Ender's Game: The movie

[Coppermantis]

He said on reddit that unless you have read the books, the significance of the moment is completely lost to the viewer, and its just another explosion.. which is pretty accurate.

I refuse to see the movie then.

I don't understand why that would make you refuse to see the movie, it seems pretty correct.

[Wingflier]

He said on reddit that unless you have read the books, the significance of the moment is completely lost to the viewer, and its just another explosion.. which is pretty accurate.

I refuse to see the movie then.

I don't understand why that would make you refuse to see the movie, it seems pretty correct.

Because that moment when Ender realizes what he's just done, and everybody realizes it isn't a simulation...that is the climax of the book. That is the moment when the reader goes *WOW*, "What the hell just happened"?

Ender's Game had some action sequences in it, sure, but they simply served to advance the plot, they were not the focus of the plot. For example the "flash suit" battles were cool, but they existed more to show that Peter had the ability to think "outside the box", in 3D instead of 2D, and still succeed even when the odds were overwhelmingly against him, than to satisfy some extreme action fantasy urge in the reader.

The depth of the books come in the deep and nuanced psychological exploration of the characters. If you were to take that out, Ender's Game would just be another crappy action movie. If he did not know he was destroying the actual alien planet near the end, then what difference would it make? The series would have just ended right there.

It's like the recent Hunger Games movie that was released. Many people complained that the director made the action scenes weird and dull instead of exciting and action-packed like most Hollywood fight scenes. For example, in the fight scenes the camera was extremely shaky, there was no sound, and they typically only lasted a few seconds.

When questioned about his decision to do this, the director gave a brilliant response: Glorifying children killing each other in the movie would have made him and the people watching it no better than the spectators of Panem, who were simply there to get their sick jollies at the expense of innocent children.

What was more important to him, was revealing the writer's actual purpose - showing the dangers and horrors of a global dystopia, and Katniss' ascent from selfishness to finding her humanity. To do this, the action scenes had to suffer, but the movie was all the better because of it. If Ender's Game is to be nothing but another crappy sci-fi action flick, then the people responsible for making it have completely missed the point.

[Cyborg]

He said on reddit that unless you have read the books, the significance of the moment is completely lost to the viewer, and its just another explosion.. which is pretty accurate.

No reason to see the film. 

[Lancefighter]

I really dont understand why you people are saying theres no reason to see the film. Did you not see the Harry Potter films because you knew how they would end?

[Coppermantis]

I'm pretty sure that the guy's just referring to that specific part in the trailer having no impact. Without context, it's entirely true that it just looks like another explosion, which sci-fi/action movies tend to involve a lot of.

I'm sure that as long as the directors have even a shred of sense, the destruction of the Formic homeworld will remain that "Wow" moment.

On a related note, he did an AMA on reddit in which he answers some questions. His responses give me a little more hope, although some parts that I'm really concerned about (ie., how the movie will handle the Giant's Drink stuff and Peter and Valentine) have not been answered, probably because he's not answering questions that are specific to parts of the movie.

[Cyborg]

I really dont understand why you people are saying theres no reason to see the film. Did you not see the Harry Potter films because you knew how they would end?

Because the point of the story is completely lost if you turn it into another Hollywood explosion with twilight shit romance.

[Lancefighter]

Yes.. and how exactly does this trailer confirm that its going to be some hollywood explosion with twilight shit romance?

In particular - How does that one scene, seen on a trailer, destroy the entire movie for you?

[Coppermantis]

They seem to be misinterpreting Asa's comment--That it has "no significance to someone who has not read the books" as meaning that the actual scene and destruction of the Formic homeworld as being portrayed as just another explosion. In reality, unless I'm horribly horribly mistaken, he's merely talking about the studio's descision to show the destruction of the planet in the trailer--It's not so much of a spoiler because there's no context, so it looks like a generic explosion. He only says that it's insignificant in the trailer, not in the actual movie.

[Wingflier]

Yes.. and how exactly does this trailer confirm that its going to be some hollywood explosion with twilight shit romance?

In particular - How does that one scene, seen on a trailer, destroy the entire movie for you?

Lancefighter I think you're misunderstanding the conversation.

We thought the director meant that *in the actual movie*, the part where the Formic HW is destroyed will be completely lost upon the viewer unless they've read the books. That is how we interpreted that piece of information.

Now it seems he may have meant the trailer, which makes a lot more sense.

Our point was that if Ender knows he's fighting the actual alien race the entire time, it's nothing more than just a crappy Sci-Fi action flick. Sorry for the confusion.

[Mánagarmr]

They seem to be misinterpreting Asa's comment--That it has "no significance to someone who has not read the books" as meaning that the actual scene and destruction of the Formic homeworld as being portrayed as just another explosion. In reality, unless I'm horribly horribly mistaken, he's merely talking about the studio's descision to show the destruction of the planet in the trailer--It's not so much of a spoiler because there's no context, so it looks like a generic explosion. He only says that it's insignificant in the trailer, not in the actual movie.

This sounds a lot more reasonable.

[Cyborg]

1) Orson Scott Card does appear to be a bigoted ass wipe. That being said, much of our most famous literature are also written by sentient skidmarks, so let's move on to the most salient points, why this trailer means this film sucks.
2) This trailer starts off by explaining the world is going to hell because of the big bad aliens, and these kids are going to save the human race. This is followed by a scene showing protective Ender holding a concerned damsel in distress, who I will refrain from referring to as Peach.
3) Awkward moments showing Harrison Ford guiding these young saviors with some poor set design. That's not really the crux of the book.
4) The trailer ends with a Hollywood explosion. Now anyone who has read the book knows this is a spoiler. That's like showing the end of The Sixth Sense in the preview of the movie. Clearly, this plot twist is not supposed to be a plot twist at all in the film.

And that's why there's no point in seeing this film. They made it all Hollywood formula: shit romance, Hollywood explosion, easily digestible cookie-cutter plot line. The book deals with something that requires mental depth which most Hollywood studios don't deal with. It's too complicated for their audience, or so they think. To which I say, get the hell out of science fiction and go back to American Idol or twilight or some crap.

[Wingflier]

This is followed by a scene showing protective Ender holding a concerned damsel in distress, who I will refrain from referring to as Peach.

I lost it right here