums. Dr. Mobius saw me click on it when we were in Chicago and was like "ohhhhh, that's what that does. I don't do that".
Anyways, I saw the movie on Saturday and I’ve decided I’m happy. I went in with really low expectations and actually left pumped up! I think the moment it really hit me that I was watching Ender's Game was when Bean first introduced himself
I was lol'ing when Bean was like "Ender? What kind of name is that?", because I knew he was getting ready to introduce himself too. "Grew up on the streets, not worth a Bean." was a great head-nod for those of us who think fondly of the Shadow books.
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby mr_thebrain » Mon Nov 11, 2013 1:10 pm

At the theater right now. Can't wait, so flipping excited!
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Ela » Mon Nov 11, 2013 5:31 pm

Same username... as you can see I 'joined' this current board a few hours before you did when the old one crashed...

Only had a few hundred posts though, not a few thousand!
Ha, I'm not such a prolific poster, myself. :)
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby mr_thebrain » Mon Nov 11, 2013 6:21 pm

Ok. I loved it. I'm going to see it again with family. A few of the scenes seemed abbreviated leading to the pacing feeling rushed. I will own this movie. Hopeful on an extended cut.
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Mich » Mon Nov 11, 2013 7:23 pm

I have to laugh every time someone who has read the book says something like "There's no way that people who haven't read the book will catch X reference or won't be confused by Y statement," yet the people who I've spoken to who hadn't read the book seem to be the ones most pleased with it. At least from the ones I've spoken to.
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Petra456 » Mon Nov 11, 2013 8:12 pm

Dr. Mobius saw me click on it when we were in Chicago and was like "ohhhhh, that's what that does. I don't do that".
That is pretty much my response too. :P
I have to laugh every time someone who has read the book says something like "There's no way that people who haven't read the book will catch X reference or won't be confused by Y statement," yet the people who I've spoken to who hadn't read the book seem to be the ones most pleased with it. At least from the ones I've spoken to.
My sister (who hasn't read the books) ended up really enjoying the movie. So much that she wants to read the book. Made me happy : )
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby grimmm » Tue Nov 12, 2013 2:10 am

Fresh fresh out of the movie. Had to write while it's fresh in my mind. Fortunately had the theater completely to just myself and a friend (who hadn't read the book) so I could vocalize as I was watching. Made the experience a lot better.

I nitpicked the hell out of the movie as I watched, but the afterglow is wonderful. This isn't really Ender's Game, but it IS the Enderverse. Sure, the movie's gutted every character but Ender, Graff, Mazer (oh goodness me they nailed Mazer), and Bonzo (plus maybe half of Petra) but the story marches on even without all the beloved and intricately molded side characters.

Take, for example, the first scenes with Ender. The military school he goes to frames the IF fairly quickly, without having to bring in the entire Shadow series. The way he confronts Stilson is a wonderful mirror to how he's supposed to be treated by the other kids when he reaches command school. There weren't a lot of changes that seemed wildly illogical aside from the entire battleroom mythos (the battleroom itself was well done, but the rituals and rules were different, seriously why didn't they use the hook ever again after Graff introduced it so well) Also there is the whole bit with the pew pew action movie two guns blazing that felt very forced, if they wanted to play up the "spinning targets take time to freeze" bit they could have out and said it, but generally in the book he always outsmarted the other kids through 3D movement, which is a way that makes the other kids not seem like complete idiots who can't aim for squat.

Best scenes in the movie for me were probably the initial training scene with Petra (after IT'S A BEAM WEAPON, IT'S A BLEEPING BEAM WEAPON NOT A PULSE WEAPON passed) and the confrontation with Bonzo about his "free time" which were perfectly rendered to how I imagined them reading the book as a kid. Absolutely VISCERAL and I stopped nitpicking for about 10 minutes after each. Speechless. Mazer's meeting with Ender was about 95% perfect as well. Could've used a hint more smug arrogance but he reeeally got the gist of it. Mazer covered a LOT of the Graff filler with Ender very quickly, which I really enjoyed as well.

Emails/privacy scene was dumb and a complete waste of time. I would have killed to hear Graffison Ford growl, "They've replied to every email they've ever received."

20 more minutes to flesh out Ender's family life, an extra battle or two to show progression up the ladder and how the battleroom rules get progressively more broken, and Ender lashing out at Bean instead of Graff over his struggles and the movie could have been a 9/10. As it stands I'll give it an 8/10 based on how well it captures the setting and the stakes. The main losses are as I said the side characters, and Ender's real sense desperation of how every time he thinks he has a handle on his life, it gets completely upended. This is what children fear most of all, especially brilliant children. With the allotted length of the movie, capturing both of those would have been extremely difficult. With no Bean or as an outlet, we don't get to see his internal struggles explored with another like himself. Instead we're left with anger and arrogance towards Graff and pretty much everyone else, countered only by brief friendship with Alai, mutual respect with Petra, and unreciprocated love with Valentine (no birthday cakes here). At times Ender comes off as a smart jerk, but overall without Bean to get into his head he comes off as a just a jerk. In the book he realizes he's being messed with and agonizingly internalizes it, in the movie he almost seems surprised when Anderson reveals they were watching his every move. They did the Bonzo/Ender struggle very well, I just wish they would have toned down the needy child a bit as it cheapens his deep empathy and understanding towards even the adults.

Enough blabbering from me. Final roundup.

-Gutted side characters
-Pew pew blasty action bits make all the other soldiers into stormtroopers
-Movie Ender has no outlet. In the book he doesn't show a lack of complex emotion, rather he feels everything.

+Wonderfully acted Ender, Mazer, Graff, and Bonzo
+Battleroom interior is lovingly rendered (in spite of being portrayed as the Battle School's greenhouse)
+AAA special effects
+Certain scenes so perfectly realized you'll want to hug the director

Overall rating 8/10

Where do we go from here, sequel wise? Add a bit of what made Locke/Demosthenes good - dystopian anti-IF resistance somewhat similar to this -



Put Bean and Valentine in contact, and you can flesh out the contrast between the Battle School kids lives and the geopolitical poopstorm a-brewing in the same film. Quick, someone hire me on to write it! :)

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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Boothby » Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:56 am

Fortunately had the theater completely to just myself and a friend
NEVER a good sign!
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Taalcon » Tue Nov 12, 2013 3:00 pm

Saw it last night (yes, finally!)

Here's the quick and dirty:

I really enjoyed it.

Loved Asa as Ender. Loved.
Loved the Battle Room.
Loved the score.
Loved the depiction of the final 'simulation'.

Only real frustration was the lack of sense of passage of time. It really was breakneck speed through the beats. There are very few films I feel could benefit from being slightly longer (most are too long), but this is actually one of them. Also, some of the dialogue was stilted. The performaces were good, but in some cases, I thought it was due to being too faithful to Card's original dialogue. I've long thought that Card's prose sounds much better to the mind than to the ear. And and I don't view that as a complaint for the novel, just an observation for the adaptation to a different media. It was, however, lots of fun picking up the (many) familiar lines.

It's easy to armchair it, nitpick, and think of things I might have done differently. But overall, I'm grateful we got the film we did.

It's the end of an era. It was a fun ride.

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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Ela » Tue Nov 12, 2013 11:36 pm

I enjoyed the movie, too. Pretty much agree with most of your comments, Taal.
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Craig » Wed Nov 20, 2013 6:56 pm

I'd kick myself if I never posted my thoughts here... I saw it on Thursday, Oct. 31st and then again on November 2nd and didn't really write about it, because quite frankly, I don't really care what anyone else thinks about it... Sounds weird, I know, but I have a deep connection with the book and its characters (I named my son, Ender, for crying out loud) and I found that other opinions just made me irritated...

So... That said... My initial thoughts were that I liked it, and maybe in time, grow to love it. As I sat there the second time (this time in IMAX) I adored it. Loved it. Anyone who thought they were going to get their version of Ender's Game on the screen should have just stayed home and reread the book, but to those who knew the movie would be different, you were in for a treat. My biggest complaint, as with all of you, is the compressed timeline and that it felt rushed--though I will say, the movie seemed to have a better pace upon second viewing. But I had to keep in mind that this was a 300+ page book adapted into a 120 page screenplay--there's obviously a lot that has to be cut out.

What did I like about it?

First of all, the acting was absolutely fantastic. I LOVED Asa Butterfield as Ender. I had reservations because he was too tall, because his hair was too dark, because he was too British, and most importantly, because I wasn't all that impressed with him in HUGO. But boy did he nail it here. His eyes, my goodness, his eyes. Beautiful. Bold. Dark. He encapsulated everything that Ender is with those eyes. I wasn't a fan was Harrison Ford was cast, but I thought he was absolutely brilliant. I loved the Ben Kingsley casting and he didn't disappoint. Same with Abigail Breslin. I was also surprised to find that I liked their choice for Bonzo.

The special effects were, of course, amazing. The Battle Room was beautiful. The Simulator was breathtaking. And the Battle School itself was a work of art (and it had sloped floors!).

I enjoyed the easter eggs. A lot of you have already pointed to the Bean/Ender exchange in the shuttle--good stuff. I also loved how Mazer said that his tattoos allowed him to "speak for the dead". And of course, a ton of the dialogue taken straight out of the book.

I could go on and on about this movie, but I won't bore you. To those who saw it once and was on the fence, I recommend seeing it a second time and appreciating it for what it is, not what it isn't. I came away liking it a whole lot more.

Salaam

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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Mich » Wed Nov 20, 2013 7:29 pm

Man, thanks for stopping by, Craig. It's awesome to see you.
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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby locke » Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:13 pm

Saw it last night (yes, finally!)

Here's the quick and dirty:

I really enjoyed it.

Loved Asa as Ender. Loved.
Loved the Battle Room.
Loved the score.
Loved the depiction of the final 'simulation'.

Only real frustration was the lack of sense of passage of time. It really was breakneck speed through the beats. There are very few films I feel could benefit from being slightly longer (most are too long), but this is actually one of them. Also, some of the dialogue was stilted. The performaces were good, but in some cases, I thought it was due to being too faithful to Card's original dialogue. I've long thought that Card's prose sounds much better to the mind than to the ear. And and I don't view that as a complaint for the novel, just an observation for the adaptation to a different media. It was, however, lots of fun picking up the (many) familiar lines.

It's easy to armchair it, nitpick, and think of things I might have done differently. But overall, I'm grateful we got the film we did.

It's the end of an era. It was a fun ride.
I would agree to an extent, re Card's dialog. The audio books tend to illustrate this question well, but even audiobooks have the added 'direction' of the written form, meaning we get thoughts and intents made explicit by text to go with our dialog, the prose gives context to the line.

I think his dialog tends to be theatrical, rather than cinematic, which leads to occasionally, didacticism when given poor line readings. Given a talented enough director with an ear for the vagaries of theatre vs cinema or an actor sufficiently experienced in both, the lines should flow reasonably well. Thus Kingsley pulls off the lines, Ford does not, generally.
So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb.

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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby BiaNov » Mon Jan 06, 2014 8:35 pm

Hey, guys. I'm new here. I usually don't post on forums but what the hell.

I've seen the movie 3 times. The first time I went with my dad, since he's the one who've read the book and I was interested mainly because I'm into the sci-fi genre (specially books). So I watched the movie before reading the book, and I'm glad it happened that way, because as I was reading the book, it seemed so different from the movie. Much more serious, tense, clever, dark and angsty. I didn't get that from the movie, it's like something's missing. And it's the essence of the story, in my opinion.

The visuals in the movie are great, I liked the battle room and the images from the simulator, specially the way Ender conducted the battles, sweeping his hand and changing the point of view. I think the visuals are my favourite thing in the movie, alongside Asa Butterfield. He really steals the show. But again, we don't see how Ender is affected by all this. We don't see him in his loneliness, his desire to overcome everything and in the end, his desire to just end everything by "cheating" and destroying the whole planet. But maybe the movie is not about the construction of the character and the ethical and moral discussion of using children as weapons... maybe it's just that. Awesome visuals and a surprise at the end. The movie could be so much better if it followed the book to the core... But with all hype around movies involving young people and war (yes, I'm talking about Hunger Games here), Ender's Game seemed like a fit.

Why did they change the characters so much ? I think Bean just seemed like a cute kid who liked Ender, and was too friendly for my taste. He didn't seem bright, nor did he confronted Ender like he did in the book. Dink was nothing like the kid who had controversial opinions about Battle School in the book... he was just an ordinary guy.

Am I the only one here who winced everytime Harrison Ford said something ? Seriously, just no.

The time they spent on Battle School really seems like a month instead of years. I agree with someone who said that they could've skipped 2 years ahead. It would've made the story less rushed.

Also, I didn't like the ending. I think the movie could've ended after Ender finds out the final battle wasn't a game, so there could be a more powerful and dark ending. I know that's not how the book ends, but since they probably won't be making a sequel, what's the point ? It hints there'll be a sequel and it was kind of a cliche.

Anyway, I liked the movie but eveytime I watch it, I feel something's missing. Maybe that's why I'm gonna watch it again and again, although I know the feeling will always be there and I'll just give up one day... Lol.

By the way: I'm completely addicted to the Soundtrack. I listen to it everyday, and I can picture perfectly some scenes from the movie. Steve Jablonsky nailed it !!!

I'm glad I finally said what's on my mind about this, usually I can only talk about science fiction with my dad.

(I apologize in advance for any spelling/grammar mistakes, English is not my first language)

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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby elfprince13 » Mon Jan 06, 2014 10:14 pm

Hey BiaNov, welcome to the forum! Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us. Are you going to keep reading the rest of the series?
"But the conversation of the mind was truer than any language, and they knew each other better than they ever could have by use of mere sight and touch."

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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby BiaNov » Sun Jan 12, 2014 11:43 pm

Hey elfprince13,

I'm reading Speaker for the Dead now ! Will definitely keep reading the series :)

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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Achilles_Heel » Wed Jan 15, 2014 8:42 pm

Hello all.
I'm not much of a poster but a true fan.
I tried to watch the movie through the eyes of someone who had never read the books. I personally feel like the movie was an epic fail. I don't think anyone who watched the movie and hadn't read the book said "I have to read that book!". It was like reading the notes of a cop investigating a child labor case. All the facts were there but not an ounce of emotion. Facts recalled by a true witness. Yea, some kid died in battle school. Who done it and why? Does it rally matter? I had high hopes for this movie, I understand the movie has to be 1.5 to 2 hrs. But to spend 20 Min on Enders visit to earth talking to valentine rather than develop the intent of characters...it's like putting Bernard in the final battle.
For a fortune he'd quit
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How it ends and begins
On his face is a map of the world

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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby Ua Lava » Wed Jan 22, 2014 9:56 pm

It's been a very long time since I've been on PWeb, but the movie brought a lot of the old forumites out of the woodwork. I'd give my $0.02, but it's been a few months since I saw the film and most of the posts above have mentioned what I liked and disliked about the movie.

EXCEPT FOR ONE THING (my personal table-flip moment):

Command school is on Eros, a former Formic colony (fine) that's not in the solar system. (wait, what?)

And we travel there no problem apparently and Ender's messages to Valentine don't seem to mention any concern of the effects of relativistic space travel...

Oh. Oh no.

In the movieverse the IF has FTL.

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Why do we have FTL? Why do we care about the Formics if we have FTL? Why does Ender make a big deal about finding a new world for the cocoon if his ship has FTL (it will take what, a few months to find an uninhabited world)? Most of the changes to cut out run time I could live with, maybe a little disappointed that a few scenes were cut. That one though was the only part of the movie that made me angry. It's sounds like a small thing (and it is, my friends didn't really notice or care) but a good movie makes sure all the little things are right.

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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby elfprince13 » Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:39 am

Command school is on Eros, a former Formic colony (fine) that's not in the solar system. (wait, what?)

And we travel there no problem apparently and Ender's messages to Valentine don't seem to mention any concern of the effects of relativistic space travel...

Oh. Oh no.

In the movieverse the IF has FTL.

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Why do we have FTL? Why do we care about the Formics if we have FTL? Why does Ender make a big deal about finding a new world for the cocoon if his ship has FTL (it will take what, a few months to find an uninhabited world)? Most of the changes to cut out run time I could live with, maybe a little disappointed that a few scenes were cut. That one though was the only part of the movie that made me angry. It's sounds like a small thing (and it is, my friends didn't really notice or care) but a good movie makes sure all the little things are right.
That was the only thing that really rankled me. Fly twisting his ankle and Petra showing up as a sub was second for shear goof-factor.
"But the conversation of the mind was truer than any language, and they knew each other better than they ever could have by use of mere sight and touch."

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Re: "I HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE AND I MUST TALK ABOUT IT" Thread

Postby neo-dragon » Sat Jan 25, 2014 1:09 am

It's a matter of conservation of details. Special relativity is not something that most people understand easily. You can't dwell on what you know from the books or what it means for the rest of the series that may or may not get adapted. Since it wasn't needed to explain Mazer still being alive, and it would have added the need to explain ansibles, leaving out relativistic space flight makes sense to me.
"Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic."
- Frank Herbert's 'Dune'


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