Menolly wrote:I am waiting to hear MsMary's input...
Ha.
SPOILERS BELOW.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
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I enjoyed the movie overall.
But I had quibbles with the way some things were done. I understand cutting out or changing things to make a movie, but I had to wonder how the whole thing would flow to someone who hadn't read the book. The pacing of the movie action seemed off to me in some parts.
They didn't really explain a Third or the significance of Ender being a Third.
They totally flubbed "The enemy's gate is down" line, which should have been introduced by Ender at his first meeting with Dragon Army. (Not introduced by and repeated by Bean.)
And I was irrationally irritated that they put Bean in Ender's launch group, even though I understand why they made that change for the movie.
I thought Asa Butterfield did a reasonably good job of playing Ender. But the characters of his Jeesh mates were not adequately developed. To be honest, I had a hard time telling Bean from Alai in some of the scenes.
The way they rushed from Ender's appointment as commander of Dragon Army right to the final Dragon Army battle against two other armies didn't seem right to me. You didn't get to see Ender's brilliance as a commander or the way he was able to beat the system again and again in Battle School.
I thought Mazer Rackham was well-played. And I loved the way they did the command school simulator - 3D all around Ender in the middle.
The final battle was amazing, but Ender's reaction when he won the final game was not in keeping with the book. (He didn't rejoice in the way they showed in the movie, he felt that he had "beat" the authorities so he wouldn't have to play anymore.) The looks on the faces of his Jeesh when he dared to destroy the planet was great.
I did like the way they portrayed Ender's reaction when he learned the game was real, and his meeting with the Hive Queen was well done.
I think it's a hard book to turn into a movie. I'm glad the movie was made and I did enjoy it, as I said above.
Just my quick thoughts, willing to add to it later.
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"The Cheat is GROUNDED! We had that lightswitch installed for you so you could turn the lights on and off, not so you could throw lightswitch raves!"
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- I'm always all right.
- Is all right special Time Lord code for really not all right at all?
- You're all irresponsible fools!
- The Doctor: But we're very experienced irresponsible fools.
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