{"id":5940,"date":"2013-11-16T06:18:36","date_gmt":"2013-11-16T06:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/?p=5940"},"modified":"2024-02-29T08:58:43","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T08:58:43","slug":"enders-game-double-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/2013\/11\/16\/enders-game-double-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Ender\u2019s Game \u2013 Double Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

enders-game-movie-poster<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Since I\u2019ve read the book and\u00a0Geek Outlaw\u00a0hasn\u2019t, we decided that it would be fun to do a joint review of the movie\u00a0Ender\u2019s Game<\/i>\u00a0from both perspectives. That being said, this seems to be a particularly busy and hectic time for both of us so it\u2019s just now all coming together. We\u2019ll start with Geek Outlaw since his review is shorter and doesn\u2019t have any spoilers \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

[youtube:http:\/\/youtu.be\/SVlgzbuqsn0]<\/p>\n

_<\/p>\n

Geek Outlaw (didn\u2019t read the book)<\/strong><\/p>\n

If there is one thing Geek Outlaw is confident about, it\u2019s that I\u2019m a cheap date.<\/p>\n

I confirmed what most people already knew as I decided to take advantage of my local theater\u2019s $5 Tuesday where every pre-hump day movie is $5 per ticket for any flick, any time.\u00a0 Couple that with the 25 cent banana and free bottle of water from work I smuggled in to the theater and it boggles the mind why I\u2019m still on the open market.<\/p>\n

It also marked a first-of-sorts as the Outlaw took in Hollywood\u2019s latest sci-fi release,\u00a0Ender\u2019s Game<\/i>, all by my lonesome.\u00a0 If memory serves me correctly \u2013 and being a male in my 30\u2019s I\u2019m fairly certain it doesn\u2019t \u2013 this was the first time I went to a movie theater Han Solo style.<\/p>\n

Enough about my deteriorating social life, and more about\u00a0Ender\u2019s Game<\/i>, the new Harrison Ford vehicle based on the somewhat controversial novel from author\u00a0Orson Scott Card.\u00a0 Unlike the likes of my blogging counterpart Hot Nerd Girl, I have not yet read the book so my perspective comes purely from the film it\u2019s based on.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m never one to spend too many words on plot overviews, and I\u2019m not going to break any new ground with this review either.<\/p>\n

The gist behind\u00a0Ender\u2019s Game<\/i>\u00a0the movie is that Earth is recovering from an invasion from an insect-like alien race. (By the way, why do 99.8% of all alien races look like over-fed bugs that mated with the likes of Keith Richards?)<\/p>\n

The audience is told that 50 years have passed and humans are preparing for another potential attack from the flying ants.\u00a0 Unfortunately, us two-legged fleshies got lucky when legendary war hero Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley) found the enemy\u2019s weakness.\u00a0 Now, the military is looking to the X-Box generation to find the next \u201cOne\u201d (and no not the actual Xbox One) to lead mankind to another victory.<\/p>\n

Enter Ender Wiggen (Asa Butterfield), a virtual Doogie Houser in the ways of all things strategy and knowing when an extraterrestrial might have his next bowel movement.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the good.\u00a0\u00a0Ender\u2019s Game<\/i>\u00a0was an entertaining movie in that it proved riveting.\u00a0 When I say riveting, I mean I wasn\u2019t looking at my watch every 10 minutes and wondering what else I could have done with my $5 and two hour investment (Note: it would have involved dinner at Taco Bell, baby oil and a mechanical bull).<\/p>\n

The other positives of note related directly to the special effects, specifically to the scenes in the space arena where the\u00a0Hunger Games<\/i>-esque team battles took place<\/p>\n

As for the rest of the movie, I can\u2019t say I was impressed by any means.\u00a0 The most glaring issue I had with Ender\u2019s Game may have actually been a result of this being an adaption of a novel, which as I mentioned prior, I\u2019ve never even read a paragraph of.\u00a0 While I never read word one of the original material, the film had a very choppy feel with regards to the story and overall compressed timeline of events.<\/p>\n

If I don\u2019t sound like I\u2019m explaining my point well, then it probably wouldn\u2019t be the first time.\u00a0\u00a0 Nonetheless,\u00a0Ender\u2019s Game<\/i>\u00a0just felt like it had too much story to tell, too many characters to develop and not enough film reel to do it in.\u00a0 In general, relationships seemed to evolve in a matter of seconds \u2013 much like they might on\u00a0The Bachelor<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 and months of time seemed to be explained in a matter of seconds without even (gasp) a montage!<\/p>\n

Another element of the story that struck me as slightly head-scratching, was the odd \u201care-they-really-just-brother-and-sister\u201d relationship of Ender and his sister Valentine (Abigail Breslin).\u00a0\u00a0 There seemed to be more romantic chemistry between them than Kate and Leo had on that sinking cruise-liner as it plunged to the ocean floor.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most disturbing part of the film had to have been\u00a0Harrison Ford\u2019s Hitler-like locks.\u00a0 No lie, every time he appeared on screen I desperately wanted to draw that goofy little Adolf-stach below his nose to complete the entire Gestapo look.\u00a0 Performance wise, Mr. Ford turned in an average performance with a few small moments of sparks seen from some of his better showings.<\/p>\n

Even with the semi-predictable twist ending,\u00a0Ender\u2019s Game<\/i>\u00a0failed to deliver the goods where it counted, the characters.\u00a0 In the end, not enough time was spent with the supporting cast, nor was\u00a0Asa Butterfield\u2019s turn as Ender incredibly convincing.\u00a0 Still, at $5, free water, and a virtually free piece of fruit, the entertainment value was definitely fulfilled given the cost.<\/p>\n

More importantly, any women out there looking for a dating partner that won\u2019t break the bank can reach me at\u00a0GeekOutlaw@Outlook.com. Even the email is free of charge.<\/p>\n

2 out of 6 \u201cSpur\u201d of the Moments<\/p>\n

Hot Nerd Girl (read the book)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fair warning: I\u2019m probably going to spoil the crap out of this movie. Mostly because it\u2019s one of those movies where, since I read the book, I\u00a0don\u2019t know how to review it without bringing up some of the book and to do that I\u2019ll probably have spoilers. You\u2019ve been warned.<\/p>\n

I was so so soooooo excited about this movie. The book\u00a0Ender\u2019s Game<\/i>\u00a0by Orson Scott Card is considered controversial in many circles. Personally, I don\u2019t find it all that controversial but then, I grew up watching\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>\u00a0where they used sci-fi to push the boundaries of what was considered acceptable topics. It\u2019s one of the magical aspects of science fiction, the ability to teach and discuss without necessarily letting people know that they\u2019re being taught or allowing those who do to have something to talk about.<\/p>\n

I loved the book. Mostly because I can feel Ender\u2019s pain while reading it. Like many an avid reader, I can identify with most characters on some level. I grew up in a military household where we moved around a lot and I was often finding myself whisked away to a new place, surrounded by strangers, just when I was starting to feel comfortable somewhere. I was shy and didn\u2019t have many friends. But I was lucky in that my teachers recognized the fact that, even though I was quiet, I was smart, and they placed me in gifted programs. Obviously my experiences as a kid were the barest fraction of what Ender went through, but they allow me to empathize with Ender in a way that many people probably can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

In the book Ender is at Battle School for several years, from the age of 6 to (if I\u2019m remembering correctly) 12. I knew going into the movie that they would need to abridge his time there and I was ok with that. What I was looking for wasn\u2019t the amount of time they showed him there (it feels like maybe a few months while you\u2019re watching the movie), but the emotional pain and turmoil that he experiences. It\u2019s what I consider the most important aspect of the entire book. Sadly, that was almost completely missing from the film. Aside from some moodiness and a couple of yelling sessions, you don\u2019t get the sense that this is any great challenge for him; that his childhood has been stolen from him. They try to show you that he\u2019s being manipulated by Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) and Major Anderson (Viola Davis), but it seems superficial as opposed to heartbreaking. Certain adults, like Sergeant Dap (Nonso Anozie) and Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley) seem to alternate between treating him like a grunt as part of the manipulation, and treating him with extreme reverence, like he\u2019s a Jesus figure who is going to lead him to the Holy Land (that analogy is worthy of its very own post). It makes\u00a0Asa Butterfield\u2019s portrayal of him seem entitled and cocky as opposed to brilliant and humble\/unsure.<\/p>\n

In the book Ender\u2019s birth is commissioned. There\u2019s a two child limit and his parents already have Peter (Jimmy \u2018Jax\u2019 Pinchak) and Valentine (Abigail Breslin). Both Peter and Valentine are geniuses but Peter is a sociopath and Valentine is too compassionate. But because they both showed so much promise, the International Fleet (IF) allows Ender to be born, hoping that he\u2019ll be a good mix of Peter and Valentine. The parents go along with this because the Dad is an \u201creformed\u201d Catholic and the Mom is a \u201creformed\u201d Mormon. They both abandoned their religions in order to have opportunities they wouldn\u2019t have as religious outcasts but they never abandoned their beliefs, which include having multiple children. Still, Ender is an embarrassment. Calling someone a \u201cThird\u201d is like calling someone a \u201cmudblood\u201d in the Harry Potter \u2018verse. So when he\u2019s chosen for Battle School it\u2019s a relief to everyone but Valentine, the one person Ender feels any real emotional attachment to. The International Fleet gets what they want and need in Ender. He\u2019s got Peter\u2019s violence when necessary and Valentine\u2019s compassion when necessary. It allows him to understand his enemy and destroy them but in the process he grows to know and love his enemy. Because when you truly understand someone, you cannot help but love them. Because of this, Ender can only do what he needs to do if he believes that it\u2019s a game. So the adults don\u2019t tell him that it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure why the filmmakers decided not to use the term \u201cBugger\u201d for the aliens. The term \u201cFormic\u201d (Formica is Latin for ant) used in the movie wasn\u2019t seen in any of the books until 1999, a full 14 years after\u00a0Ender\u2019s Game<\/i>\u00a0debuted even though the novel we first see it in,\u00a0Ender\u2019s Shadow<\/i>\u00a0(aka the story of Bean) happens at the same time as\u00a0Ender\u2019s Game<\/i>\u00a0chronologically. It might seem silly to someone who hasn\u2019t read the books, but not hearing the word \u201cBugger\u201d automatically makes you feel like something is missing from the film. I was worried that they\u2019d cut out the Fantasy Game. It would have been an easy cut to make that would have destroyed the film. I wanted to see more of it though. The entire subplot of Peter as Locke and Valentine as\u00a0Demosthenes\u00a0is cut which is really too bad. It helps you get a complete picture of the way the minds of the Wiggin children work and why Ender is the way he is.<\/p>\n

The special effects were fantastic. I loved the look of the Battle School, the space travel, and the Command School simulator. The nitpick in me wishes that there had been more of the Battle Room and watching Ender work out the strategies in his mind but that would have required two movies so I have to let that one go. It just bums me out that you don\u2019t get the sense of his true brilliance. Also, the Armies are way too small in the movie. There\u2019s supposed to be something like 40 kids per Army and they maybe had half that. That was an issue I had throughout the movie, there were always too few kids.<\/p>\n

One of the key parts of the book is that Colonel Graff is constantly trying to keep Ender isolated. He wants Ender to be completely self-reliant with no one he can depend on. He has fleeting friendships with kids like Alai (Suraj Partha), Petra (Hailee Steinfeld), and Dink (Khylin Rhambo). And more complicated relationships with a few other kids, like Bean (Aramis Knight), but they come in and out of his life and he\u2019s never permitted to get too close. Even at the end when they act as a well-oiled battle machine, he never truly knows them on an emotional level except for a few fleeting moments of connection. There are kids who genuinely like Ender and want to be friends with him (like Petra) even though they are scared of him. Most of the kids dislike him altogether, though everyone respects him. Ironically, the one person who knows Ender better than anyone, even Valentine, is Colonel Graff because he\u2019s been inside of Ender\u2019s head practically from birth. Either with the Monitor implanted in the\u00a0back of Ender\u2019s neck, or the Fantasy Game later on in Battle School and he uses this knowledge to push Ender to the brink over and over again. In most ways, Ender has no idea just how powerful and brilliant he is. But like many brilliant people, he\u2019s quite fragile. Graff sees this and protects Ender from the knowledge of just how much damage he\u2019s inflicted on a couple of his childhood enemies (Stilson and Bonzo). This is something they softened for the book, I\u2019m guessing because they were looking to attract a young audience. But again, it just doesn\u2019t seem right if you\u2019ve read the book.<\/p>\n

The final battle was chilling. It actually gave me goosebumps. I guess because I knew what was really going on. I kept wondering if the movie made sense to anyone who hasn\u2019t read the book but my Mom said that she followed it just fine and enjoyed it way more than I did.<\/p>\n

The end threw me off a bit. The big mama Hive Queen showing up in the cave was annoying at first but I got over it pretty quickly because I guess it makes more sense for the newbies than watching a baby Hive Queen emerge from the egg sac only to chat with Ender and go right back inside again. What really bothered me about the end was that they didn\u2019t show Valentine recruiting Ender to go with her on the first colonization ship. Their brother Peter sees both of his genius siblings as a threat to his power agenda and, recognizing this, Valentine removes both her and Ender from the equation. Ender can\u2019t go back to Earth. He\u2019s just killed an entire alien race and the people of Earth will never leave him alone for the rest of his life, either because of how much they love him or how much they loathe him. He doesn\u2019t leave on some solo mission to find the baby Hive Queen a new home; he flings himself into the great unknown with others at his side hoping that, eventually, he\u2019ll land on a planet where he can make up for the Xenocide by giving the baby Hive Queen a new home in which to reintroduce her species.<\/p>\n

The performances are fine. No one really stood out as being great or terrible. I personally think that Asa Butterfield is a fantastic child actor (watch him as Mordred on BBC\u2019s\u00a0Merlin<\/i>) and he made the most of what he was given as Ender. Harrison Ford was gruff as Graff and I wanted to see more of the internal conflict he experiences in the book, but at least he didn\u2019t seem bored like he has in some of his more recent roles. Ben Kingsley\u2019s Mazer Rackham was not how I pictured the character AT ALL in my head but his facial tattoos gave them a nice excuse to reference the next book in the series\u00a0Speaker for the Dead.<\/i><\/p>\n

I could go into a whole spiel about\u00a0Speaker for the Dead<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0Xenocide<\/em>\u00a0and what the humans, the Formics, the Piggies, and Jane eventually think of Ender but that\u2019s a whole \u2018nuther blog post and I\u2019ve probably written too much about it already.<\/p>\n

2 out of 5 Sci-Fives!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

enders-game-movie-poster Since I\u2019ve read the book and\u00a0Geek Outlaw\u00a0hasn\u2019t, we decided that it would be fun to do a joint review of the movie\u00a0Ender\u2019s Game\u00a0from both perspectives. That being said, this seems to be a particularly busy and hectic time for both of us so it\u2019s just now all coming together. We\u2019ll start with Geek Outlaw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[28,11,1],"tags":[1164,1165,1166,1167,1168,1169,1170,360,403,442,1171,1172,1173,1174,1175,1176],"class_list":["post-5940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie","category-reviews","category-uncategorized","tag-asa-butterfield","tag-ben-kingsley","tag-buggers","tag-colonel-graff","tag-ender-wiggin","tag-enders-game","tag-fomics","tag-geek-outlaw","tag-harrison-ford","tag-hot-nerd-girl","tag-major-anderson","tag-mazer-rackham","tag-orson-scott-card","tag-speaker-for-the-dead","tag-viola-davis","tag-xenocide"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5940\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hotnerdgirl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}