Ender’s Game
question
how close was the movie to the book
The movie had almost no detail. I reread the book after I saw the movie and I really think it was not worth it to spend any money at all for the movie of such a crappy movie. They totally ruined the story. The book, however, still amazes me and is still one of my favorite books of all time.
I read the book two times before the movie came out and i hate to say it, the movie wasn't as good as a i expected. They left out SO much details and it seems like the movie was very 'choppy' if you know what i mean. I was pretty disappointed... But the only reason i was motivated to read the book and watch the movie was because my all time favorite actor was playing a role in there :) (aka ASA BUTTERFIELD)
Saw the movie. Liked the movie.
Lots missing, but that is to be expected as the book is a pretty good length, being an eleven hour audio book. It hit the high points, and manipulated my emotions just as the book did.
If you haven't read the book I'm not sure you'll get the whole thing.
If you have read the book don't see it expecting to see the book realized. Watch it though knowing that they had to leave stuff out to fit the time target and, at least for me, they included the right parts.
The best part?
Lots missing, but that is to be expected as the book is a pretty good length, being an eleven hour audio book. It hit the high points, and manipulated my emotions just as the book did.
If you haven't read the book I'm not sure you'll get the whole thing.
If you have read the book don't see it expecting to see the book realized. Watch it though knowing that they had to leave stuff out to fit the time target and, at least for me, they included the right parts.
The best part?
It's close to the book if all you care about is that it takes place in space and involves a kid named Ender in Battle School. I'm joking, but it follows the book very closely, but only on a superficial level.
An example is the part in the movie where Alai says goodbye to Ender with a religious term. In the movie, there is no weight to this at all because the character of Alai is basically a human prop, completely undeveloped. In the book, this was a very moving scene because it was given context so you understood the meaning behind it. He might as well have just said "Bye Bye Ender!" in the movie for all of the significance of it.
This is illustrative of one of the main differences between the movie and the book. If I had never read the book and only seen the movie, I would not be able to name one character trait of any of the other battle school kids. They are all completely hollow characters. The only character trait you could probably think of for any of them is that they're nice to Ender.
From reading the book, these characters felt like real people to me. I can understand leaving out some parts, like the Locke and Demosthenes subplot, because of time constraints. Even basically completely cutting out Peter and Valentine entirely was almost understandable.But failing to flesh out the characters we've loved for the last 30 years is just lazy.
Graff's role is dramatically increased in the movie, he's basically the second main character. It seems like they focused more attention on making him a foil for Ender so you would root for Ender, and also absolve him of responsibility for his actions.
Another huge difference is that the movie takes place over the course of weeks instead of years. This time compression leads to several problems. (view spoiler)
Probably the biggest difference that I had an issue with was the ending. The film ending was dramatically cut short from the book version, leaving out the most crucially important parts in the book (view spoiler) and coming to a drastically less poignant resolution.
An example is the part in the movie where Alai says goodbye to Ender with a religious term. In the movie, there is no weight to this at all because the character of Alai is basically a human prop, completely undeveloped. In the book, this was a very moving scene because it was given context so you understood the meaning behind it. He might as well have just said "Bye Bye Ender!" in the movie for all of the significance of it.
This is illustrative of one of the main differences between the movie and the book. If I had never read the book and only seen the movie, I would not be able to name one character trait of any of the other battle school kids. They are all completely hollow characters. The only character trait you could probably think of for any of them is that they're nice to Ender.
From reading the book, these characters felt like real people to me. I can understand leaving out some parts, like the Locke and Demosthenes subplot, because of time constraints. Even basically completely cutting out Peter and Valentine entirely was almost understandable.But failing to flesh out the characters we've loved for the last 30 years is just lazy.
Graff's role is dramatically increased in the movie, he's basically the second main character. It seems like they focused more attention on making him a foil for Ender so you would root for Ender, and also absolve him of responsibility for his actions.
Another huge difference is that the movie takes place over the course of weeks instead of years. This time compression leads to several problems. (view spoiler)
Probably the biggest difference that I had an issue with was the ending. The film ending was dramatically cut short from the book version, leaving out the most crucially important parts in the book (view spoiler) and coming to a drastically less poignant resolution.
Differences that annoyed me:
1. The ENTIRE subplot of Locke and Demosthenes was removed. This meant that Peter wasn't developed, Valentine was poorly developed, and the plot was essentially half of the book.
2. He doesn't kill Bernard; we aren't even sure if he actually "killed" Bonzo, who sort of stood in for Bernard's violence. Bernard in the movie turns out really nice. Ugh.
3. Bean IS NOT BEAN. The entire point of Bean's existence was to highlight Ender's confrontation with himself- to have a younger Ender, a protege and helpmate of sorts. In the movie, Bean is more like a second Alai, and hardly seems younger than Ender.
4. Speaking of Alai, more underdevelopment. As a former commenter observed, the religious term had a TON of weight in the book and a ton of build-up, to the point that it would provoke tears in some readers. In the movie there is no build-up, there is no significance, and there isn't the reverence of the whispering conversation.
3/4.5 i.e. Bean and Alai had practically better not exist in the movie. That's how small their contribution is. In the book, they are extremely important both to Ender's development and to the plot. I missed them.
5. There is a scene in the movie when Ender meets Mazer. In the end, Ender is intimidated and Mazer leaves. Ender never fights back. In the book, Ender kicks him and they are both bloody, but with a slight mutual respect and hope that Mazer has finally met his equal. Pretty significant metaphorically, though not plot-wise.
6. In the book Ender is constantly in flux, friendship wise, and thus learns not to trust. He is brutally isolated and there is far more manipulation from the system- the movie lacked the time to develop these, and so this is perhaps one of the most understandable deviances.
1. The ENTIRE subplot of Locke and Demosthenes was removed. This meant that Peter wasn't developed, Valentine was poorly developed, and the plot was essentially half of the book.
2. He doesn't kill Bernard; we aren't even sure if he actually "killed" Bonzo, who sort of stood in for Bernard's violence. Bernard in the movie turns out really nice. Ugh.
3. Bean IS NOT BEAN. The entire point of Bean's existence was to highlight Ender's confrontation with himself- to have a younger Ender, a protege and helpmate of sorts. In the movie, Bean is more like a second Alai, and hardly seems younger than Ender.
4. Speaking of Alai, more underdevelopment. As a former commenter observed, the religious term had a TON of weight in the book and a ton of build-up, to the point that it would provoke tears in some readers. In the movie there is no build-up, there is no significance, and there isn't the reverence of the whispering conversation.
3/4.5 i.e. Bean and Alai had practically better not exist in the movie. That's how small their contribution is. In the book, they are extremely important both to Ender's development and to the plot. I missed them.
5. There is a scene in the movie when Ender meets Mazer. In the end, Ender is intimidated and Mazer leaves. Ender never fights back. In the book, Ender kicks him and they are both bloody, but with a slight mutual respect and hope that Mazer has finally met his equal. Pretty significant metaphorically, though not plot-wise.
6. In the book Ender is constantly in flux, friendship wise, and thus learns not to trust. He is brutally isolated and there is far more manipulation from the system- the movie lacked the time to develop these, and so this is perhaps one of the most understandable deviances.
Oh and as another commenter said in a spoiler, you never find out WHY the buggers aren't a threat. I'm not even sure they referred to them as buggers.
While I enjoyed the movie as visually pleasing and managing to hit on most of the main themes of the book, I missed the character development (for all the characters) and did not feel the ending was effective. [SPOILER ALERT] Where were the people falling to their knees and weeping after the final victory? The emotion was flat, except for Ender's confusion and anger. And the alien Queen? Not what I expected...
Riley Borklund
I realized that, too. Instead of jumping, weeping, and cheering, the men stood there and looked at Ender. Then like 20 seconds later, they started cla
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Well, in a general sense, the story is the same as the book, but it seemed to lack nearly everything I loved about the book. The part I did enjoy very much was the battle scenes when Ender goes to Command School and has his final exam. Better than what I imagined in my head, and seeing the destruction made a huge impact on the totality of it all.
(view spoiler)
The movie really fails to show the impact of Ender's relationships and the manipulation through these relationships. Those relationships formed Ender in very brutal and heartbreaking way, while he still struggles with his conscience. Just no impact of all that with the movie.
You could see the movie in 3D, but it still is just two dimensional. I should have gone and seen Thor 2 and waited for the Blu-ray version.
(view spoiler)
The movie really fails to show the impact of Ender's relationships and the manipulation through these relationships. Those relationships formed Ender in very brutal and heartbreaking way, while he still struggles with his conscience. Just no impact of all that with the movie.
You could see the movie in 3D, but it still is just two dimensional. I should have gone and seen Thor 2 and waited for the Blu-ray version.
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