Monday, January 18, 2016

The Enemy's Gate is Where?: ENDER'S GAME (2013)

Consistency!

Okay, so here's a Monday update after a weekend away and three updates on Friday, almost as if a repetition would give me a full week of updates! Wow! So today we hop right into a different genre too, science-fiction! Because that's what I like. Probably my favorite genre! Not to mention this movie is probably based off my favorite book!

But, as with all good books, the movie doesn't quite do it justice. (Okay, maybe not all, but a majority.)

TITLE: Ender's Game


DETAILS:
            DIRECTOR: Gavin Hood
            LEAD ACTOR: Harrison Fo- Asa Butterfield (Sorry)
            ANTAGONIST LEAD: Harrison For- Moises Arias (I guess)

SUMMARY:

Young Ender Wiggin is recruited by the International Military to lead the fight against the Formics, a genocidal alien race which nearly annihilated the human race in a previous invasion.

PERSONAL CRITIQUE:
Too biased to post here, sorry.

Although that's basically true, I guess that's why I label it personal, that and I'm not a professional critic and don't actually know a lot about critiquing movies! On the other hand, the movie does a good job of compressing Ender's story into a feature film. Which is...kind of what I hate about it. I've stated this was my favorite book, and part of the reason was the background information we got beyond Battle School and Command School, which we don't get in the movie. Instead the movie completely removes focus from Earth and what goes on there, leaving us in the dark about Ender's siblings. And...that's about as much as can be said about the movie without spoiling things, so...

SPOILERS!!!
We never get to see the story of Peter and Valentine play out on Earth, causing Peter to remain a purely antagonizing force in the movie, in reality, by the end of the book Peter has become a political leader with the help of Valentine's counter-balancing alter-ego. They do, on the other, hand allow Ender the brief respite that reaffirms the only thing that keeps him functioning is Valentine, his love for her and fear for her safety. I was genuinely surprised at the end of the movie when Ender received visions of the alien queen and found the formic egg, this was a detail I expected to be left out to shave more off the movie's end time. Fortunately, it wasn't, making it a big redeeming factor.

There are portions of the movie that actually overdo the technology Ender has access to, the most notable being the final battle, in which Ender finds himself immersed in a holographic representation of the battle, very much unlike the description in the books. But I get that and can set this detail aside, it's just capitalizing on the technology we do have, versus what Card envisioned when writing the novel ages ago. This final battle scene does culminate properly, with the eventual reveal that Ender has finally brought an end to the war, and the character's reactions are believable and on point! So kudos on that note.

Here's the kicker, most of the cast I thought was well-chosen, the unknowns still seemed like they did their characters justice. Except for one of the knowns...Moises Arias. I know, I know, nitpicky, but Bonzo Madrid gives off an intimidating, bigger kid, image in the book. And unfortunately, Moises is not that. Also, the fight goes slightly differently, with Bonzo's head smashing into a sink or toilet instead of Ender jamming the older boy's nose into his skull (potentially because they picked an actor who was TOO SHORT!) not only that but he doesn't even die, which is a key element to Ender's progression! Wait...he doesn't-


Well thanks wikipedia. I'm not sure how accurate this is, I don't remember it being referenced directly in the movie, at some point I'll have to buy the DVD and watch it again to verify, but generally wikipedia is accurate. And what the heck?!

So there's all of that, and granted I name mostly negative things, and they mostly pertain to the end of the movie. But still, I couldn't come out of it hating it, so there's always that.

RATING:
Nine out of Ten Children forced to become soldiers would give it Three Ploys for genocide (Xenocide?) out of Five.

I enjoyed the movie, but there were enough changes to set me off, and besides, I'm still waiting for the rest of the Ender Saga and Shadow Saga to make appearances on the big screen.

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