Ending the deadly game with Ender

I recently caught Ender’s Game on HBO GO. I heard a lot of pretty terrible reviews and a lot of fans of the book that were just furious with the poor movie performance.

Now, I’m gonna lay the opinion smack down on you!

Let me start by saying that I have read the first book, and I have not read Ender’s Shadow. Also, I didn’t really like the book. There is just something inherently not fun about reading about a story focusing on children that is not a children’s book. In that case I would understand writing about children. In the book, the children were younger over all than they were in the movie.

I went into the movie with incredibly low expectations, although, my buddy that was watching it with me said that it wasn’t so terrible.

The pacing of the movie was a little bit weird, but I actually don’t mind that all that much. I find that that generally means it isn’t following the cookie cutter Hollywood formula.

The actor who played Ender had a creepy genius look to him. The combat sequences were enjoyable and the end had an esoteric sequence that I found a good way to describe Ender’s final mental state.

Harrison Ford was not as monotone as I felt people were calling him out for. The other kids were mostly forgettable, though I did enjoy the short squad leader and the way he bossed everybody around. The actors all took it seriously, which gave it a good feel.

This movie is an entertaining sci-fi flick that you’ll probably enjoy unless you have a… passionate investment in the book.