Ender's Game (2013)

When I first heard this film was coming out, I decided to read the two books on which the movie was based (Enders Game & Enders Shadow). I really enjoyed the books and was confident that with a bit of thought they could make a decent screenplay that would be true to the story in the books as well as being entertaining to watch. Like many others, I was incredibly disappointed with the movie. Here are 5 things that would have improved it greatly:

1) Show the passage of time: Whilst I understand that it would be tricky to show the 5 years or so Ender is in battle school, having him writing an email saying 'we have been studying for months' doesn't really cut it. Everything moves so fast that you get the impression he has only been there a few weeks. This prevented something essential to most movies, character development.

2) Show Battle School as a school: Much of the book is about how the battle room games shape and define Enders character as a person and (eventually) a leader/commander. This is barely touched on the movie with the few battle room scenes being very disappointing and Ender becoming both an expert in the battle room and leader of an army within what seems like a week! Also, in the books there are a few hundred children at battle school, a lot more than the sparse 50 or so we see in the movie. Even classic Star Trek gave the impression of a large crew on the Enterprise by having extras walking in the corridors, how hard can it be to copy that?

3) Show that Ender is truly on his own: In the book, Ender doesn't have any friends as such, he has to earn respect by becoming the best in the battles, then people start to follow him. When Ender arrives, Graff says that Ender has to feel alone, but from then on he always has someone to help him or be his friend.

4) More Bean, less Petra: Petra is a great character in the books, because she is a bit of a b**ch! Yes, she helps Ender with shooting practise but she is fairly ambivalent towards him the rest of the time. Bean is the person who Ender eventually trusts the most, and even confides in. In the movie, far too much emphasis was put on Petra's relationship with Ender (she didn't even seem like the 'real' Petra to me) whereas Bean is just a face in the crowd.

5) Show Ender getting tired: Even if they failed in all the other areas, they could at least have made Ender look tired from all the battle games! His exhaustion is what drives him to 'quit', again this doesn't come across at all in the movie. How hard could it be to show that?

I could write more, but in summary this movie was an epic fail with very few redeeming qualities. The sad thing is, it could have been one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever, but instead they traded the 'soul' of the book for a few flashy effects and a lightweight story. Somewhere in the process the real Ender's Game got lost.