Summary
While many young adult novels have been adapted for the big screen, the movie version of the 1985 Orson Scott Card novelEnder’s Gamewas highly anticipated. Those who grew up reading the sci-fi story about a child going into battle remember the heightened emotions and high stakes. It was natural to be curious about how those elements would work in a film. Like theterrifying Capitol inThe Hunger Games, Ender’s Gamecreated an eerie and captivating world for main character Ender (Asa Butterfield).
No matter what fans of the book thought of the movie,Ender’s Gamehas an impressive cast that includes Viola Davis and Harrison Ford, and there are many memorable action scenes. WithEnder’s Gamenow available to stream on Netflix, it’s the perfect time to rewatch the sci-fi movie or finally sit down and see how Ender’s story unfolds.
Ender’s Game Is Now On Netflix
Ender’s Gamewasadded to Netflix’s library on April 1st, 2024and is now available to stream. This is great news both for fans of the book who want to rewatch the movie and those who haven’t gotten the chance to check it out yet.
Other Movies Added To Netflix In April 2024 (According to The Hollywood Reporter)
In an interview withThe Vergein 2013 while attending San Diego Comic-Con International, director Gavin Hood shared some fascinating behind-the-scenes facts about working onEnder’s Game. Hood that he and producer Roberto Orci knew theyhad to include the epic battle scenes from the book. Likehorror movies with intense action scenes,Ender’s Game’s success hinged on ensuring that these moments were believable. Without these scenes, the adaptation would definitely have been disliked across the board.
Ender’s Gameby Orson Scott Card
Cast Members
Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, Ben Kingsley, Harrison Ford, Abigail Breslin
November 1st, 2013
Runtime
114 minutes
Hood also mentioned the important characters in Orson Scott Card’s novel and said:
“It’s unusual for a big popcorn movie — which this has to be to achieve the kind of audience impact that it needs — to also have these great characters and dynamics.”
What Is Ender’s Game About?
Ender’s Gameis aboutAsa Butterfield’s character Andrew “Ender” Wigginwho catches the eye of Major Gwen Anderson (Viola Davis) and Colonel Hyrum Gruff (Harrison Ford), who arelooking for kids to train in their Battle School.Ender spends time in the Battle Roomand shows that he is smarter, quicker, and more perceptive than the other students as he can figure out how to beat the enemy.
Ender’s Gamesees Ender training for battle through simulations and tests, and throughout it all, he wonders if he can really handle being so cruel. Given Ender’s emotional journey and the questions that he asks himself, it makes sense that Orson Scott Card’syoung adult novel got a sci-fi movie adaptation. Ender is similar to Katniss Everdeen inThe Hunger Gamesand they are both strong and well-written characters. Ender and Katniss are both compassionate characters who want to help others and who are scared of the situations that they find themselves in.
Ender’s Game’s Critical Reception
While critics loved many sci-fi adaptations, including The Hunger Games franchise and the fascinatingending ofThe Hunger Games: Catching Fire,critics didn’t enjoyEnder’s Gamefor the most part. The movie has a 62% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 226 reviews. The main criticism? The scene that depict battles are fun to watch, but the film doesn’t offer much else.
The critics quoted onEnder’s Game’s Rotten Tomatoes page had similar reactions to the film. Besides wishing that the movie had more going on than just action scenes, critics said the story had been told several times before. It’s definitely easy to compareEnder’s GametoThe Hunger Gamesand other sci-fi adaptations of young adult books, fromThe Maze Runnerby James DashnertoDivergentby Veronica Roth.
Why You Should Watch Ender’s Game
Watch Ender’s Game OnNetflix
Many felt thatEnder’s Gamewasn’t the best adaptationbecause it doesn’t have as much feeling as the book and it doesn’t follow the story perfectly. However, while manysci-fi books were turned into terrible movies, that isn’t the case here.Ender’s Gameis still worth watchingbecause, likeThe Hunger Games, it tells a fast-paced story about kids going into battle.
Whether someone read Orson Scott Card’s novelEnder’s Gameor not, there is still a lot to like about the movie, from the interactions between characters to the very different world that was created.
In his interview with The Verge in 2013, director Gavin Hood mentioned the battle scenes inEnder’s Gameand shared why the adaptation works so well. Hood said:
“We have also, I hope, delivered on the spectacle that the book is also famous for. This Battle Room? That’s not our invention. It’s in the book. And that’s what makes it such a great property, is this combination of really original environments with a great story and great characters who are not stereotyped, who are not just good versus evil.”
