Enders Game Blu-ray DVD Digital HD

For those purchasing Ender's Game on Blu-Ray, here are the special features: Aside from the iTunes Digital Download and Ultraviolet Downloads; you get audio commentary from the director, Gavin Hood; an "Inside the Mind Game" featurette; a Behind the Scenes Making of "Ender's Game" called "Ender's World," and deleted/extended scenes with optional audio commentary from Hood. Now on to my movie review: I read Ender's Game, 13 years ago as a freshman in high school. While the movie adaptation of Ender's Game condenses a lot of what happened in battle school, omits a lot of the politics that was happening on Earth, and glosses over the friendship between Ender and Bean, I was impressed with how the movie retained the essence of the book. Probably the most enjoyable part of the movie was seeing their interpretation of Battle School. Given how advanced technology is today, at least compared to 2001, the special effects were better than I imagined. In truth, I believe that the entire Ender's Universe would have been better served as a mini-series or a TV show, especially if it focused on the Ender's Shadow series as I think the general public would have related better with what was happening on EARTH than in Space. The film itself, wasn't very accommodating for a movie franchise or even a sequel, even though it did leave things "open-ended" enough. A huge round of applause should be given to the casting. The casting of Asa Butterfield as Andrew 'Ender' Wiggin, the titular 'hero,' is perfection. He played Ender's conflicting emotions, vulnerabilities and viciousness with a sincere conviction beyond someone his age should be able to portray. He truly is talented young man and I hope he continues acting because his future and career are bright. I was completely okay with them aging up all the characters, because let's be honest, it'd be difficult to find a believable precocious young actor to portray a 6 year old and then to a 12/13 year old commander. My favorite scenes involved him commanding his jeesh or confronting his enemies, including even Graff. Some of the best scenes in the movie was solely just Asa's Ender going head to head with Harrison Ford's Colonel Graff. Speaking of, Harrison Ford is perfect as Colonel Graff, I think if the movie had been a success and a potential sequel was in the making, he'd have the necessary gruff kindness to play Bean's confidante. And while the gender change in Anderson threw me for a second, I love Viola Davis, she's just a fantastic actress and her Anderson is a great reminder that these soldiers in Battle school are in fact kids, who have to return to "normal" life after the war. And another brilliant nugget of casting was Nonso Anozie as Sergeant Dap. I couldn't help shout out "Game of Thrones!" whenever he appeared on screen. I remember back in 2001, the book was always stuck in perpetual rumors of being in pre-production or casting, with names like Haley Joel Osment being thrown around as possible candidates to play Ender. 12 years later, I think the movie was made and released at the right time with the right cast, just the circumstances around the book being 28 years old and Orson Scott Card's personal statements, mired the movie's potential success. If it weren't for the boycotting, the movie could have done better, and maybe the marketing could have pushed a near 30 year old book better, but it's truly a pity most high schoolers aren't required to read this book anymore and most kids these days don’t know much about the series. Which was why it was also such a pity that Bean wasn't more significant in the movie adaptation. I had read that Orson Scott Card’s initial drafts to the movie adaptation of Ender’s Game were to have it centered more on Ender and Bean’s friendship. THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. But the director preferred pushing Ender and Petra’s friendship, which is fine, but it killed any potential opportunity for a true Shadows sequel, which in my opinion would have made better movies. Plus, Bean gets Petra in the end. Has nine children with her and he is the love of her life. Part of the problem I had with the other books in Ender's series after Ender's Game is that Ender's story was interesting because not only of the war he ends, but the people IN the book he meets. The afore mentioned Bean and Petra, Alai, Dink, Shen, Graff, etc. These were all his friends and allies that don't appear in the sequels (aside from Ender in Exile - written AFTER Bean's Shadow sequels), so why would anyone care about them? The truth is, restoring the Formics' world is admirable of Ender, especially how Ender's guilt consumed him, but reading about it? Not as interesting. Learning about battle school and how Ender dealt with the pressures of the school, his actions in defending himself, and the war was interesting. But basing a franchise around his travels in space with the Formics, just isn't appealing. I think this is why Ender's Shadow would have made a better "franchise" starter. You start it with Ender's Game, introducing both Ender and Bean, blending both Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. Then continue on to the beginning of Ender in Exile, then Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, Shadow of the Giant, and then back to Ender in Exile and end it with Ender's travels in space. What's done is done. This is a great "companion" movie to go with the novel, Ender's Game. As a huge fan of the Ender Shadow's series and the book Ender's Game, I thought everybody did the best they could with the budget and time constraints. Again, I already mentioned that it's a pity they didn't go with Card's initial draft of the movie, but what's done is done. I only hope in the future sometime, the books will be made into a miniseries as the stories and characters themselves are certainly deserving. Read more

I had read the book on Orson Scott Card's web site last summer and thought wow, this is intense, dramatic, and compelling. A group of gifted young women and men are selected for an academy to lead the fight against an alien race. They are very young and have to advance dramatically both mentally and physically. This is about what it's like at that training camp and the story of one young man, Ender, who somehow pulls everything within him together. Imagine just for a few minutes that we in the United States could do that with our educational and career systems. After excelling by beating many, many other opponents and their squads at the training games, like mock warfare, he is sent off to a command kind of school and has to leave his family and all the friends he knows. At command school he is pitted against other opponents who are hand selected along with their teams. Finally he goes to what he thinks is the final stage of training, but it is not just training. Here I won't spoil what happens, but i enjoyed the struggle within this young man and his fierce will along with his ability to attract a strong team around himself. The aliens end up being much different than we think and Ender has a gift for mind-reading. The special effects are outstanding. The tension building up within him and in the story is striking. There is a series of books following this first book in the series too. You should read those too. I didn't remember the ending of the movie from reading the first book. Perhaps I missed something. The movie is more hopeful than I had imagined by reading the reviews. I don't know, but it seems like some of the reviewers did not watch the movie all the way through. If you are a science fiction fan, don't miss this one. It is very special. I think perhaps what some people didn't like was that the story is driven so much by the promise and mental flexibility and learning capabilities of very young men and women. I wonder, is that a message about our future? Do we need to be much more open minded to really understand life and so that we are not so judgmental. The movie left me with many deep questions. Very, very enjoyable and stimulating. Read more